pregnancy overview #3

I have enjoyed looking back over my pregnancy with Paisley and I made note of some things I wanted to document. So, similar to her older sisters, here are a few round-ups.

 

Food Facts:

• Most Common Craving

1^st trimester – Something from Chick-Fil-A (fries or salad)

2^nd trimester – Food in general (majority of the 2nd trimester was spent with my mouth being so messed up I couldn’t eat – see bump update weeks 23 and 24.)

3^rd trimester – Hawaiian food

 

• Most Common Aversion

1^st trimester – Meat

2^nd trimester – Nothing specific

3^rd trimester – Nothing specific

 

 

Biggest Physical Struggle

 

• Nausea in the 1st Trimester

I never experienced actually throwing up but the nausea this round was insane! I have never felt so sick for so long and it was rough. We were also in the process of selling our home so that kept me from resting and it wasn’t until the middle of my 2nd trimester that I started feeling some relief. Unfortunately, it would pop up multiple times throughout the pregnancy.

Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, one thing that really released my discomfort was lemonade, so that became a part of my daily diet for a while.

 

Letters:

• 28 weeks in my belly
• 34 weeks in my belly
• 38 weeks in my belly

 

Special Events:

 

• Announcing Our Pregnancy

  

This pregnancy was different from the getgo. Aaron found out with me rather than me surprising him like I had the other two times (but he will tell you that he assumed I was pregnant with Emmaline) and we waited to tell social media until we were 15 weeks. This isn’t uncommon – a lot of women wait to share until they are out of the 1st trimester in case there is a miscarriage. We are comfortable revealing our news at 8 weeks (which we did with Rylie and Emmaline), but this time we kept it private and honestly, I somewhat enjoyed it. We told family and friends – people we were close with – but that was it.

We made our announcement after Emmaline’s birthday celebration and it was wonderful + it was fun to have the news out in the open. Per usual, people were excited and it was enjoyable to document the journey through the blog.

 

• Finding Out the Gender

  

After such an emotional endevour with Emmaline’s gender (I was so convinced we were having a boy it was hard for me to swallow we were having another girl), I rested in the fact that this baby was bringing something to our family that we needed and our family would be incomplete without this child, no matter if it was a boy or a girl. I kept my thoughts on what we were having very neatual and I found myself being happy either way. But as the gender reveal approached, I found myself daydreaming of having a little boy.

Of course, when we found out we were having a third girl, we were excited and preparing for her arrival became a “let’s unpack everything we have” endevour vs. us needing / asking for boy clothes.

 

• Baby Shower

We were so blessed by this baby shower. I honestly wasn’t planning on having a baby shower. I felt like I had everything we needed. Then a mama friend of mine with 4 of her own insisted on hosting at least a “diapers and wipes” party. I decided that would actually be extremely helpful. Not long after, my sister-in-law offered to plan the whole event for me – which I instantly took her up on.

It was such a beautiful event and you can see all the pictures here.

 

• Maternity Photos

I think maternity photos say a lot more than just “I’m pregnant.” I think they also reflect anticipation, excitement, love, togetherness and a bond that can only stem from a family. Pictures truly can be worth 1,000 words. I love looking back at Rylie’s maternity session and Emmaline’s maternity session and seeing our family’s age and the adventures we had and did not have yet.

Similarly, I love Paisley’s maternity session and am so thankful to have these sweet memories captured on film.

 

 

1^st Trimester Bump Updates:

• Week 4 – 15

 

2^nd Trimester Bump Updates:

• Week 16
• Week 17
• Week 18
• Week 19
• Week 20
• Week 21
• Week 22
• Week 23
• Week 24
• Week 25
• Week 26
• Week 27

 

3^rd Trimester Bump Updates:

• Week 28
• Week 29
• Week 30
• Week 31
• Week 32
• Week 33
• Week 34
• Week 35
• Week 36
• Week 37
• Week 38

 

• Final Thoughts

Out of all 3 pregnancies, this one was without a doubt the toughest on me physically. Of course, there were some similarities between them all and having 2 to chase around only added to my activity, but were also new things that I wasn’t ready for…

• I had the worst 1st trimester I’ve ever had.
• I bled while in Illinois for Aaron’s Grandpa’s funeral and the day after I found out my grandpa had passed away & I literally told God, “please don’t let me miscarry this baby! I can’t lose it too!” After calling the doctor, they weren’t worried about it and told me to rest and keep an eye out but it never happened again.
• I was sick with a fever multiple times.
• I went to the hospital because I thought I was leaking a lot of fluid… turns out I paid $100+ just to be told I pee myself a little bit regularly. Yay. lol
• I got varicose veins on multiple places on my body, some of which are in extremely painful places.
• I had 2 littles climbing, jumping, poking and plopping on my stretched, exposed belly.
• The enemy attacked my heart in ways I wasn’t expecting regarding this pregnancy and I had to combat him daily.

 

All of this stemming from a pregnancy I wasn’t planning on having until mid-2020.

But despite all of that, I knew God was good. I knew this little girl had to be born in 2019 to fulfill the calling God put on her life. I knew our family was lacking something and she could fill that void. And I knew the second I saw her, I would say “it was all worth it!”

And it was.

 

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Thank you all for being so interested in this unique season of my life! I’ve really enjoyed documenting this pregnancy in between all the other stuff going on in our lives and it’s been so fun to be able to look back and see the progress of my bump size, cravings, aversions, and the process of when I started things.