My Pregnancy Journey

OMG, WE’RE PREGNANT!!!

I honestly still can’t believe I am writing about our pregnancy journey. It’s so exciting! I just want to say again, for the 100th time, THANK YOU! The first trimester is honestly pretty lonely. I did spend mine in quarantine making it even lonelier, but not being able to share such exciting news, worried about the health of the baby, ALL THESE THINGS, make it feel lonely AF. You have no idea how much your overwhelming support means to me! Made Stevie and I the happiest people in the world. 🙂

Since I know most of you are wondering, YES, we were trying.

For the past few months, I’ve wondered how I would share the news and what I would share. One thing I kept going back and forth on was sharing how long it took for us to get pregnant. Why? Because the journey is so different for everyone and it’s SO EASY to play the comparison game. Don’t do that to yourself!

When I asked what pregnancy questions you had, almost half of them were asking how long it took to get pregnant. SO, I will share our journey, but please, do not compare my experience to whatever you are going through.

When we started trying…

WELL, we stopped NOT TRYING in August. This is TMI but our form of contraception was the pull-out method which let me tell ya was very effective. Soooo we stopped doing that. I honestly thought I would get pregnant right away. I thought I knew my body so0o0o well. LOL. So when September rolled around and I wasn’t pregnant, I was SO BUMMED. For some reason, every story I heard from women close to me was that they got pregnant on the first try. When you hear this from so many close friends, and it doesn’t happen for you, you can’t help but be disappointed.

My disappointment was short-lived because I have a very “what’s meant to be will be” attitude and also, I could still drink margaritas!

When we started taking it seriously…

Finally, December rolled around and we still weren’t pregnant so I decided to take action. I ordered and read Taking Charge of Your Fertility and highly recommend it. My knowledge of fertility and reproductive health is seriously limited to what I learned in health class. There was so much I didn’t know from how small the window to conceive actually is, to your body temperature, cervical fluid, and just about the female body in general. I also downloaded the apps Flo & Clue to start tracking my period. I am 32 years old and do you believe I never once tracked my period. Not even a red dot on a calendar?!?! Nada! I always had a cramp midway between periods and thought that meant I was ovulating.

I remember in December being so excited that we could try again with the new information (according to apps and my book) and was so bummed that I was traveling for a work trip over “peak ovulation days.” Well, January came and went and so did February and I was still not pregnant. Honestly, I was so busy with work and life in general that the time kept flying by. I really did want to have a baby in 2020 though and I knew my window was closing. Whatever’s meant to be will be, right?

Then March came around and it finally happened. At the time it felt like it was taking FOREVER to get pregnant and looking back now I feel so fortunate and grateful because the timing was perfect.

Looking back now…

A few things I remember/realized is March was the first time I felt that strong cramp again that I always used as a guide to when I was ovulating. I really don’t know what that means but I remember feeling it and being like, “Omg, it’s time!” Another thing I realized was that March was the first time since August that I did not travel! I was on a flight pretty much every month and now I am just self-diagnosing but I can’t help but feel like that could have slowed things down for me. Either because I was away during prime ovulation times or because of the added stress on my body. Another thing I keep thinking about is that from January to March I was training for the half marathon. I was taking such great care of my body from eating well to training frequently. I am not sure if this had anything to do with timing but I know I felt amazing in my body. Also maybe the Universe really wanted Steve and I have to have a Sagittarius baby and was making us wait for the right timing. WHO KNOWS?!

If you’re struggling…

When I was in NY back in February I had dinner with a friend who was also trying to conceive. We both started around the same time and expressed our frustrations that we weren’t pregnant when all of our friends were and became pregnant so easily. She told me a friend of ours was struggling and recommended Mira after she and another friend who was also struggling used it to get pregnant. I reached out to the company and told them my struggles and asked if they could send me one to review. They most graciously sent me one and I was so excited to use it since I heard so many amazing things. It came in the mail and literally I found out I was pregnant the next day. SO CRAZY!

I reached out to the friend that I know who used it to get her thoughts and this is what she said.

“Without it I wouldn’t be pregnant right now. I would be a spokesperson for this if I could. Beyond thankful. It was a 2.5-3yr journey for us with one miscarriage. That ish works man! I also used Modern Fertility before to see my hormone levels and LH was off, so when Mira was mentioned I knew I had to use it….

It measures your LH levels. When you spike that means you are ovulating. LH hormones help release eggs. I was super irregular so I tested everyday, not just when the app told me too, which is what they recommend.

“It’s crazy simple science and should be readily available to all mamas before doing hormone injections or crazy fertility treatments…”

As I mentioned, I did not actually use Mira and this is in no way an ad for them. But, since I know so many of you expressed you are trying and struggling, I wanted to share what worked for my friend. The above is straight from a DM she sent me. She is one of 2 people I know that were struggling and conceived after using it. I ended up giving mine to a friend who is trying to conceive and will let you know if it helps her!

So grateful…

I am obviously no expert in this space. This is our first pregnancy and soon to be baby. I know so many women experience fertility struggles and that we were very, very lucky. If you are struggling, my heart goes out to you. The only thing I can really suggest is to LIVE YOUR LIFE. Do not let pregnancy and your fertility journey consume you. If you are having fertility issues try to pinpoint the issue as soon as possible but educate yourself to all options out there before putting added stress on your body and bank account. If you have any questions at all or want more info please leave a comment! Happy to share more about our journey and answer any other questions you may have!

xoxo Kristina