Hi.......................it's been awhile...............
I promise there is a good reason for the blog hiatus! A very small, teeny, exciting one.
That's right! Baby Davis is officially making it's way into the world Father's Day 2015. We are beyond pumped and have been sitting on our news for a solid 8 weeks, so we decided to officially make things social-media official this Thanksgiving. What better time to share, because we are truly thankful for this wonderful blessing in our lives. That and I truly COULD NOT hold it in any longer. Our families and close friends and a few co-workers have known, but we kept things quiet in Facebook land. My mom took our announcement pictures Thanksgiving Day, which seemed like the best time to share. Even Boone managed to cooperate....sort of!
He's not quite sure what that stocking means yet...
A lot of people have asked for the details on how we found out and shared the news. I'll start at the beginning (well not the exact beginning, you guys all know how this works). We started trying in August after our vacation in Florida. In September, I thought I might have been knocked up, but was not. The first week in October, I felt slightly off. I couldn't put my finger on it. I was killing it in the gym and eating super clean, but I was feeling a little more winded and just more tired, but just kind of ignored any pregnancy type symptoms and kept going. Because I was pumped at my strength progress over the past few weeks, who knew there was something else going on.
October 9th, I randomly invited a friend over for wine. Weirdly enough, right after I did that, I decided to pee on a stick, because that totally makes sense to do that. I mean, that's completely logical, right?
October 9th, I randomly invited a friend over for wine. Weirdly enough, right after I did that, I decided to pee on a stick, because that totally makes sense to do that. I mean, that's completely logical, right?
I forgot about the test sitting on the counter, came back in about 10 minutes later, and had to do a double take, because there was a very faint line down the middle. I was shocked, hot, excited, and about to faint all at once. I even ran outside in the sunlight to look at it again, and sure enough, it was there. I felt like I was totally imagining it, so off went a text to Jarrett to see if he saw it, and to my best friend, who is a nurse. Jarrett's response was "Woaaaaaaaaaaaaah!". Which resulted in about 100 text messages/questions on what we do next. My best friend replied "Yep, you are definitely preggers". Let's just say there was no wine drinking for me that night.
Amazing how a few short moments can change your life. There was a butter bean in there.
Because my lovely sister has a 6th sense, she called right after I took my test. The best part was she had been in a minor fender bender that day (OK that was not awesome), but I let her talk about her stressful day for a solid 10-15 minutes. And then I decided to break the news. I told her I had some news that would brighten her day and told her I had just taken the test. She was BEYOND excited. I'm talking screaming into the phone, forgetting her accident, jumping all around-excited. This is her first niece/nephew, so she's super pumped.
This all went down on a Thursday, and we had already made plans to visit my parents that weekend before knowing we were pregnant. And it was tough to decide on if we should share that early, because I was literally like 4 weeks pregnant, according to Google. Anything could happen in that first trimester and I was a little nervous about that. But we decided to share anyway with them, because I'm a big blabbermouth and it is hard to keep my mouth shut over such big news like that.
We stopped halfway through our road trip that Friday to buy them T-shirts for their announcement. Jarrett attended the University of South Carolina, so we bought T Shirts from the USC book store that said Grandpa Cock and Grandma Hen (mascot is a Gamecock, kinda like a rooster). We put them in bags and headed up the road. We walked in the door and chit chatted for about 15 minutes. Then I let them know we had some gifts for them. They opened up their shirts. My mom figured everything out first, MEANWHILE, my dad is not paying attention to the shirt and goes "Oh another Carolina shirt! Thanks!". HELLO! I had to tell him to read the front. About 30 seconds of re-reading, he got it, and they were over the moon. They are first time grandparents, and let's just say that the rest of the weekend was pretty much a big celebration.
When we got back home, we broke the news to Jarrett's parents next. We went to their house one evening and had no idea how to make our announcement, because we didn't do T Shirts or have a cute idea. Mainly because I was very tied and lazy at that point. We had a hard time coming up with something. As we walked in, our sweet almost 2 year old nephew came running towards us and we knew he would be our announcement. We found a piece of paper and wrote "I'm going to have a cousin!" on it and kept it in our chairs until dinner. We gave it to him and said "Brody, show everyone your note!". Well, he didn't know what that meant, but we held it up anyway and the Davis's were super pumped to find out another grandbaby was joining the family. And it was fun to have our nephew as part of the fun.
Anyway, it's been 8 weeks since all of that and a lot has happened. We had our first appointment. It went extremely well. Seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat was probably one of the best days of my life. Hearing what sounded like galloping horses was the best sound in the world. Strong heart rate of 167. He or she is an athlete, like mama :) We also purchased a house to support our growing nest and are closing in December. It truly came out of the blue and we got a great deal and it just felt right. We are moving to a great neighborhood of older homes that is near a good school district, and close to all parts of Charleston. It's a little scary to do all of this close to the holidays, but life is scary, so we're just going with it. Boone was in desperate need of a yard, and we got one with this house, so this worked out great.
Pregnancy has been pretty uneventful so far. I haven't gotten sick, which has been great. I have felt nauseous at times, and it was a CHORE to go through the grocery store most days. I feel like a vampire with the super sonic sense of smell. I had to make Jarrett get groceries up until this past week. I have good days and bad days. The draining exhaustion was the first sign that my body was changing. I mean, I did not even realize how tired I would be.
If I were to tell you guys I was eating clean this entire time, that would be a complete lie. I've avoided veggies altogether for 8 weeks, but have craved fruit, so that was a fair trade. I wanted pizza and breadsticks A LOT. I've craved cereal. I consumed a lot of pretzels and soda crackers to not feel nauseous or dizzy most days. I carb loaded :) My protein intake has probably gone down, because eating any type of meat made me want to gag. Even in week 11 when I'm feeling better, I can't do a lot of meat just yet. So I'm trying to stick to some protein shakes and drinks to supplement that. It's tough to be in a competitor mindset and work out hardcore all the time and watch what you eat, and then your body takes on a completely different mission. It 's like being in an alien's body, there is no controlling what's going on with you. I've cried in front of my boss twice now and given him a complex :) Hormones...
And I'll be completely honest you guys, because I'm always honest on here, that part was tough for me. To avoid the gym because I was tired all the time made me feel like a weak person. There were times where I would drive up and sit in the parking lot and the thought of lifting weights made me ill. I felt so out of touch with myself. I would go home, pour some cereal, and lay on the couch until bed time in the first 8 weeks. It was super tough. I mainly stuck to walking the dog a lot and doing squats and lunges when I felt like it. I've felt the muscle tone weaken in the past few weeks, and that has been hard, because I was performing a lot of CrossFit type workouts up until I found out I was pregnant. My doctor encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing before with modified weights and a little less plyo. Working out does make me feel better, but feeling so stinking tired made it hard to do anything. That was a tough thing for me to accept.
Side note, on all of this being a tough transition. I have to give major props to my hubs, as J has been completely supportive of my mood swings, my down days, and gassiness. Well, maybe not that last part, but he's been a trooper. He knows the days I feel awful and there's either dinner/takeout waiting on me, or clothes folded. As we come close to celebrating 1 year of marriage soon, I cannot be more thankful for this amazing man that does everything for his family. I am truly blessed to have him as a partner. He will make a wonderful daddy. He's rooting for a boy so bad!
Once I did accept that my body was changing, I understood it was for a good reason. I'm building a home for the next few months for a wonderful little being that needs my nutrition. At 11 weeks, I have finally started to feel better. I rest when I feel like I need to rest. If a 3 hour nap is in the cards, I take it. If a jog with Boone feels good, I do that. I'm planning to re-introduce some weight lifting this week, mainly light lower body, but working on toning my arms and shoulders. Those were coming along SO nicely a few weeks back, but now I feel like I have bat wings again. I've done a ton of reading on the benefits of strength training for easier deliveries and increased blood supply to the baby, so that's my goal over the next few weeks as I hopefully feel better. Maybe some pilates thrown in for additional low impact strengthening. I do feel like eating some healthier meals finally, so I'm excited to get back to meal prepping. With the house stuff happening as fast as it is, it will be tough to do these next 2 weeks, but I'm happy to eat things that make me feel good again.
That's the latest! Last week of the 1st trimester is right around the corner, along with another doctor's appointment, so more news to come soon. The purpose of Chubby Spin Instructor doesn't change, so keep an eye out for a surge in some new workout and healthy eating posts this week!
Much love to you all that have been supportive! Glad to be back in the world of writing now!
