Pregnant With Baby Number 2!!

 Pregnant with Baby Number 2!!

If you follow along on my instagram (@tessaarmstrong8 also linked on the right side of my blog) you know that we are expecting Baby number 2 this June! Now that the cats out of the bag I wanted to fill you guys in on life lately.  Im sure you noticed I have been a little MIA lately and posting way less often, I've been battling severe all day nausea (not throwing up thankfully) just like I did with Cash in the first trimester. Its awful! I have also been exhausted beyond reason so trying to take care of my 15 month old has been about the only way I can exhaust any energy because I really dont have much these days. I couldn't keep this special secret to myself for much longer so I wanted to share early on like I did with Cash because its so much more real and beautiful when your loved ones know and can be praying for your bun in the oven.

We found out we were pregnant a couple weeks into living in our new home, so talk about craziness, I was trying to unpack and organize our new house and then started feeling exhausted and sick nearly right away. Bad timing, but we are so thrilled!! I found out while my husband was at work and couldn't hold it in and knew I had to tell him right when he got home that day. So I put Cash in a cute little onesie that read "Let the Adventure Begin" and had him waiting out front holding a pair of baby shoes to hand to daddy when he pulled up. I picked girl shoes so it would be obvious they weren't Cashs (we still dont know the gender).  Here are some cute shots I snapped of the boys right when they found out.

So I know some of you asked about me doing bump updates like I did with our first pregnancy and I've decided I'll do them because they're a great way to keep a journal of all that goes on and be able to hold on to those special moments, but also because I have found how much I enjoy other bloggers who share their experiences and find a way to relate to other women as we go through this incredibly amazing but difficult journey of creating a life. Pregnancy is no easy feat.   I'll probably do a monthly pregnancy update, not much changes week to week but month by month is a whole other story, so you guys can expect those.

How far along: 11 Weeks (Due date June 11th)

Gender: We'll find out in about 3 1/2 weeks

Maternity Clothes:  I have whipped out my maternity leggings and jeans already, just because they're more comfortable when the baby sits so low right now and my uterus is expanding, cramping, and stretching. It can get really uncomfortable when anything tight is touching where my uterus is (which is right where my pants button). The belly band and hair tie trick work too, but who are we kidding, maternity jeans/leggings are just way more comfortable. Theres no shame in that. 

Sleep: I became uncomfortable pretty quickly with this pregancy. I think its all the bloating and stretching that happens around night time. From right around 5 weeks and up until now I have so much bloating happening that its literally already uncomfortable. I dread getting in bed because my lower back has already started hurting if I lay on it, so im having to sleep on my side which feels like my stomach is heavy and already needs a pillow under it for support. Its insane how quickly my stomach has popped with this second baby! Maybe its because I had a 7.4 lb baby 16 months ago. lol

Miss Anything:  feeling good. ..Being nauseas feels like I have had the flu for 2 months.

Cravings: just like with my first pregnancy I am currently craving fruit, citrus fruit like cuties and oranges sound so yummy, and cold raspberries and watermelon.  At week 4 & 5 I was craving carbs like movie theatre popcorn and cheeze its and pizza. Its so weird what our bodies tell us we want.  At weeks 6-9 I really wanted soups, butternut squash soup, tomato soup and tortilla soup sounded so good. 

Adversions: I have had an adversion to anything i cook, lol. Cooking has been something that grosses me out and makes me gauge thinking about, so we have done wayyyy too much eating out these past 2 months, exactly like when I was pregnant with Cash in my first trimester.  

Symptoms: Less cramping and stretching now that ive passed the first two months, I have really awful constipation (isnt this pointless if im not honest?) this is due to being on Zofran (my anti nausea medication again). This same problem happened with my first pregnancy, and let me tell you, it is NO fun.  I tried 2 other medications and they didnt work at all. This time around Zofran only works off and on, with Cash it felt like it took away all of my nausea.  I am always hungry, & I have to eat every 2 hours because if I dont im nauseas again.  Really exhausted but I started feeling a tiny bit more motivated and energized around 10 weeks. Im breaking out on my face, and even my body like i did with Cash in my 1st tri.  And I was really hormonal from week 3.5 to week 8 (thats one of the ways I knew i was pregnant!).  

Belly Button in or out: in

Mood: Really ready to be done feeling sick

Best Moment this week: Having more energy!! 

Looking forward to:  Finding out the gender! Also, being able to work out again, i've taken a month or so off of the gym and I am feeling more motivated and less tired now so Im happy to be feeling better.

Exercise: I stopped exercising for the last month or so, I went to my first Dr appointment and the ultrasound found a small bleed in my uterus, I havent had any spotting or pain or anything, but it just means I had  to be careful for a few weeks so it would heal. I had the same thing happen with Cash early on and it healed perfectly by 12 weeks.  My dr. said it was nothing concerning and they see it all the time, its really common as the gestational sac grows bigger and stretches.  Im not worried about it but I wanted to be safe and do whatever I could to have it heal quicker and keep our baby safe.  It was also a nice break for me while being so tired to just give myself time to rest. 

We are excited to have our little ones 2 years apart and to be giving Cash a sibling.  We are so thankful our little angel is growing healthy and has a strong heartbeat. I can't thank God enough for this blessing.

  If you're on this journey with me and expecting a baby, Id love to hear about how you've been feeling, foods you've been craving, and how you stay healthy and take care of yourself while being pregnant. Also what do you think we are having, a boy or a girl?

Xo

Reflecting Back On Pregnancy & Thankfulness:

Reflecting Back On Pregnancy & Thankfulness:

"There is such a sweetness in being able to participate in creation"

I cannot believe this photo was taken almost a year ago. This was the day we shared we were pregnant with both of our families. I was 6 weeks pregnant and it was Thanksgiving day.  My heart is so happy looking back at that "me" and that "him".  We were newlyweds, it was just the two of us, and we had just found out that we were creating life inside my tummy & were able to share our secret with the people we love most. This was  SUCH a special time for us. Reflecting back causes so much emotion to stir within me. I cannot believe our little boy is here. I cannot believe that we are parents and how much pregnancy and being the parents to this little angel has changed us and changed our lives. Im in tears as I write this thinking about the beauty and the joy that God has placed in our hearts for this child,.. thinking about all the change that has taken place before our very eyes.. thinking about who my husband has become.. a father, a man that wants so badly to be a good example to his son.  I look in the mirror and I see a woman of strength, a woman that has learned more now than ever about selflessness and true love. My boys are my world and i am so very blessed and thankful to say and have that. I would give my life for these two humans, I dont know that I could have ever meant that before.  

I love looking back at the joy that we were experiencing in this moment. I remember my sister taking this picture of us, it was the very first picture of us all together as a family of three, little Cash man was cooking up in my belly.  This photo forever documents the moment when we were able to share in our joy and excitement and allow reality to set in.  It was now real, we were having a baby.  

Thanksgiving will forever remind me of how grateful we were that day to be having our first baby. Not knowing his sex at the time and just dreaming of what parenthood would be like. Pregnancy is just such a special gift, there is just such a sweetness in being able to participate in creation with the one you love most in this world.  Today I am thankful for Thanksgiving, for family, for babies, and for my sweet boys. 

What are you thankful for? 

Pregnancy Update.. 5 Weeks

Tummy update + Symptoms and more

Pre baby body (taken at 4 weeks pregnant)

Pre baby Body (taken at 4 weeks pregnant)

 5 Weeks Pregnant (above photo)

6 Week baby belly

 Dinner with our friends, my girl friend Kelly is 6mnths ahead of me (im 6 weeks here)

My first trimester of pregancy was very tiring and busy due to it being holiday season.  For this reason I have gotten so behind on blogging and am now just catching up.  I wanted to do weekly posts on all of my symptoms, cravings, what I was feeling emotionally and physically etc: So here it goes with catching up:

How far along: 5 weeks, 4 days:

Woke up to a little spotting in the morning. (Nothing to be worried about, but of course being a new mommy everything made me anxious because you dont know what is normal.  My Dr. said spotting is a very common symptom that plenty of women experience at some point in their pregancy. Most experience this right after implantation in their first weeks of being pregnant. A lot of women mistake it as a light period and then dont even realize until a month later that they had conceived.

Symptoms: Nausea has begun. Spotting. REALLY HUNGRY. Boobs tripled in size from my prebaby boobs.  Exhausted. 

Dr. advised me to not work out and put me on complete pelvic rest due to the spotting just as a precaution. The nurse said specifically "try to not do anything for 7 days, if the spotting is gone for 7 days then you can proceed with activities and intercourse, etc. If the spotting comes back, wait an additional period until you have 7 days go by without spotting. I decided to take 3 weeks off from the gym until I knew for certain our little baby was safe and had a heart beat.  It was a nice break but Im not going to lie, it was hard to wait to be with my husband (we waited only 2 weeks for that), and I was going stir crazy at home, unable to work because my nausea was so awful.  

Food Adversions:  EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING HEALTHY. I couldn't even open the refridgerator or look at it. My husband had to go out and get me every meal 3 times a day because I couldn't cook or be around food in the kitchen. Every meal and every day had to be something different because the food I had eaten the day before would gross me out and nauseate me even more. This was so difficult for me because I was forced to eat foods I'd never usaully eat, especially when keeping the health of my baby in mind..i was eating fast food like taco bell, chick filet, Dafne's, subway, Del Taco, bagels from ILOVE BAGELS and Bruggers.  All I could stomach was carbs. My sweet mom made me spaghetti, macaroni, etc to try to help out.  
Cravings: none, it was more about "what foods can I tolerate? what is not going to make me puke thinking about it"

On Thanksgiving day we decided to tell our families we were pregnant using a fun homemade video with pictures of my husband and I as babies, kids, teens, and then the story of how we met, our engagement video and photos, and then our wedding..ending the video with the BIG SURPRISE of our babies first ultrasound (my best friend is an ultrasound technician so we were able to see our little baby growing at just 5weeks!)
  
The day after Thanksgiving I remember is right about when the nausea came on full force.   My husband and I went on the search for "preggie pops" and ginger capsules. We finally found them at Baby's R US and Mother's market for the capsules. 

EXCITING NEWS!!

We are PREGNANT! Yep, we are having a BABY!

The news came just as shockingly to us one early November morning..

I journaled that week just so I could savor the moment and remember it forever, ever since then I have periodically been journaling to keep track of this FIRST TIME EVER PREGNANCY (for us)! Heres what I jotted down:

When I first found out I was pregnant I was in complete SHOCK. I don’t think I’ve really ever been in shock in that way. I was shocked when I got into Pepperdine, shocked when i got into grad school. Shocked when Taylor proposed, but nothing NOTHING compares to this. In that very moment, I couldn't even understand what THIS MEANT?

I was terrified. I thought, “my husband is going to hate me”. "Im ruining OUR plans",  "we haven't prepared". I don’t know how I blamed myself, when it definitely takes two to make a baby.  I guess I let the enemy take over... fear filled my thoughts instantly. I leaned my head against the bathroom wall and prayed. I prayed for protection, I didn’t really have words but I knew the Holy Spirit knew what I needed, and I remember praying for my husbands reaction for when I walked out the bathroom door to go break the exciting/terrifying news. 

I came out and starting BALLING.  I was overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions, as well hormonal i'm sure. I called for him in a quivering voice.."baaabe". He came rushing toward me and held me in his arms the moment he saw I was crying. “Whats wrong, whats wrong. Babe talk to me,” he said frantically.  I couldn’t say anything. I was in shock.  The words eventually came out after what seemed like forever, “I think im pregnant”.  "What do you mean? How? How do you know?" He didn’t understand, so I led him to look at the two tests, clear as day, on the counter. I burst into even more tears, anticipating his reaction.  He remained completely calm. He took me by my hands and sat me on the floor. As I cried tears of fear and worry, he held my hands in his, looked me in the eyes, and said ever so calmly, ”when I married you, I had every intention of being the father of your children.. yes, we didn’t plan for this right at this moment but God did and we need to accept that and be grateful for this blessing. I want you to be excited. Im going to do everything I can to protect you and take care of you”.  Talk about PERFECT.  Husband, yes, you are perfection. I am such a blessed lady.

      "You’re just saying this cuz im crying and emotional?” 

       "No Tess, I mean it. I feel completely at peace. This is Gods plan.  Lets go to the store and get another test, a digital one, so we know for sure and we can take it from there". 

 We ate breakfast, I calmed down and then we got into the car to go to the store.  After we picked up the digital test he pulled up to our house and told me ”when you go inside I want you to take the test, and whatever the results are I want you to be happy, don’t look back, just look forward knowing God has  plan and we can be excited, He's got us hunny.”  

"PREGNANT". No doubt about it. It showed up within seconds on the digital test.  At this point I was so thrilled to see that I was.  We smiled, hugged, kissed, were tearful (this time, happy excited tears of joy).  We went back to the store, got prenatal vitamins, iron, and body butter..  We walked over to barnes & noble and picked up “what to expect when you’re expecting”.  We wanted to look forward and be excited! No more tears, no more not trusting the Lord.  My husband was my rock that day. He always is. He keeps me grounded, he reminds me to believe in God and believe His plans are far greater than ours.  Together we threw our plans to the wind and gave them to Him.   Together we realized kids have always been what we want, it just wasn't the timing we thought our first baby would come by.  But its also not the timing of two parents who have been trying for a baby for 5 years and have yet to conceive.  So let me just say how grateful we are. We know this is by far the biggest blessing God has ever given us in our marriage and we couldn't be more thrilled.  We haven't looked back since that split second that I allowed the enemy to flood my mind with fear. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of fun things like baby names, and talked about what our future would be like from now on.  We knew everything was going to change.  I started to get more and more excited as the day went on.  The days following were surreal..is this really happening.. all the pregnancy symptoms came on FULL FORCE.  Waking up 3-4 times a night to pee.  Exhausted and could barely walk, let alone work out.  HUNGRY all the time, even right after i had eaten. I researched every vitamin and had to stop taking most things.  Morning sickness came at around 5 1/2 weeks. I was and am in complete protective mommy mode. 

I was not ready for this. Nor did I think I could be a mom any time soon, but the moment you find out you are pregnant you truly do become a mom. I think its different for men, I think they need to feel the baby move or see it before they understand how real this is.  We started reading all about the changes our baby goes through weekly as it grows, as well as what mommy goes through each week.  We pray morning and night with our hands on our new famiy member. Its nuts, and happened so quickly but we both feel at peace now and feel so so so very thankful for this precious gift of life.

Ive been reading baby blogs... I have become a mommy-blog-aholic! I read so many blogs now all about pregnancy, what they went through, and find it soothing to be amongst women who have experienced exactly what I am experiencing. I find it so facinating! So I have decided to blog, as often as I can. This way other pregnant women can relate and read my story, just as I read other's and feel more sane along this crazy journey. AND, I will have a neat diary of my entire pregnancy to look back on one day. 

So here it goes..

<3



I hope our story of fear, excitement, love, laughter, and hope can be inspiring to someone else.