Surprise! I’m Pregnant with Baby #2

Like I did when I was pregnant with Lex, I’ll be sharing some pregnancy updates on the blog, and specifically how pregnancy relates to nutrition. But no, I am not a prenatal dietitian, just sharing my personal experiences. I know pregnancy is a sensitive subject and these types of posts can be triggering for some people, so please take care of yourself first and foremost. 

Surprise! I’m pregnant… again! 

Although, to be completely honest, it’s probably not a huge surprise… I’ve been less present on Instagram than I was postpartum, my son just turned 2 (I feel like that’s the age people start asking… even though they probably shouldn’t!), and I’ve been sick and run down WAY more (which is totally hard to hide when you document so much of your life).

Despite a challenging first 13-14 weeks of my pregnancy, I’m SO grateful to be carrying this baby, healthy, and happy!

Family Planning in a Pandemic

I know I’m not alone when I say the pandemic definitely played a role in our family planning. I always thought that I would have kids 2 years apart (maybe because I’m just over 2 years apart from my older brother), but the pandemic definitely got in the way.

At the beginning of COVID we had to let our nanny go. Chaos ensued and I was working early mornings, late nights, and weekends in my business and became a full-time mom to Lex during the day. As I have chronic lung disease, we were extra careful. We didn’t want any help in the house until we knew it would be safe. 

With no help in the house we knew we couldn’t have another baby because then I really wouldn’t be able to work. So we decided to wait until the pandemic was “over” to grow our family. (More on that with the resurgence of delta soon.)

Luckily, we heard about the vaccination getting approved in December, so I knew help (and baby making) would be around the corner.

I know a lot of families had to put fertility treatments on hold during the pandemic, and my heart goes out to you. I can’t imagine how hard that must be when you’re in a waiting game. Even though we didn’t personally experience fertility struggles, there were definitely times I felt like my life was on hold because we weren’t trying yet. But we knew waiting until we were vaccinated was the best decision for our family.

Vaccinated… check! Time to make a baby…

I was really lucky getting pregnant with Lex 3 years ago because I got pregnant naturally without stressing over timing. I never tested my ovulation and scrambled to make a baby (IYKYK).

This time was pretty different. My cycles were fairly long since I got my period back after birthing and nursing Lex for 9 months. This meant I really had NO idea when I was ovulating AKA when you have to be ON your baby making game. 

I invested in ovulation predictor kits, started tracking my basal temperature, and tracking my cycles. Aside from continuing my prenatal vitamins (I never stopped since having Lex), I didn’t change much else when we decided to start trying. I tried to minimize stress, and having our nanny part-time definitely helped, but there’s no magic bullet when you have a toddler around!

How I found out I was pregnant…

One cycle this spring my period was late. So obviously on the exact day I expected my period and didn’t wake up with it, I took a test. And it was negative. Womp womp. I remember feeling SO disappointed.

We actually went to a BBQ at a friend’s house that night and I felt so bloated and blah and had zero appetite. Apparently after we left my friend’s husband said “I bet Chelsey is pregnant.” My friend (who knew we were trying) told me this the next day and I was like “No I’m really not!”

But when I still didn’t get my period a few days later (it was a Tuesday), I took another test… and there was the faintest line. I screamed from the bathroom to my husband (who was still sleeping) to double check if I was seeing something or if I could actually be pregnant… and he said he saw it too!

After taking approximately 5 more tests… (and then one every couple of days until I went to the doctor) I called a doctor to schedule my first appointment. I actually decided to switch doctors because we moved out to the suburbs since my last pregnancy. Luckily, a lot of new friends out here made some recommendations.

Due to my long cycles I was earlier than my “last missed period” indicated, so I had to wait FOREVER to see the doctor (or just another 5-6 weeks).

The day I found out I was pregnant I waited approximately 6 hours before calling my parents. I just couldn’t hold it in this time (last time we waited until I had seen the doctor). 

First Trimester…

… was exhausting! I was just SO tired… and nauseous. And didn’t want to eat anything except buttery, cheesy carbs! I’ll do an entire first trimester recap, but just couldn’t wait to share our happy news! 

Thank you so much for being a part of my family and our journey!
XO