We’re Having a Baby!

Wow. Where to start? Well, let me just say it again… we’re having a baby!

In early January we’ll be welcoming a baby girl into our lives, and I don’t think I have ever been this excited in my entire life. Sure, I was excited when my nephews and niece were born… I was excited when “J” and I moved into our house…. I was even pretty excited when we brought Maddy home… but this, this feeling is completely different!

I’m not going to lie, “J” and I tossed around the idea of having a baby or not having a baby for a very long time. We are both planners and aren’t too fond of surprises, so when we began to talk about “the perfect time” it took us over 4 years to realize there was never going to be one. “Maybe we start trying after so-and-so’s wedding. Maybe we start trying after I’ve been at my new job for a year. Maybe we start trying after this business trip. Maybe we start trying after our vacation.” These were very common phrases and goal-markers used in almost every baby-related discussion. But as wedding after wedding blew by, work anniversaries came and went, business trips added more stamps to my passport, and multiple vacations were enjoyed, we realized if kept moving the goal-marker in hopes of an obvious “perfect time” revealing itself, we’d never start a family.

Then there’s biology. The thing with baby-making is you never know how long it’s going to take you until you start trying. Was it going to take us months or years? My sister Nikki got pregnant within three months, while my sister Amanda tried for well over a year. I have close friends who are on year 3 or 4 of trying, and many who have turned to fertility treatments. Bringing life into this world can be a real struggle, and I never wanted to downplay that or shrug it off. So, with these fresh realizations in our head and the biological clock ticking we decided it was time to pull off the band-aid… and we set a firm goal-marker; after my ear surgery (it was a surgery that I had been working towards with two otolaryngologists for over a year, so there was no way I was canceling it!).

It was reaaalllly hard not to push the goal-marker further after my surgery, which wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped, but we stayed firm. With the expectation that this process would take us months firmly planted in our brain, imagine how surprised (re: shocked) we were to find out we were pregnant in May… one month after my surgery.

We spent the first 5 weeks in a blissful euphoric state – we were going to be parents! – but it all hit me like a ton of bricks at week 6… it wasn’t the pure exhaustion that got me, it was the constant nausea. And I mean CON.STANT! Whatever energy I had left for myself (when the little bean wasn’t sucking it out of me) was spent trying not to throw up. Lucky for me, nausea usually got the best of me after breakfast and after dinner, so I was able to keep most of the incidents isolated to my home. Unfortunately, the nausea kept me house-bound for most of the summer. The extreme heat we experienced this summer made me feel a million times worse. I canceled or said “no” to a lot of outings and engagements (pool parties, backyard gatherings, media previews & breakfasts), but I knew it was all going to be for the best and this new state of fresh hell wasn’t going to last long.  Thankfully, “J” recognized how much discomfort I was in on a daily basis and picked up my slack around the house, allowing me to spend most evenings and weekends on the couch eating soda crackers and drinking water.

I was told the nausea would diminish around week 13, but it wasn’t until week 17 that I started to feel a little more like myself… and now that I have reached the 23-week mark, I’m actually starting to enjoy being pregnant! The whole adventure thus far has been exciting, scary, exhilarating, and intimidating. And being pregnant, I feel like I experience all of these emotions within one breath. There really isn’t an experience quite like it!

So there you have it, the band-aid is off…. we’re having a baby! In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing little glimpses into our nursery project as well as answering some of the most common questions I’ve received so far! It’s not my intent to turn this blog into a “mommy blog,” but you can fully expect baby girl to make a regular appearance come January!

Before I close out this post, I just want to say thank you for your all your kind comments and well wishes on my Instagram announcement! I truly appreciate every single one of you taking the time to like or leave a comment. I hope you all continue to follow along as I start this new chapter of my life!

Pregnancy Announcement Photos by Nicole Gingrich Photography.

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5 Comments

  1. So thrilled for you and J, Britt!. This little girl is so lucky to have you as her mama. Hope the next few months are a lot easier than the first few. Enjoy the experience!