Our Pregnancy (Including Video of Telling Ty I'm Pregnant!

Initially, I thought I would be blogging during my entire pregnancy. Somehow, the time managed to fly by as we were pre-occupied with getting ready for baby, maintaining our jobs, getting prepared for a few weeks off of work, and tackling the cabin project. Today, I am sharing a brief overview of all three trimesters, in addition to the moment (with video!) that I told Ty that I'm pregnant (what I know you are all really here for!), and us finding out the gender! 

Telling Ty I was pregnant!

This was one of the best days of my life (second to the day we welcomed our baby Brooks into the world!). I have probably watched this video 1,000 times, never without tears. 

I always knew that I wanted to be the one to tell Ty, rather than take the test together. I'm not sure why, I have just always looked forward to being the one to give him the gift of such great news. He planned such a beautiful engagement proposal five years ago, and I always thought I would return the gesture by planning an epic "You're going to be a Dad" announcement, someday.

I have originally planned to buy three Florida State Jerseys, "Jansma" written on the back...one for me, one for Ty, and a teeny tiny jersey to indicate that we were becoming parents. I quickly realized that this was not going to work as there was no way that I could hold in the secret for two days while the jerseys shipped! Instead, I wrote Ty a letter.

I took the test while Ty was attending a house showing. A few hours later, he returned home, and took a phone call just as he walked in the door. It happened to be a long call. I paced frantically and stress-cleaned until he was off the phone. I moved a bunch of decor in the living room to the TV console, making it look cluttered, and hid my phone behind a plant. I explained to Ty that I was "redecorating." In reality, I had made the surface look cluttered so he would not detect the camera. I'm always "redecorating," so he didn't think twice about it. This was a moment I wanted to capture and relive for a lifetime. We write each other love notes occassionally, so it was not entirely unusual that I welcomed him home with a note. See he reaction below! ​I handed Ty the letter, the third page ending with the news of our pregnancy.

That evening, we went out to dinner, then proceeded to stay up almost all night discussing baby names, relishing in disbelief, and thinking about how much life was about to change. I will cherish this memory forever and am so grateful for this gift of a child, and, for the blessing of being married to my best friend. He is such a wonderful Dad. 

Finding out the Gender

Instead of having a gender reveal party (which are so much fun!), we decided to find out the news of the gender alone and enjoy the intimate moment together. We were on a "baby moon" in California when our doctor called with the results. We drove to the ocean (Torrey Pines State Park - one of our favorite spots) and took the call as the waves rolled in on a beautiful Californian afternoon! 

First Trimester

First trimester was off to a rough start. Shortly after finding out we were pregnant, we attended my little brother's wedding in Nashville. Since we were half way to the beach, we decided to keep heading South to spend a few days in Florida. You may remember that we were under contract for a house in Florida, 30a area. The new build was experiencing some delays. Ultimately, the deal fell apart, and did so while we were on this trip. Long story short, I found myself overwhelmed by the stress of the conflict with the builder, and passed out on the pavement while on a walk one evening. After a night in the emergency room, we were discharged. Thankfully, the baby and myself were okay, but it was not without a scare. 

Aside from that episode, I was fortunate to have a pretty easy first trimester. Thankfully, I did not deal with a lot of nausea nor vomiting. The only struggle was exhaustion....deep, undeniable exhaustion like I had never felt! I also had a strong aversion to coffee, which certainly did not help! I napped often, went to bed at 8, and walked around like a zombie for weeks. I did have some cravings, mainly Caesar salads and lemon flavored anything! 

Second Trimester

The second trimester was mainly a breeze. The only negative symptom I dealt with was restless leg syndrome while trying to sleep. It was BAD. I did find that compression socks and magnesium supplements helped. Otherwise, second trimester was filled with normalcy: walking, working, traveling, and the like! ​We also took our baby moon during second trimester, which was great timing. Southern California, one last time pre-kids, was a week of memories we will cherish! 

Third Trimester

Our third trimester got off to a wild start as we drove down to Georgia to tackle the cabin project just after I turned 6 months. We furnished and decorated the house in less than two weeks. That, in addition to a lot of travel for work (extra to prepare for maternity leave), made our third trimester rather exhausting. The hectic schedule started to catch up with me when I hit 8 months. I came down with a serious cold that lingered on for a few weeks. I had trouble sleeping, breathing, and could hardly talk. A scratchy sore throat and acid reflux was a terrible combo! Safe to say, third trimester came with some challenges, but we loved watching my belly grow! Then came delivery...which was difficult (44 hours, unmedicated...birth story to come in a separate post).​

Pregnancy Wardrobe

I hardly shopped for maternity clothes. I purchased 3 pair of maternity leggings and a few pair of maternity underwear/spanx. My sis in law did buy me one adorable maternity shirt (which I wore a lot, especially during third trimester). I preferred not to stock up on many maternity clothes as I disliked the idea of buying something for such short term use! I made it work with flowy dresses, T-shirts, and oversized sweaters; most of which I already owned, and a few I purchased, knowing they would work post-pregnancy too. My regular Lululemon Wunder Under leggings worked until I was around 6 months, and the Lulu Swiftly Relaxed Shirt worked until I was nearly full term (very stretchy in the tummy area!)

Below are the maternity leggings I purchased, along with some of the dresses I owned or purchased

I shared all about our baby shopping list and registry here in this post. I have another coming all about Brooks' wardrobe, and one more about my third trimester "to do" list which compiles everything we set out to do in preparation for "fourth trimester!" I'll write a post about Brooks' delivery, too; which was not as smooth as the rest of our pregnancy journey.

Thank you for celebrating this time of life with us!

​Hannah