Monday, June 18, 2018

Taylor's Tall Tales: Pregnancy

Okay! So I'm back with another post that is LOOOONG over due.  I kept meaning to document my pregnancy, but I was well...PREGNANT. And chasing a 3 year old.  I am AMAZED at how much harder pregnancy was with a toddler.

I get so tickled because I'm pretty sure I updated the blog with my WEEKLY bump pictures and according fruit size during Greyson's pregnancy. AS IF anyone cared about that.  Insert crying laughing face. 

This pregnancy couldn't have been more different.  I could barely remember how many weeks I was and certainly didn't make the effort to take a bump picture each week.

So let's recap it all in one pretty post, shall we?  Here goes.

Jeremie and I knew that we'd like to have another child, but for a lot of reasons, we decided to be a little more "strategic" about the timing of #2. I really didn't want to have another child in late Fall/Winter because newborns in the cold, dark winter can be sorta tough on on the soul if you know what I mean.  Strolling in the Dallas Ice Storms is not an option, and we had already experienced traveling to Mississippi for the holidays with a newborn.  And it was NOT FUN. I've nursed in more gas station parking lots than I'd like to admit.  So winter baby was out.  And I won't even talk about being pregnant in the summer months in Texas. NO THANK YOU. 

So in my mind, I thought, "An April baby would perfect." (I know what you're thinking...."Ummm....you can't plan this out perfectly."  And trust me, I asked Jesus to take the wheel, but there's nothing wrong with having something to shoot for, right?)

So after a little trying  (I mean come on, we're all adults here), it was mid-August and time to take a pregnancy test.  I was actually at a Moms Blog Executive Retreat the whole weekend and really had a feeling I was pregnant.  I took this picture in one of the "Big D" signs in downtown Dallas after dinner one night.  And now it just CRACKS me up because, boy, I was about to get BIG.


I COULDN'T WAIT to get home to take a test with Jeremie by my side. I sped home on Sunday morning after our breakfast meeting. And just like that, 180 seconds later...we found out #2 was certainly on its way! We were SO EXCITED!




I immediately began the pregnancy feasting....

In the beginning I was all about some fajitas (random) and then I moved to craving ALL the French toast, waffles, and blueberry pancakes.
After the 12 week sonogram we were ready for Greyson to make his big announcement to the world.....


A little PSA if you are pregnant: The 12 week sonogram is usually when they use the Doppler tool to listen to the heartbeat.  Please know that it's a common thing for them not be able to detect it right away or at all with the Doppler, so don't fret! It happened to me at this appointment but they took me right into an ultrasound room and I saw Baby T in seconds! (I was still freaking out for those long 90 seconds.)

I didn’t have a ton of morning sickness for this pregnancy…the worst was around week 7.  But GOOD LAWD, the exhaustion in the first trimester was unmatched.  Again, I think this was probably the combination of pregnancy and toddler.  I slept in until Greyson woke up. (I usually got up long before him.) I napped while he napped. And even snuck in an extra nap on school days. There wasn’t a choice..it’s like I physically couldn’t stay awake! I also noticed that my pooch appeared like IMMEDIATELY the moment the lines turned pink on the pregnancy test.  My bump showed up a lot quicker than it did with #1. Fine by me. Just more reason to slip into those maternity pants. Lord knows I love a full panel. So comfortable.  (Till it’s not.) 

This was my first "bump" picture and I already was sporting the full panel jeans. I remember felt SO PUDGEY and thought I already looked so pregnant that day.  HAHAHAHAHAHA.....
 And here's the succession of bump pics I managed to take after that.









I will say that another advantage to our strategic pregnancy window that I didn't account was being pregnant during the holidays/winter time.  I ate more cookies than Santa Claus himself and sported leggings and big sweaters the whole time.

In regards to gender, I really thought this baby was another boy.  My symptoms were the exact same  and honestly, I really wanted another boy so that Greyson could have a brother.  Between Jeremie and I, there are about 12 immediate families (between aunts/uncles/cousins) and only 2 sets of brothers! So I thought this would be a fun change.  Because #secondchildproblems, we decided not to do a gender reveal party.  My doctor did an early sono for me around 17 weeks.  Jeremie wasn’t with me, so I had the sonographer put the picture with result in an envelope. Then Greyson and I took it to J’s office to look at together. When we pulled it out and I saw the word “GIRL”, I was SHOCKED.  Of course our moms totally freaked out because it was NO SECRET they were ready for the curls and pearls.

But after just a little bit of looking at the DARLING outfits on Etsy, I was SOLD with a girl. Another sweet thing is that my Grammy (who was in hospice at the time) was able to hear that it was a girl.  My mom took her a big cupcake with PINK icing. She was THRILLED and I’m so happy she found out before she passed away.  If I would have waited until my 20 week appointment to find out, it would’ve been too late. 


We had the best time making a little Gender Reveal video..

  
           


About the time we found out the gender and my fatigue subsided, my sinuses decided to ACT A FOOL.  Y’ALL.  I was so miserable.  Colds turned into sinus infections that couldn’t be treated with strong antibiotics. Research said that sleeping at an incline would help, but I couldn’t sleep on my back anymore.  Seriously…WHO HAS EVER slept on their side at an incline?!  Super comfortable, friends.  At one point, the sinus congestion was so bad that MY TEETH HURT. Literally.  It’s a thing.  And it was horrible.  That went on through the holidays.

We managed to get Thanksgiving dinner on the table and enjoy ourselves before I headed off to Urgent Care ; )  

Favorite Christmas card EVER.
And then it’s like I looked up and I was the size of a house.


I was definitely WAY more uncomfortable way earlier on in this pregnancy.  It was so hard on my hips. I finally headed to the chiropractor and it helped TREMENDOUSLY!

And before we knew it, it was time to clear out the nursery, (formerly the guest room), transform G’s room into a “Big Boy Room” and reassemble the good ole crib.  I just love how both their rooms turned out. (That'll be for another blogpost!)

Jeremie and I headed to San Antonio for our Babymoon… (Which I still need to blog about; it was amazing!)


Taylor was showered by my beautiful family and friends….


We celebrated Easter, where I felt like I was about to “Hatch”.

        
I started having Braxton-Hicks/contractions around 30 weeks, very different from pregnancy #1, where I didn’t feel ANYTHING until my water just broke one night! Every night I went to bed with my bags packed, wondering if this would be the night…

Greyson eventually started asking me after each nap if I had “dropped” the baby yet…#ifeelya

And finally, my doctor decided to schedule me for an induction.  I felt sure that I would go into labor on my own the second we scheduled it, but I didn’t. (I’ll talk about the actual birth story later.)

With an official Birthday on the calendar for Miss Taylor, we squeezed in our last few outings as a family of three.  It was pretty surreal, that soon, it wouldn't just be our little crew anymore. 




All the family started arriving into town! My mom arrived a few days early, to help me finish up last minute things and entertain Greyson since I pretty much couldn't move anymore.  (What a God-send she is!) My dad drove in from his turkey hunting trip, and my in-laws flew in the day before induction!

We all headed to our favorite burger joint that night.  (Because now I know how hungry you get during labor and can’t eat!) I was feeling some MAJOR contractions during dinner and just made sure I scarfed down my favorite peanut butter pie before it was too late! ; ) I remember sitting there at dinner and watching everyone around me have totally normal conversations while I knew in a few short hours I was going to be pumped with medicine to put me in a LOT of pain and that I'd have a newborn baby. It was totally surreal. Being induced definitely stirred some anxiety even though I knew it was the right choice for us!

Shockingly, the burgers and pie didn't send me in labor and Lil T stayed in there! After a sleepless night, it was finally 4:30 a.m. and time to head to the hospital! We were so excited to meet Taylor and MORE THAN EXCITED to not be pregnant anymore!



Off to the hospital!
Even though this pregnancy seemed to last FOREVER, it feels like it went by in a flash now, and all of a sudden we have a 2 month old.  It truly is amazing how God knits together a child womb.  What a gift.

I think anyone would agree that it WAS ALL WORTH IT.....