Some Tips to Consider

Once we started to reveal the good news to our friends and family it started to become more of a reality that we were about to become parents and as joyous, as it was there was always concern for the well-being of our baby.  We made sure to take the necessary precautions, such as healthy eating, exercising, regular checkups and the consumption of prenatal vitamins every day. 

I do not know about you guys, but when I was hungry back in the day, I would go for a quick and convenient fix, which wasn’t often the healthiest choice.  However, upon discovering I was preggers I decided to change that around right away.  I started to consume mainly fruits, veggies, proteins and some carbs.  I craved watermelon, milk, peanut butter & jelly and ginger ale (which is still my fave!).  And for whatever reason, which I believe is common I couldn’t consume any tomato based foods or else it would be puke city!  I also know that some women consume much more than they normally do, but that was not the case for me.  Instead, I had a heightened desire for foods I already liked and continued to eat normally but just slightly increased my caloric intake per doctor’s request.  In addition, I made sure to take my pre-natal pills religiously to provide my baby with the necessary supplements and nutrients needed for healthy development. My doctor suggested this brand called TheraNatal Complete, which I must say I loved!  You can check it out at www.Theralogix.com.  I highly recommend you take pre-natals if you find out you’re preggers!
 

I also continued running 3-4 miles every other day, but as my belly got bigger and bigger I started to slow my roll and opted for lower intensity workouts consisting of walking and the use of exercise bands, which was all doctor approved.  Oh yes, I also did a lot of squats everyday!  Trust me do this, it really helps with labor and when it’s time to push!  I say if you are going to make any changes make sure to run it by your doctor to get the okay.  Not only will it ensure that your baby is safe, but it also gives you peace of mind! 

Last but not least, make sure you REST!  I tried to do way too much at times and I don’t know if that may have contributed to me giving birth 2 weeks early.   They say that when it’s your first you normally deliver late, so just take it easy!

I Would Wait Until You’re 12 Weeks to Reveal the Good News…

At that point, we were both elated and terrified at the same time because we knew that life would soon change!  I wanted to go and immediately tell everyone, but my husband always the more levelheaded one told me to wait until I was 12 weeks to tell anyone due to possible miscarriage. That was definitely a feat for me because I was dying to tell everyone! I of course told my mom, but that was it!  I must say that I am glad I waited because miscarriages are very common and my husband's mom for instance had seven miscarriages before she was able to have him.  The important thing to remember is that this is a delicate time so if you find out you’re pregnant remember to avoid as much mental and physical stress as possible and know that if this occurs it doesn’t  mean you can’t try and try again!  I realized the seriousness of it (emotionally and physically) and counted down, thanking God each day for my growing baby. 

I remember going out to dinner and drinks with a couple of my besties (Alex and Ren) and everyone ordered drinks but me.  Well, my friends being rather intuitive guessed right away that I was preggers!  I was like, “Omg how did you guess???”  They told me that they all knew that I was bound to get pregnant soon enough and they were just waiting for it to happen. Well I guess they know me better than I know myself, lol!

I took that time before revealing the good news to everyone to better prepare myself for motherhood through resources like my doctor, books, websites and talking to other mommies to find out the real deal.  I found out some good stuff, but I must admit that not everything was brought to light.  I wanted the knitty gritty info!  In this blog, I plan to give you the complete lowdown, the good, bad and disgusting so be prepared.  

Wait...Are You Sure I'm Preggers???

For some reason, don't ask me why, my husband who is a scientist decided to make me one of his experiments. Yes, when I usually tell people this they give me the strangest look as I sheepishly relay the events. He would take my temperature every morning before I got out of bed and record it on a website everyday. He thought it was so interesting how my temperature would rise when I was on my cycle and then drop once I would ovulate. Yeah he's dorky like that lol! He did this for about 3 months to get a base for me. During this time we were having unprotected sex. I know this is going to sound dumb and ignorant, but I honestly thought I wasn't fertile or able to have kids so I didn't worry about getting pregnant. Oh yes, and I also stopped taking my birth control about 6 months before this because it was causing me to gain some serious water weight that made me look preggers! Seriously, I looked 3 months preggers and even took a pregnancy test which came out negative at the time. Now ladies, having continuous unprotected intercourse is a no no unless you want to get pregnant, so take heed!

During one of his routine temperature checks he was like, "Hmm I think you need to take a pregnancy test." My response was "Huh, why?" He told me that my since ovulating my temperature never went back up, and that it had been below my normal base rate for the past 2 weeks. I didn't think much of it so I went to work and when I came home guess who went out and got 4 pregnancy tests?! He did! I didn't want to take the tests because I thought it was ridic, but if you know my husband you know that he's very stubborn! So I gave in and bam the first test came out positive immediately. I of course thought that the tests were faulty and that these were false positives, which sometimes happens. Well after 4 positive tests and me still being in denial my husband told me I think we should go to the doctor. I really hate going to the doctor so I definitely wasn't not pleased with this. However, we went and after peeing in the cup my obgyn came back and told me yes, I was preggers. Now this is going to sound really dumb and crazy, but I still didn't believe that I was pregnant so I just smiled and didn't really react. I was going through some serious denial! I even told my husband in the car, yeah that test isn't right because I feel fine. In fact, it wasn't until we went in for our first ultrasound and I saw my baby, the size of a pea beating that I finally realized we were about to become parents in 9 months!