SURPRISE! BABY ANNOUNCEMENT INSIDE!!!

Before I go on… this is the probably the personal post I've written in my 4 years of blogging. We’ve made the decision as a family to share the real-real with the hope that it may comfort anyone who has experienced or is experiencing something similar.

We're here …and we're here together! And I can’t believe I’m putting this on the internet! The next chapter of our lives has come into focus and I'm thrilled to finally let you in on the details…

You guys, there's a baby on the way.

A little food-loving, (most likely) curly-haired baby!

Had you guessed?

We are SO excited! My husband, Michael, was BORN to be a Dad (his dad jokes are on POINT and he already has a supply of dad jeans…) and I just think he or she is the luckiest little jellybean to get him as a father. There is a LOT of newness ahead of us and we're really looking forward to riding the waves of parenthood.

Here are the answers the questions I would be asking if I were in your cute little shoes…

How far along are you?

I'm currently 12 weeks! That puts me towards the end of my 1st trimester—depending on who’s counting. Baby G is due April 21, 2018, but I have this strange feeling about May 1st. I laughed when I first heard the due date and thought “a Spring baby, I’ve never thought I’d have a Spring baby.” Not sure why Summer and Winter were the only options in my mind, but little lamb, here we come! Note: I know the odds of him/her being born on her due date are slim, but this might be the most fun count-down I’ve ever been a part of.

How did you find out?

I took a “First Response” pregnancy test first thing in the morning. I HIGHLY recommend getting the tests that say “pregnant” or “not pregnant” because squinting at a faint may or may not be real pink line is NOT fun or cute—it’s just nerve wracking. I had been using an app to track my cycle, so I knew it was time to take one, but I was SHOCKED. I'd taken a test 3 days earlier (I was so eager) and had a negative result. Honestly, I didn’t think to take another test that morning, but the app was telling me to, so I did. My bleary-eyed 5:00 a.m. self looked at the positive result in jaw-dropped disbelief. My first (honest) thought was, “oh my gosh what do I do this has to be fake.” I panicked. I immediately took another one, and waited the longest 2-3 minutes ever. Michael was still sleeping, but I just couldn’t want to tell him. Getting our great news didn't play out like a movie. I didn't bounce over to him with a fresh blowout and a positive test. There were no balloons or champagne popping, or sitting together on the bathroom floor—quite honestly Michael would probably kill me if I woke him up at 5am for any other reason. Instead, it played out in the BEST real-life kind of way. I ran back in to bed, poked him awake, handed him the (two!) tests and nothing. … he couldn’t see them because he’s so blind, so it took him a minute to find his glasses, turn on the light, and be able to read the news! “Oh my god!” It happened. A positive result. We're being trusted with a baby!

We told my mom next—we were at our family’s house all together, so a bit later in the morning I snuck in to her room and showed her the tests.  Michael told his dad later that week, and I told my dad just a few weeks ago.

Our parents were, of course, overjoyed. This baby will be the FIRST on both sides for our families, so something tells me this little jellybean about to get spoiled. I think he or she has got the best grandparents in the whole wide world.

Have you had any pregnancy symptoms?

Though the first trimester is notorious for nausea, food aversions, extreme exhaustion, and headaches, I'm counting my lucky stars because I have been *relatively* symptom-free compared to some of my girlfriends who’ve done this before me (knock knock knock on wood). The worst thing I experienced was pretty severe cramping around week 5, while we were in California. So bad that one night the cramps had me crying and wondering if we should go to the hospital. I even missed dinner with my husband and FIL because I couldn’t get out of bed. I figured though that because I wasn’t having any bleeding, there was little a Dr. could do to even check what was happening, other than telling me that it was likely implantation pain, aka the little embryo making a nice little home for him or herself in my uterine wall.

I've experienced some nausea, but no vomiting (PRAISE). I’ve had a few food aversions—chicken and anything sweet being most notable—and the only thing I’ve been craving is CHEESE. It’s wild, I used to eat chicken and something sweet almost every day, and I can’t stomach those. While I haven’t eaten cheese on a consistent basis in probably 5 years, for a solid two weeks, all I wanted was Macaroni & Cheese. Michael took great care of me, and got me the Banza mac and cheese, which is made from chickpeas, so it’s still GF, made from a plant, and contains lots of protein. I read a study that your morning sickness may be related to the health of your gut (I mean, what isn’t at this point), so I’m feeling pretty thankful that I worked so hard to heal my gut and create a healthy microbiome over the past few years. I have experienced some fatigue, and GOODNESS, when it arrives it’s like getting hit with a tranquilizer gun. Every part of my body feels physically heavy and it’s hard to keep my head vertical. It's possible you didn't notice, but I've been a little slower to blog, slower to respond to emails, and slower to post on social media for the last couple months …this is why. Week 6 of pregnancy delivered the first round of nausea and me on my tush for a good 4 days. After that, I'd walk through each day with waves of queasiness—to me it felt like the times I’ve mistakenly taken a vitamin on an empty stomach. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it disappears totally in the next week or two.

The other things that have got me laughing are the SMELLS, and the aversions. I’ve never been a squeamish person, but suddenly I have these totally visceral responses to certain foods and food smells. It’s just WILD how little I can control it and it makes me giggle every time it happens. Once I ordered a salad with chicken on it and didn’t want to eat it when the chicken arrived. Michael ate it, and I truly couldn’t even LOOK while he was eating it. Another time on my commute home from New York City, a lady was eating Indian Food behind me (which I typically LOVE), and I had to get up and switch cars.

Were you trying?

We sure were. I want to write a longer post about this conception journey because in my mind it’s sort of mystical and wonderful. This baby was wanted and divinely inspired by so many wonderful people thinking, praying and wishing him or her in to existence. That story deserves a post of its own. For some brief entertainment, this YouTube video does an AMAZING JOB of illustrating the slim odds of conception …plus, the judgement day music had me rolling.

Have you picked out a name?

It’s funny, Michael and I used to talk about baby names all the time. It was the thing we’d talk about over one too many glasses of wine pretty frequently, but since I’ve been pregnant we haven’t talked about it at all.

What does this mean for your blog/business?

For the time being, we're business as usual! Some of you know I’ve gone back to work full-time at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, so I’m now commuting back to NYC every day (isn’t timing WILD). I can’t wait to share more #TERbaby experiences here as a new thread!

Any reservations?

I’m very nervous to share this here because I’ve seen quite a few of my blogger and IRL friends get eaten ALIVE by unsolicited advice/parental policing by well-meaning readers. It, honestly, terrifies me …but, I think that knowing that, you’ll honor our family through this process, and respect that we have a LOT to learn, but that we look forward to learning it in real-time with our personal experiences. We're walking into parenthood ready to stay on our toes and excited to learn lessons in our own due time.

I have more questions! Will you be sharing more?

YES! I plan to publish pregnancy updates (including bump photos) here on the blog, so I'll likely cover most of your questions in the coming posts. I'm currently and happily exploring the available trustworthy literature on the important pregnancy, delivery, and babe-related topics. I promise to share what resonates with our family (which when combined with personal experience, will get us closer to possible truths) as I finish sifting through what's out there.

THANK YOU for being a part of this journey with us!

With love and lettuce,

Anna and Michael (+Baby G)