Surprise! We are having a baby! Wes & I are thrilled and overjoyed to welcome our little Reese’s piece into the world. I’m a little late on announcing but excited to partner with Rent the Runway to share bump friendly and the most fashion forward maternity styles. A little warning: today’s post is a little long but I wanted to share a lot with you guys including how we got here and how baby Reese is doing so far. Keep scrolling to read on and to shop this fabulous Tome dress from Rent the Runway.

   Backstory

I’ve never really thought or talked much about wanting or not wanting kids. Growing up and even in the early years of our marriage, I just always assumed we would have kids “someday”. After Wes and I had been married for a year, people started asking me when we were going to have kids. We always said we were on the five year plan and were good with it. We love taking trips and doing spontaneous things and knew we wanted that time together before starting a family. The first few occasions of being asked the question didn’t bother me, but the more frequently I fielded the question, the more frustrated I got and started to really think about everything. The further we got into our five year plan, the question became more “Do I want children?” vs “When will we have children?” I struggled silently with the question for a while and continued to give my rehearsed answer each time I was asked the inevitable question.

Early last year, Wes and I talked and agreed we would start trying toward the end of the year. I had to have two foot surgeries so we knew we wanted to get all of that behind us before we started trying. At the time, I was good with the timeline because we were still months away from trying and whoever knows how long it takes to conceive. The more I started thinking about it the more panicked I became. My body, time, lifestyle and finances were going to drastically change and I wasn’t sure If I wanted any of it to change. As I was coming to terms with my recently identified selfishness, I felt another wave of emotion – guilt! I felt guilty and ashamed for even thinking I didn’t want children and for having such selfish reasons against it. I finally decided I had to say something. One night I mustered up every bit of courage I could find and told Wes what was on my mind. I should have done it much sooner, but I knew he wanted lots of children and I hated the idea of breaking his heart or disappointing him. I think I probably did disappoint him for a second, but we had a great conversation (again, one that should have been had sooner) and afterward I felt such relief. All I really needed to do was hear it out loud to realize how petty my fears were. It was like a switch flipped and they were all gone. A few weeks later I began to feel excitement and was actually mad we couldn’t start trying before the surgery date.

Baby Reese

My second surgery was done in October and after a few weeks of recovery, we decided we were ready. I stopped taking my birth control at the end of September so my body could start getting back to it’s normal. I also started taking prenatle vitamins to help create the best environment possible. I had no idea how trying could totally take over your brain. I was using an app to help track ovulation and symptoms but it was still really overwhelming. The first two months we thought we would just let nature take its course and we would be patient. That totally didn’t work for me. Once I had my mind set on baby Reese, I was ready for it to happen, right then. After two months of totally unreasonable and hormonally charged frustration, I asked two of my best girlfriends what their experiences were like. They both said they tracked their body temp in the mornings and used the ovulation kits you can get over the counter. I thought what the heck and added the two steps to my routine. (Side note: I say routine because tracking ovulation is a daily task and totally takes over your brain. To really know what is high or low for you, you have to track it every. single. day.) Y’all, that information may as well have been a treasure map to gold because the following month when I took a pregnancy test, I got a big fat positive!  I took one more test just to be sure and in bold digital letters it confirmed that baby Reese was on the way. Needless to say Wes was thrilled and together we are overjoyed to welcome our little Reese’s piece into the world. I’m a little late on announcing because we wanted to tell all our family and friends first and make sure Baby Reese was strong and healthy. Since I’m definitely past the first trimester, I’ll briefly recap and promise to provide more timely details throughout the second. In the meantime, I’m practicing mamahood by carrying around baby Reese’s toys in my handbag.

Current Baby Stats

How Far Along:

18 weeks

Due Date:

November, 4th

Size: 5.6 inches

Nintendo Game Controller

Heartbeats:

8 wks = 181 bpm

12 wks = 163 bpm

15 wks = 146 bpm

17.5 wks = 153 bpm

First Trimester Recap

 The first few weeks were business as usual except for changing everything about my daily routine – i.e. no caffeine, deli meat, & alcohol. Switching to decaf coffee wasn’t the worst thing in the world. The cravings and the exhaustion probably are. Exhaustion is real and on an unbelievable level. I have never been as tired as I was in weeks 5-11. Y’all I would sleep all night then be ready for a nap at 10 am. I’m so glad that phase is over but hear there is another one coming around in the third trimester. Cravings were pretty intense too. It wasn’t so much that I thought of things and had to have them but if I saw it or it was talked about, then I had to have it. The only craving that has held strong is my love of french fries. I want them all the time and there are none better than Chick-fil-A and Bojangles! By all accounts I have been super lucky on the sick front. Sickness: I had some pretty intense nausea early on but never had any real sickness, if you know what I mean. I started taking my vitamins at night instead of first thing in the morning and that really helped ease up on the nausea. I’ve never had to take any medicine but that drastically changed with Baby Reese. The weight gain has been my biggest struggle. I know the first trimester baby weight gain is minimal to none so I only have my french fry and ice cream cravings to blame but the struggle is real. Healthy things have little appeal and are so hard to get down. Even when I do eat the healthy stuff, I still want fries and Doritos and pizza and bread. I’ve managed to keep up my gym routine so for total 18 weeks I’m only +13lbs but I know that number will start climbing the more Baby Reese grows. Even though I’m praying for a healthy baby, it’s a hard pill for this mama to swallow.

Rent the Runway

I am so excited to be partnering with Rent the Runway for our baby announcement. If you aren’t familiar with this amazing service, Rent the Runway is a fashion company that gives its members access to luxury experiences and designer items for a monthly fee. You can shop thousands of clothing and accessory styles for any occasion, add them to your cart and receive them in just a few short days. Once you are all done with them, you can either purchase them at a discounted rate or return them with the free shipping label RTR includes with your package. One of my biggest concerns with my growing belly is the ability to find trend right styles that don’t scream preggo. I vowed to stay in regular clothes and just size up for as long as possible so I wouldn’t have to sacrifice my personal style. Naturally, my favorite thing about RTR is their assortment of maternity and bump friendly styles – like this stunning sapphire dress.  You can shop for styles based on which trimester you are in so you know you’re getting the best product for your bump size at the time without the stress or worry of if or how it will fit. Why should our personal style suffer just because our familial roles are changing?! It shouldn’t and I’m all about a company that gets me and offers a variety of styles to fit my needs! You can sign up for RTR on their website by choosing one of their three convenient renting plans. It’s totally worth it to have fresh styles to wear each month.

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