If this post contains any links they may be affiliate links for which I may receive a commission if you click on the link and purchase the item. All opinions remain my own.
After miscarrying in July, you can read more about that here, we decided that we would wait 3 months before trying again. I set about getting back in shape and went to the gym pretty much every day. My period returned like nothing had happened and I continued to track it to make sure we’d know when my fertile days were. When October rolled around, I told my husband we were ready to give this a try.
To kick off our fertile window, which I estimated to be between October 12-19 we went out to our local brewery, Low Tide Brewing. I didn’t drink of course because I didn’t want to startle any of my eggs after our last experience but my husband got one of Low Tide Brewing’s unique beers and we sat outside. We were sitting under an oak tree and I was sipping my Sprite when an acorn hit me square in the head. I took it as a sign from the Universe that we were going to be successful in planting a little life. I kept that acorn and started talking to my belly like the job had already been done.
We got to work after that. To be honest, I was worried that we hadn’t done the baby dance (as it’s referred to in the trying to conceive boards) enough that week. It can be hard to keep a medical resident awake sometimes no matter how hot the lingerie you’re wearing is. And I won’t lie to you I started testing entirely too early. Everything seemed like a weird feeling that I hadn’t had before. But I believe that we lassoed the egg (and our dating scan supports this) on the very last day of the window. I remember it distinctly because we went to see the movie First Man and on the way to the movie theater I got really dizzy. Car rides don’t normally make me dizzy. Just like I normally don’t cry six times during a movie but boy did I cry like a baby during that film. My husband declared, “you’re pregnant.”
I started my new job a few days after that and had the weirdest experience during orientation. Every last nerve ending, joint, and muscle fiber felt like it was on fire. I’d never had so much all over discomfort start seemingly out of nowhere. I remember thinking to myself if this pain continued I would need to go home. But I somehow managed to make it through that first day.
A couple days later I was off to Savannah, GA to meet up with a couple of girlfriends for a quick girls trip. Since Halloween was in a few days it ended up having a very haunted theme. I wasn’t sure if I should be drinking or otherwise overdoing it since I still hadn’t confirmed if I was pregnant or not but I was definitely not feeling like my typical premenstrual self. My breasts were killing me and I felt so bloated! Since eliminating inflammatory foods from my diet I didn’t really get bloated before my period and had very little breast tenderness. I remember I tested just before leaving on the trip and got another negative. Part of me was starting to wonder if I had just convinced myself that I was pregnant when I really wasn’t. Nonetheless, I enjoyed our different haunted tours, especially the Hearse Ghost Tour we did, complete with a stop at the very haunted Six Pence Pub.
I promised myself I wouldn’t test again until Halloween when my period should have been due. I had used up all of my pregnancy tests so I couldn’t test that morning and had to wait until I got home from work that afternoon. I remember rushing home, taking the test, seeing the line and bursting into tears. Acorn was in there all right! I had bought a little box that said ‘Life is My Favorite Adventure’ weeks prior in anticipation of good news. I stuck the test in there with a little note that read ‘Hi Daddy – Acorn’ and put the box in the oven. I figured I would ask my husband to grab me something out of the oven and record his reaction. His reaction was pretty adorable, complete with rap and everything.
We were so pumped but I didn’t call my doctor to schedule an appointment right away. I waited a couple of weeks because I suppose I was nervous about getting bad news. Surprisingly, when I did finally call to schedule an appointment they got me in right away. My pregnancy was confirmed with a urine test but when they went to look at the placement of the embryo all they could see was the gestational sac and a tiny little yolk. They told me that even though based on my last menstrual period I should be closer to 8 weeks that it looked like I was measuring a week behind and that we would need to have another confirmatory ultrasound in a couple of weeks. At first, my heart sank but then I remembered that with Sprout we hadn’t had a yolk sac at all so this was already going so much better. We didn’t receive any pictures from that first ultrasound, though we sure did get a bill for it.
My morning sickness conveniently started over Thanksgiving. We’d driven down to Miami to spend Thanksgiving with my folks. Nothing was enjoyable to eat except Cuban bread, croquettes, and mashed potatoes. I threw up once while at my folk’s house. My morning sickness would continue through Week 13 of pregnancy, though thankfully, I averaged about one puke per week.
We came back from that trip and had our follow-up doctors appointment. I had faith that we would see little Acorn this time around. And sure enough, we saw the cutest little shrimp on the big screen with a powerful heartbeat of 173 bpm. There was definitely a little person growing inside of me. My due date was officially set to July 13, 2019, and we could finally break the news to everyone. If you follow me on Instagram (which you really should) you saw our Christmas in July announcement.
Over the next several weeks my nausea and fatigue were too rough to get any exercise in. Any kind of fast moment made me feel like I was going to throw up. I was working full-time and was completely wiped out every day by 8pm but I felt like I was having it a lot easier than a lot of other ladies.
Around Week 11 I did get a couple of headaches that resolved themselves on their own. Otherwise, things were pretty uneventful for me. And we went back to see Acorn at the beginning of Week 13 to find a perfect little person growing in there, that posed perfectly for the tech and when Daddy walked into the ultrasound room started bouncing around and showing off; even got some hiccups.
We feel so blessed to be entrusted with this little life and are so excited to receive Acorn in July. Stick around the blog for updates and any tips I pick up along the way. Also, thank you to everyone who said kind words and sent prayers following the events with Sprout and prayed that we’d get our little blessing. Our little Acorn has already filled us with so much joy.
