That’s right! Our family is growing; we are expecting baby number two! If you don’t follow me on social media, then you missed our pregnancy announcement. We took family photos in July and used our shoot as an opportunity to capture some sweet photos of Jaden with pictures from our first ultrasound.

Check out our pregnancy announcement here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmHhlSLBJ8s/?taken-by=_ssullivan_

---

Due Date

Baby Sullivan is due February 13, 2019. Jaden and baby boy or girl will be almost three years apart.

Finding Out

We always knew we wanted more than one child. At the end of 2017, we decided that we would start trying for baby number 2 at the beginning of this year. After just one month of trying, we conceived. I guess I wasn’t too surprised because it didn’t take us long to conceive with Jaden. I found myself pregnant near the end of February. Sadly, that pregnancy ended in an early loss at 5 weeks. Per the doctor’s recommendation and to allow for emotional healing, we waited one full cycle before we started trying again in May.

The next month, around the time I was expecting my period, I decided to take a pregnancy test. It was Tommy’s birthday, June 4th. The test was negative, but for some reason, I had a feeling that I needed to test again. Two days later, on June 6th, I stopped bought a pregnancy test and took it as soon as I got home. It was positive, almost instantly! Tommy and I were both in disbelief given the negative test just two days before. To be sure, I took another test the next morning and it was positive as well. Of course, I wanted to be extra sure, so I took another test a few days later, this time a digital one, and we saw the words we were hoping to see…PREGNANT. It was official. There was no denying it. We were pregnant!

Telling Jaden

We decided to tell Jaden about the baby after the first ultrasound. Since the beginning of the year, he has been talking about having a baby sister. It’s like he already knew what to expect. Right now he seems really excited about the idea of having a baby brother or sister. He goes back and forth on whether the baby is a boy or girl. Sometimes he says he wants two! lol He understands that mommy has a baby in her belly and he even told a few people before we started sharing the news!

Telling Others

We shared the news with our families a few days after the first ultrasound. We found a cute shirt at Target that said “Worlds Best Brother.” With both of our families, it took a while for everyone to realize what the shirt said, but once they did, they were completely surprised.

Shortly after, we shared the news with extended family, friends, and coworkers. Everyone has been nothing but supportive and excited for us.

Symptoms

This pregnancy has been very different compared to my pregnancy with Jaden. For one, I graduated to maternity clothing fairly quickly. By 10 weeks, I found myself in Motherhood Maternity looking for pants from work. With my first pregnancy, I didn’t start wearing maternity pants until the second trimester. All my symptoms seem so much worse this time around. In the first trimester, I mostly dealt with fatigue, all day nausea/stomach aches, and constipation (maybe that’s TMI, but it’s the reality of being pregnant).

Most days after work, I would come home and only want to sleep. I typically got in bed as soon as we put Jaden down. Some nights I was sleep by 8:00 or 8:30. I literally had no energy.

With Jaden, I remember being nauseous, but not all day. This time around, nothing I tried seemed to help ease the yucky, nauseous feeling. Bland foods, water, and really eating anything only made me feel worse. On top of that, my digestive system slowed down significantly and I was extremely bloated and constipated, at times. I started taking progesterone shortly after finding out I was pregnant due to the previous loss and continued taking it until I reached 12 weeks. I’m confident, the added hormones only made my nausea, bloating and poor digestion worse.

Cravings/Aversions

So far, cravings this pregnancy have been different from week to week. Meal prepping in the first trimester was difficult because a lot of foods just didn’t sound good to me. I have mostly craved hot, cooked food. In the early weeks, salads and fruit weren’t really appealing. I tended to gravitate more towards carb heavy, cooked meals. Some specific things I craved in the first trimester included Chick-Fil-A, pizza, pasta, and breads.

The biggest aversions I had were water, apples, peanut butter, and crackers. Drinking enough water each day was a challenge and just the thought of those foods made me feel terrible. At one point, I could only drink bottled water from the bottle. That eventually progressed to only drinking bottled water poured into a cup in tiny sips. Absolutely ridiculous, right? Luckily, this weird aversion has passed and I have slowly been able to increase my water intake.

Looking Ahead

I have to be honest, the first trimester has been filled with a lot of emotions. I’ve been excited, nervous, anxious, and worried. Seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat during my first appointment brought so much relief. However, I still have to remind myself that the Lord is in control and that there’s no reason to worry, until I have something to worry about. So far, everything about the pregnancy has been normal and my symptoms have only reminded me that things are progressing as they should. I am looking forward to feeling those first movements, seeing my body change even more, watching my belly grow, learning the baby’s gender, and eventually holding a sweet baby in my arms in February.

---

Be sure to subscribe to the blog and follow me on Instagram to keep up with our journey to becoming a family of 4!