TANK (so cheap!) | CARDY (more HERE) | SIMILAR DENIM | Flats c/o MGemi – not longer made in pink – almost identical HERE tho | LIPS ‘Personal Statement‘
So, it’s been exactly TWO months since I announced that we are expecting baby Gemma! And I had a Doctor’s appt. yesterday so I thought today would be a perfect day to do a little ‘bump date’. (I think that’s what you call them.. for me it will just be a lot of chit chat about what is going on with the babe!) In this post, I am going to be pretty honesty or ‘real’ (lol) if you will. SO, you may be like “Ok, Emz, that’s TMI” so just consider this your warning. Also, I’ll be sharing a section on some maternity clothing I like, baby things we’ve purchased, etc. But let’s just get started…
#1. When Are You Due?!
G-Baby is due this spring! Needless to say, we are past the half way point & enjoying powering through what is left the of the second trimester. It seems as if time has been CRAWLING the past few months. I am not sure if that is because I have been sick daily this entire pregnancy or if I just spend too much time day dreaming about what life will be like when he gets here. Either way, I am hoping that the third trimester will fly by (positive thinking!).
#2 How Are You Feeling?!
Well! This is where I’m going to be pretty ‘real’ with you.. I am not a fan of people complaining AND I am beyond grateful and fortunate to be able to carry this baby, however, for me this has been a pretty rough journey. I really appreciate when people are honest and open about something not being as great as it seems to everyone else. So, getting started.. I think 90% of the women around me had/have great easy pregnancies w/exception of the first trimester fatigue and the few aches & pains here and there. My mom and sister both had relatively easy pregnancies so I honestly believed that meant I would have it ‘easy’ (no throwing up, just little bouts of nausea on occasion). Well, I’ve told you all before that before I even got a positive pregnancy test, I was already crawling into bed at 8pm (compared to a lifetime of going to bed at 1am!!). I’ve had fatigue issues for a decade (all of this was covered in another blog post) and I’ve had studies, bloodwork, etc. done and tried it all and nothing ever helped. That being said, imagine how my body reacted to growing a human being!! The first trimester was rough in that I could only stay awake for ab 3 hours at a time, I was starving (if you saw twilight – where the new vampires are hungry — that’s what I was like!!!), and I had this all day nausea lingering – sometimes it would be really bad, but others it was manageable. During the first trimester, I was traveling non stop & crazy busy with work, which was a major blessing. It kept me going each day! BUT, second trimester.. that was a WHOLE new story. My hunger chilled out a bit which was nice. However, I started throwing up 3-5x a week. I do think it was morning sickness at first — which was rare because I’d never heard of anyone not throwing up for the first trimester, but throwing up the rest of the time. At this point my heartburn had gone from like being uncomfortable and annoying to pretty painful. I noticed I threw up if I ate grilled chicken, rode in a bad taxi / uber drivers car, etc. But after like week 18, the throwing up got worse with my heartburn. I’ve mentioned it on here before but it was getting bad and becoming really painful. (Just FYI, I am not looking for advice on anything! I have a great doc and most of our friends here are in the medical field and take great care of me.) I started throwing up more and more as the heartburn got worse. Which brings me to this weekend – I had this horrible cold. I couldn’t swallow, was coughing a lot, and my heartburn went to a whole new level. It was so bad, I wasn’t able to sleep – not amount of Zantec, Tums, Papaya Enzymes, Baking Soda, ACV, etc could have touched it. It was actually at 3am Friday night (as I am throwing up acid to get relief) that John was like “you have GERD.” He ran to Wal-Mart Neighborhood (@3am) and grabbed one last resort medicine and it honestly changed the game for me. I felt SO much relief since I started it. Prior to this medicine, my heartburn was so bad on a daily basis that I would break out in a sweat, my ribs would ache, back would hurt, etc. It was something I’d never heard of any expecting woman experiencing. I was throwing up almost daily the past couple of weeks because of the acid. BUT the good news is that I feel so much better now. I’m praying this medicine will stay effectively working on me until the baby comes! Any other ache or pain I’ve had, I won’t even mention because they are all standard pregnancy things – back aches, round ligament pains, etc. (Yikes this is getting long!!)
One last thing, my energy never returned after the first trimester like everyone said it would.. I still go to bed super early. Someone please tell me I will get some energy back after the baby gets here?!
#3 How Is Baby Doing!?
If you are new here – then you may not know we are expecting a baby Boy. He is doing great – we got a really good close up of his face yesterday and I had chills up and down my body! Everything is becoming SO real. I mentioned last month that I had anterior placenta so I wasn’t feeling him much and our doc couldn’t see him well so we did formal US at the hospital and got a good look at him. They actually told us that he is a rather large baby……… 🙂 As the girl said this to me I side-eyed John bc he was nearly 10lbs!!! I can’t talk bc I was nearly 9lbs. So yea, it wasn’t too shocking to find out he is big. The tech actually said based on their technology the due date would need to be moved. So he is doing really well and growing nice & big. It is really funny because I use all of those baby apps each morning and the other day it was like “your baby will be 1 pound this week!” and our baby weighed a pound like a month ago! haha. (Guessing he really loved the Chic-Fil-A I fed him in the first trimester?!) As for the anterior placenta issues, the doctor saw the him fine yesterday so it must be thinning out a bit. And I feel this babe kick ALL. DAY. LONG. Get this — yesterday morning I was working in the living room and put the Bachelor on in the background…. well, I decided to put my BellyBuds on and play Mozart for the baby (bc I need to shelter him from girls like Corrine lololol). As soon as I pushed play on Mozart, he immediately started moving and wiggling. It was fascinating knowing he heard that? or at least I think that’s what caused the movement! 🙂
#4 How Is The Nursery Coming Along?!
Well, I’m taking VLOG clips of the nursery as things progress. I can’t wait to share that video with you all! So, we had the carpet pulled upstairs and put down a new grey flooring. And then I had the walls, doors, baseboards, and ceilings all painted. So right now, the room already look 100x better! Lulu & Georgia sent him THIS rug which goes PERFECTLY in his room – we love it. I ordered his furniture from Restoration Hardware about 7 weeks ago – and guess what – no word on it. I am so glad I did it early on because I can’t imagine being close to spring time and not having it in. Hopefully it arrives ASAP. I love going to his room – I go up there almost every day as a little break from work. I have been hanging up his cute little clothes and just look around. It’s so cheesy but there’s something so special about being in there!
#5 Cravings?!
I get asked about cravings a lot. There’s really nothing to say on this. Praise the Lord, I am back to eating my normal ways.. aka McAllister’s 4x a week! I love their soups, salads, and spuds. But yea, no new cravings at all! Unless the occasional cheese fry craving happens! Honestly, I craved those on occasion before so it doesn’t count!
#6 “Let Me See Your Bump!”
Lol… ok there’s a reason for ^^ title. I have gotten messages and comments from people asking about why I hide my bump. At first I was so confused.. “why would I need to hide my bump?!” But I realized, a lot of people have a bump at like 18w so I think people really expect me to have one as well. And I definitely do – but it isn’t always obvious (although it is getting there – everyday it is larger!). But I think a lot of it is that I have never been one to wear much tight fitting clothing. My entire life I’ve loved oversized sweaters, tunics, etc. I remember January of 2 years ago, I got a ton of comments from people asking if I was expecting bc I wore a few oversized sweaters. Also, my stomach gets bigger after I’ve eaten carbs! In the morning, it is definitely there – but it looks more obvious after lunch. 🙂 Just thought I’d fill y’all in on that… I am sure you will be sick and tired of seeing that bump tho this spring!
#7 What Are You Wearing?!
Oh em gee- cardigans and comfy tanks/tees around the clock! And for your sake, I am trying to back off the leggings! lol. While in Utah last week, my pants officially quit zipping. So, I either wear my pants w/ THIS bellyband or maternity jeans. You guys know I usually only wear AG jeans so I bought AG maternity jeans in a few styles and I like them, but they are still a little big. The two pair of maternity jeans I wear the most frequently are HERE & HERE. But, if you are looking for flattering maternity jeans on a budget – I really like H&M Mama Skinnies! Also, if you are pregnant or not, stock up on THESE tees and THESE tanks – I just size up for the bump. So cheap but so good. I may buy some extra white ones! I’ll be honest, I think maternity clothing is overrated – It is kind of pricy and much of it is not really my style. I am glad I can still fit into the oversized pieces I had or just buy a size up in other things. If you are on a budget, I would only splurge on maternity pieces that you’ll wear all the time and really get your money’s worth out of….. just my two cents.
#8 When Will You Stop Traveling?!
My doctor said at 34w I will have to ‘chill with the jet setting’ – his words. But, to be honest, it hurts my back to fly these days. I can handle a 2 hour flight but it really takes a toll on my ribs and back. I want to be able to travel with John a little before the 34w mark since we won’t be doing any traveling before (34w on) and after the baby gets here for a while. It is tough bc his schedule is cray cray and I’m pretty picky ab how long of a flight I can stand so we are just taking it easy!
