I’m 39 weeks pregnant today!!! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. I’m feeling so many emotions right now…excited to meet our baby girl, upset that I won’t feel her kicking and moving around in my belly every night, anxious about my delivery, scared to experience child birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, nervous about becoming a parent! The list goes on…
I haven’t shared much about my pregnancy journey up until this point, but I’ve been jotting down notes through each trimester so I can remember how I felt experiencing each change and milestone. Keep reading for my cravings, thoughts, favorite moments, struggles, etc. throughout each trimester! Also sharing some ultrasound and bump photos I took along the way…
HERE is the link to the turtleneck dress I purchased for these photos. It’s very affordable, comfortable and stretchy – fitting throughout my entire pregnancy!
FIRST TRIMESTER
THOUGHTS
Grateful … and nervous. It’s such a blessing to be pregnant and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to experience pregnancy. I know that at any minute my health or the health of the baby could change. I don’t for a second take this pregnancy for granted.
Even though it’s early on in my pregnancy, I love her already. I’ll never forget seeing the ultrasound photo above when she first started to somewhat resemble a baby. It’s such a miracle!
I downloaded the What to Expect app to track each week of my pregnancy. I would highly recommend using this app – they give you great information about the changes both you and the baby are experiencing each week and compare the size of your babe to fruit, movie props and 80s and 90s nostalgia! It always a surprise to see how much she’s grown week to week.
CRAVINGS
Bagels & cream cheese, carbs and fruit of any kind!
AVERSIONS
Beans (random!) and anything healthy (except fruit.)
FAVORITE MOMENTS
We had our first ultrasound on October 2nd and saw our baby’s heartbeat for the first time. It was hands down my favorite moment in our pregnancy thus far. Such a relief! We ended up having 2 more ultrasounds during this trimester, seeing the heartbeat a total of 3 times. Every time was just as exciting (and nerve wracking!) as the first.
The first trimester was also when we found out we were having a baby girl! James and I were both SO surprised – we were convinced we were having a boy. Soon after finding out it was a girl, I went out and bought her first accessory, a tiny black and white gingham bow.
STRUGGLES
Nausea – especially during afternoon and evening. I very rarely experienced “morning” sickness and I was thankful to never actually throw up. However, I was nauseous almost everyday from about 11am until when I went to bed. I was also always hungry and eating carbs was the only thing that made me feel better.
I was working out regularly up until I found out I was pregnant. During the first few weeks of my pregnancy I was too nervous to continue doing so. About a month into my pregnancy I started getting very nauseous and very tired. I decided to give my body a break and wait to start working out until I was feeling better again.
TRAVELS
Baby girl took her first plane ride to Florida to visit her Aunt, Uncle and Cousins for Halloween!
SECOND TRIMESTER
THOUGHTS
SO HAPPY. Quite possibly the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Baby girl was looking very healthy and I was feeling great.
CRAVINGS
Salad and fruit! After 3 months of craving nothing but carbs…my 2nd trimester brought on some healthy cravings that I was thankful for! I’ve never craved salads so bad – particularly salads with butter lettuce and Ken’s Italian dressing. I also wanted bacon all the time!
AVERSIONS
Still beans! That’s about it though…
FAVORITE MOMENTS
Seeing my baby bump for the first time in Aruba! I was about 14 weeks and had the tiniest belly, but it made me so happy. My stomach really popped at Christmas – around 18 weeks.
Felt baby kick on January 7th, 2020 – coolest thing I’ve EVER felt in my life. I was laying in bed while James was out back hunting. I felt slight flutters up this point, but this morning was different. I felt the same little nudge 4 more times and new for sure it was my baby girl moving around in there! I’ve never been more amazed by anything in my life – it was the coolest thing ever. After feeling her kick for the first time, I would spend at least half my days waiting to feel her little movements!
I had my first late night craving! We were in Hawaii celebrating our 5 year anniversary and around 10pm one night I asked my husband to drive us downtown so I could get Malasadas from Leonards Bakery. Pregnant or not, these Portuguese donuts are AMAZING. It was the strongest craving I had for food since I found out I was pregnant. James had no complaints making this late night snack run!
Announcing to the RW&D community that I was pregnant (in my My Pregnancy Announcement blog post) was another great moment! I was so excited to share the news and had the most amazing congratulations and support from all of you.
STRUGGLES
My nausea was almost completely gone by the time my 2nd trimester rolled around. It started later and later every evening until it only lasted about an hour or so every night. Around week 14 it completely went away and I was so thankful! I felt SO good the rest of my 2nd trimester that I often forgot I was even pregnant.
Having a hard time getting used to (and dressing) my new growing belly – but SO grateful for it.
Still not working out regularly. I went back to the gym for about 3 weeks before slipping and falling on black ice getting out of my car. It was a pretty bad fall and had me out of the gym for another few weeks.
TRAVELS
Took a quick trip to Aruba in early December for some relaxation with Grandma and Grandpa!
She also joined us on our 5 year anniversary celebration/babymoon in Hawaii! She’s becoming quite the little traveller already.
THIRD TRIMESTER
THOUGHTS
Still grateful, but now also very scared and often times anxious thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic that hit our country right as I entered my 3rd trimester. The crisis has brought much uncertainty and fear to my pregnancy. I also feel that it’s taken a lot away from this special time in my life – a time I had hoped to experience with my friends and family, not quarantined in my house. It also made having a baby shower to celebrate our baby girl, a huge challenge.
As someone who always tries to look on the bright side of things, there are a few things this pandemic has provided that I am thankful for. I’ve been able to work my day job remotely during what has been my most difficult (and painful) trimester yet! Staying off my feet and being forced to relax in the comfort of my own home has made life easier for me. I also haven’t had to buy any maternity clothes!
CRAVINGS
Sweets! I’ve never been a big sweets person but my 3rd trimester has brought on all the sugary cravings. My sugary treats of choice? Chocolate chips and marshmallows.
Also wouldn’t mind a glass a wine….
AVERSIONS
Still beans…that’s it! Starting to wonder if I’ll ever be able to eat them again.
FAVORITE MOMENTS
Feeling baby girl move around like a ninja! She’s so active and I love it. My favorite moment of the day is the hour before I fall asleep when I lay in bed and just enjoy feeling her move around. It’s been an amazing bonding experience for us. I’ll definitely miss this…
Announcing the gender of our baby GIRL! We initially found out just the two of us early on in our pregnancy and shared with only close friends and family. We made the announcement on RW&D in the beginning of my third trimester in my It’s a … GIRL!!! blog post.
While my baby shower was one of my favorite moments in this trimester, it was also a huge struggle to make happen! We initially had to reschedule the date and ultimately the location. After COVID-19 hit our state, we rescheduled my shower which was supposed to be at a local restaurant, to a more casual ‘front porch’ get-together where guests were asked to swing by to say hi (with masks!) to shower our baby girl with love and support. This ‘social-distancing’ style get-together was scheduled for May 9th and while we hoped for a beautiful spring day, we were given the coldest, windiest day the Northeast had seen in months. We even had a snow flurry later in the afternoon. Needless to say our front porch get-together turned into a garage party – but it was perfect. I was so happy to see my friends and family, after what has felt like the loneliest pregnancy ever. I’m so thankful for my mom, sister and mother-in-law for pulling it off, despite EVERYTHING going against them.
This trimester has also reminded me how lucky I am for my husband. He’s provided such great support, especially during the last few weeks of pregnancy when I really needed it! I can’t imagine going through this journey without him. He’s going to be such a great dad!
STRUGGLES
The most obvious struggle for me and every other mom-to-be right now: COVID (for the reasons mentioned above.)
The third trimester has also been the most difficult for me physically. Our baby girl has been measuring big (thanks to my husband!) and it’s been really tough on my body. I experience pain almost every day in my legs, pelvis and lower back. I tried to walk as much as possible to get outside, exercise and enjoy some fresh air – but my walks were making the pain worse so I had to eventually stop.
Still not working out. By this time COVID-19 was in full effect and my gym was closed. I could have participated in at-home work outs but the pains I was experiencing seemed to get worse with strenuous movement. If I could do it all over again, I would have powered through my first trimester nausea/tiredness and never stopped my workout routine. Once you stop during pregnancy, it’s hard to start back up.
We had the hardest time figuring out a name for our baby girl! We went back and forth for months and finally decided on her name when I was about 38 weeks. I can’t wait to share it with you! We ultimately went with a name that we found using the app Baby Names by BabyCenter. It’s a great way for you and your spouse to go through hundreds of names and bookmark your favorites. The app will then reveal your matches! After going through about 700 names, we had only 3 matches…baby girls name is one of them!
TRAVELS
Our babe travelled to Florida to visit her Aunt, Uncle and cousins for a second time!
I am SO thankful we were able to get all these trips in before COVID-19 hit our country hard…
ARE YOU A MOM-TO-BE?
ARE YOU A NEW MOM OR MOM-TO-BE?
If you’re a new mom or expecting, I have some additional pregnancy related posts you may be interested in! Click below to read!
Baby Registry Must-Haves
Top 10 Pregnancy Must-Haves
What I Packed In My Hospital Bag
Postpartum Must-Haves
Breastfeeding Must-Haves
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