My Pregnancy Story

Finding out you're pregnant is one of the most exciting and terrifying things that will ever happen to you. As cliche as it may sound, it's the truth. After we get married we are instantly asked when we are planning on having kids or what our plan is going to be. Chad and I knew we wanted to have kids pretty quickly, but like most we didn't have a timeline in mind. We found out December 23rd, 2013 that we were expecting our first.

 This exciting news definitely didn't come to a shock to us, as we had been trying for a few months. I will say, attempting to get pregnant was hard. You think being in your young twenties there was no doubt that when you stop taking birth control pills you will instantly get pregnant. But for us, that wasn't the case. Every month it was difficult to have a period knowing that Chad and I were both ready to enter the next chapter in life. But, we had to constantly remind ourselves that God knew our plan in life and that we just needed to trust that he would allow us to get pregnant when the timing was right.

The first trimester of pregnancy was actually extremely easy for me. I didn't really get sick at all (except once in New York, but Chad blames that on the Bronco's losing the Super Bowl :) ) and my only real symptoms were that I was super hungry all of the time, really tired and my boobs hurt like no other! When I took my pregnancy test it had only been 4 weeks since I had my last period so I had to wait until I was around 10 weeks to have my first ultrasound and no we didn't wait until then to share the news. BUT, it did make it a very long first trimester. It wasn't until my second trimester that I started having problems.

I feel really fortunate that I didn't have to go through morning sickness like most women but I did have other things to deal with. In the beginning of April, I woke up to something no one wants to see. I had gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom and I was still half asleep. Just out of reflex I glanced in the toilet before flushing and went to get back in bed. When I was laying there it occurred to me like the toilet water wasn't the right color and my heart instantly sank.  I immediately went back and did everything I could to pee again and when I looked into the toilet my suspicion was confirmed--- blood... and a LOT of it. I wasn't sure what to do at this point, seeing as I assumed that something was wrong with the baby. I ran back into the bedroom and got my cell phone to call my doctor. Since

it was around 6:30 in the morning, my doctors office wasn't open and I had to call the nurse on call. She asked me a series of questions and I did my best to keep it together emotionally. She told me to lay down on my left side and hold tight until my doctor's office opened and then immediately go in to get checked. The next hour was awful waiting to figure anything out. When I finally got to my doctor's office he told me that surprisingly the blood wasn't coming from my vagina and it seemed to him that everything the baby was okay. As much of a relief as that was to hear I was still confused on how so much blood was still coming. He ran some tests and told me to take it easy and he would let me know what he finds out. When he called later that day all he could tell me was that he couldn't figure out what could possibly be wrong. He used words like "potential tumor" and other things that completely freaked me out but kept assuring me that he thinks everything would be okay. But, we couldn't figure anything else out until I wasn't pregnant and we could do an MRI. However, he was surprised that the blood did clear up after a round of antibiotics.

The second trimester wasn't all negative though. We went on a family cruise during our "babymoon" and loved getting away for a while. Then, we found out a few weeks later that we were going to have a wonderful baby boy, whom we decided to call Jack after my dad and Chad's grandpa. We had a really fun gender reveal party where we were able to enjoy the fun news with friends and family.

About a month after that though I failed my gestational diabetes test initally and had to go in for a three hour test which, let me tell you, is awful! Luckily I have a great friend who is also about the same pregnant as me that also failed, so we made a date out of it. Luckily, we both found out we passed. Thank goodness! A pregnancy without carbs or sugar just seemed cruel :)


The third trimester has been... difficult. I feel like that's the only way to describe it. We had to go to the emergency room around 32 weeks for preterm labor problems. I was having really bad contractions and back pain and so after calling my doctor he sent me to figure out if I was actually going into labor. It turned out I just had a severe urinary tract infection and thank goodness we were able to get it under control.




A few weeks after that we had an INCREDIBLE baby shower and we got so many wonderful things for baby Jack. But let me tell you, it was the hardest thing to have a baby shower that late in pregnancy. I was so big and it was definitely taking a toll on my energy levels.



The last few weeks of pregnancy I have sworn I am going to pop at any minute. It's definitely something you struggle with is wanting to keep a positive attitude and not complain all of the time about how you're feeling but when you do that people think you're feeling great and don't really have much sympathy. But boy oh boy is he a  mover and a shaker! I recorded this video to show just how much he moves around:


Today I am 39 weeks exactly. We have known for most of the pregnancy that baby Jack is a big baby. Throughout my pregnancy he has measured far ahead and the ultrasounds have always indicated he was going to be big. We had an ultrasound at 37 weeks where he weighed 8lbs 5 oz already. Although I am aware that ultrasounds can be off by a certain percentage either way, because of the pattern throughout my pregnancy my doctor felt pretty confident that this seemed accurate. Because of the potential of a 10lb or more baby he brought up c-section. At first it seemed like a no brainer that if Jack was in fact that big that it was going to be the safest option. So after Chad and I talked and prayed about it, we decided to schedule a c-section for August 27th. Our idea was that if he wanted to come earlier, I would attempt a vaginal birth but otherwise this was the best thing to do.  It is just now sinking in that in 2 days I will get to hold this incredible baby boy that I have gotten to get to know for the past 9 months. But, no matter how exciting that idea is I am really scared for what that means. A major abdominal surgery is never exciting. A fear of the unknown is definitely upon me. But, all I can rest in at this point is knowing that God is going to take care of me and baby Jack through it all. I am so thankful that I have a supportive husband that has loved me through this whole process and it has made me love him even more than I thought possible.

I hope to use this blog to share our exciting journey into a new chapter of life while sharing the honest and raw moment of everything from my birth story to all that mommyhood has to offer. I know that Google has become a frequent website visited to try and answer all of the bizarre questions I have had has a new mommy to be, so maybe through sharing my stories I can help answer any questions that other new mom's might have.

Until next time :)

Aubree