Making Thyme for…Baby!!

Motherhood 26

I’m so excited to announce that this December we’re expecting some pretty big fireworks! We couldn’t be happier to kiss our freedom goodbye, lol!

It feels surreal to finally be sharing the news considering this is something we have dreamt about for a while. We always knew we wanted to have kids but decided it would be best to wait until Brandon finished graduate school and settled into his career. I was aware that it was risky to wait until my mid 30s but I’ve always had regular cycles so I figured that meant everything was normal.

We started trying a few months before we bought our first house which, looking back, was probably the worst time to start trying for a baby. Between financing the renovation, having to pay rent plus a mortgage, and planning the entire thing without a designer, we were stressed to the max.

Fast forward, almost a year later, we moved in and I started to become anxious that it still hadn’t happened yet. I turn 35 this year and as anyone who works in the reproductive field will tell you, fertility begins to steeply decline at my age. Considering time wasn’t on our side, we decided we should both go ahead and get tested to see what the issue could be.

Lo and behold, every single test we had came back normal. We were diagnosed with unexplained infertility and both of our doctors suggested that we take Clomid to increase our chances of conceiving. However, I didn’t feel comfortable doing that without there being an identifiable problem. My body was giving me every sign that I was ovulating regularly and I was worried if I took drugs we would end up with twins. Not that there’s anything wrong with twins, I just personally prefer to have one baby at a time and not to take pharmaceuticals unless I absolutely need them.

As luck would have it, the cycle after we had fertility testing we finally saw a positive pregnancy test! It was first thing in the morning on March 25th and as soon as I saw that faint second line I brought the test to Brandon (who was in the kitchen eating breakfast) and asked him if I was imagining things.

I realize that’s the least creative way I could have shared the news but I just couldn’t believe my eyes! I needed instant confirmation. After that I went straight to the store to buy more tests to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.

Even though we didn’t take any fertility drugs, I did try everything under the sun to help us conceive naturally. I put both of us on a variety of supplements, made some diet changes, starting meditating and I did acupuncture once per week. We had been doing that for 3 months so there’s no telling whether that’s what worked or if it was just a matter of time but I do believe focusing on slowing down and reducing stress was crucial for my mind and body to realize it was safe to have a baby.

Of course I am beyond grateful to be pregnant but I have to admit the first trimester was a little different than I was expecting. I couldn’t get excited because I was so nervous something would go wrong. Between that, the nausea, the bloating, and the sheer exhaustion, I felt immobilized. Those three months were probably the least productive I’ve ever been in my life but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

About 8 weeks into the pregnancy I started having a strong feeling about the gender. I don’t know why but whenever I thought about it I just kept imagining a little boy. I even had a dream that Brandon told me it was a boy. Knowing that we would find out the sex around 14 weeks (thanks to a DNA test), I started forcing myself to picture what life would be like with a girl so that I would be equally as excited when the time came. But as it turns out my intuition was right. Although we would have been thrilled either way, we’re overjoyed to know there’s a little man growing in there.

I’m currently 16 weeks + 5 days and am finally starting to feel comfortable with allowing myself to enjoy being pregnant. I even bought a few outfits already because how can you not? Baby clothes are so stinking cute.

As far as the blog goes, everything will stay the same minus a few pregnancy updates/favorites as things progress. I’m hoping that I’ll eventually be able incorporate more baby and kid-friendly recipes once I have that experience under my belt as well.

Lastly, if any of you are struggling with infertility please know that you are not alone. I’m happy to chat if you have any questions so feel free to reach out to me.  Talking with others who went through the same thing helped me immensely during our journey.

If you made it this far, thank you so much! I’m incredibly grateful for this community and I can’t wait to share this next chapter of our lives as a family of 5. (Including Lucy and Charlie, of course!)

by Sarah on July 3, 2019  //  Motherhood
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