The Siberian American: All About Baby

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

All About Baby

Thank you so much for all of your sweet messages of congratulations on here and Instagram. Chris and I are so incredibly excited, and I am grateful it’s out in the open now, and I can finally talk about my pregnancy. Plus, it’s nice to be able to give y’all a real explanation as to why I’ve been posting less over the last few months! Haha. Today, I wanted to share some of the details about our little one!


Our Baby Story:
I have always wanted to be a mama. If you asked me in first grade what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would tell you I wanted to be a writer and a mama. I put that dream on hold while we were relying on my income to get through medical school. Our original “plan” was to get pregnant a little before we moved home from Chicago, so the baby would be born during Christopher’s easiest year of residency. Instead, I got diagnosed with a massive endometrioma and spent months worrying about whether I would ever be able to have a baby.

Thankfully, I ended up with the best-case scenario, and after a visit to my obstetrician in October, I was told Chris and I could start trying in January. Y’all, this last holiday season was tough. I remember sitting there at Christmas Eve candlelight service, my body filled with hormones, silently crying as I watched families celebrate the holiday together. I had so hoped we would be one of those families that year. I can’t say I know what going through infertility is like (and I am truly grateful for that), but I have a special place in my heart for those struggling with it. If you are reading this and struggle with infertility, know that I am praying and hoping for you.

I started out January with a lot of hope. I even made it my word of the year. I didn’t say it at the time, but that was mostly because of our hope to have a baby. When it came time, Chris and I gave it all to God, praying Lord, if it is your will, please give us a child. We went into it with low expectations, thinking it would be a long road ahead. Because of my situation, my OB had only given us three months of trying naturally before she wanted us to come in and discuss options. Friends, it didn’t even take a full cycle. I kept seeing what I thought were signs of pregnancy, but I didn’t let myself believe it, because how is it possible I could get pregnant on our first time of ever trying? On February 17, I finally took a test, and that second line showed up within seconds. It’s hard to describe that feeling of overwhelming joy I felt. I sat down on the floor and cried and prayed for an hour. God is so good. So, so good.

I share this because it has become a big part of Christopher’s and my testimony. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

The day we found out I was pregnant. So much joy! 
PS-I’ll share later about how I told Chris and our parents. It’s been an amazing few months!

How far along are you? When are you due?
I’m 16 weeks! I’ll be 17 weeks on Friday. I’m due on October 27. October is my favorite month of the year (and Chris’s too!), so it’s really special to me that it’s when I’m due. My dad actually turns 50 on November 3, though, so he’s hoping I hold out one more week! Haha.

Are you finding out the gender? Do you have a guess?
We are! We decided not to do an elective ultrasound, so we are finding out at our 20-week ultrasound on June 9. We might do a small gender reveal with friends and family, but there is a lot going on during that time, so we haven’t decided yet. I don’t really care what we’re having as long as it’s healthy, but I currently think we are having a boy because Chris and I are 100 percent sure on a girl name and are having trouble with a boy name. Haha!

Are you showing?
I have always been pretty small, but I lost even more weight after surgery. Right before I got pregnant, I was just under 100 pounds. I only say this because I don’t really expect to be showing for a while. At my latest appointment, I was told I probably won’t be obviously pregnant until I’m about 26 weeks. I can definitely tell a difference, though!

How have you been feeling?
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. My first trimester was extremely rough. I basically spent most of my time from six weeks to 15 weeks being a hermit because I was so sick. (Remember that time I launched a new Instagram hashtag all about going outside and seeking adventure (#seekadventuredaily) and then could barely walk my dog? Life is funny). I was really worried because I wasn’t keeping any food in my body, but she told me it was fine as long as I stayed hydrated. My big bummer was that I was hoping I would get some relief at my 10-week appointment, but my doctor said there have been some studies that show the possibility of negative effects from Zofran on the baby, so she didn’t want to prescribe it to me. She prescribed me another medication, but my mother-in-law (who is a pharmacist) wasn’t keen on me taking it, so I basically tried to push through.

Remember how I was super stressed about moving? The biggest reason was because I was 14 weeks pregnant and still feeling super awful. I could barely function, so when I said my in-laws were rock stars during our move, I really meant it. I wasn’t much help, so they worked super hard to help our move go smoothly.

After the nausea and vomiting calmed down, I ended up having constant migraines for days at a time (apparently a common symptom during this stage in pregnancy)…which also caused nausea and vomiting. Saturday was my last really bad day though, so I’m hoping things are getting better.

I did find out a few days ago that pregnancy has caused me to have hypothyroidism. Thankfully, it’s not too bad, and I’m on medication for it and will be seeing an endocrinologist to monitor it, so hopefully everything will be OK.

Honestly, even though it’s been rough, I’ve been so thankful for this baby that it hasn’t bothered me all that much. Last year I had a lot of difficult symptoms for a completely different reason, so it feels like such an incredible blessing to have symptoms for a good reason this year!

Five weeks pregnant in Colorado! 
Have you had any cravings?
I’ve mentioned it a few times on the blog without saying why, but I am so obsessed with eating fresh berries right now. I also have been desperately wanting peaches, but they aren’t in season yet. So far, I’ve been satisfying this craving with Simply Peach juice, but I seriously can’t wait to eat a fresh peach.

Will you be doing weekly updates?
As much as I like reading other’s bump dates, showing weekly updates of my belly and sharing about my weight is just not my style. Instead, I’m planning on stealing my friend Chelsea’s idea and sharing things I want to remember each week. Pregnancy is such a special time, and I don’t want to forget the little moments!

You post a lot about travel. Will your blog change?
Yes and no. I still have about a million travel posts to write (I need to finish our California Road Trip, Lake Michigan Circle Tour, a bunch of Chicago posts, our Smoky Mountains road trip, and our Colorado road trip, just to name a few). That said, my blog has always been about my life, so obviously, there will be pregnancy posts and posts about our little one once he/she is born. We also hope to travel with the baby a bit, but Chris has such a crazy schedule next year that I don’t think we would have traveled much even if we didn’t have a baby.

Phew! This might be the longest post I’ve ever written, so I’m going to stop here for now. Thank you so much for sharing in our joy, friends, and I am so excited to share the rest of this journey with y’all!

22 comments:

  1. I'm seriously still so excited for y'all, and I totally understand why y'all needed to move into a bigger apartment too! I'm a firm believer that it's a God thing that y'all got pregnant so quickly too! That's a bummer that you've been feeling so sick, but I've heard that the second trimester is when things start to turn around, so I hope that's the case for you too!

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  2. Nausea that bad... I'm laying my money down right now its a girl ;)

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  3. Congrats! I'm so happy that everything worked out for you guys.

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  4. This is so exciting for you guys! Congrats :) And I hope you start feeling better soon!

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  5. That's how I was with my first, I didn't start looking really pregnant until I was 26 weeks! My first I barely had any nausea! And this one I'm still getting nausea at 26 weeks! Eek. Hope you start feeling better.

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  6. This makes me so so so happy for you and gives me so much hope for my own future!!! Due to all my cancer treatments, doctors don't know what kind of fertility issues I might face. Obviously being one of seven siblings, I want a huge family as well! So exciting for you xo

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  7. God is certainly good to make it happen so quickly considering your previous medical situation. Sorry to hear the first trimester was tough but I'm hoping it's only up and up from here. I can see why you were stressed about moving but now you have the bigger space for the baby!!

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  8. Oh my gosh, so so exciting. I'm so happy for you both and that all the struggles you went through are paying off. I'm so happy to hear that you are all moved, and have family who is helping so much. That's a good indicator of any strife you may encounter. You can count on them. I can't wait to see your updates, the memory thing sounds cool! :) I'm so happy for you both and that your life dream is coming true for you! Even if it's a little later than planned. So exciting, hoping peaches come into season soon for ya! :P XO - Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  9. Congratulations again! I'm so glad that you were able to find an apartment (and have so much help moving) for this new chapter of your lives!! I'm so glad that you were able to conceive quickly and start off the year with so much hope. ;)

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  10. Olya I am so happy for you guys! How wonderfully blessed you guys are to have conceived this little one without any kinds of drugs or treatment!! (Definitely God's hands at work!) You are going to be an AMAZING momma and I can't wait to read about your experiences! And the husband/parents reveal! I LOVE that stuff! So, so exciting! Congratulations, again!

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  11. I am so happy for you guys!! God is so amazing and faithful. I am so happy you were able to get pregnant right away and your prayers were answered. You are going to be an amazing mama and this is such a beautiful story to tell <3
    Beautifully Candid

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  12. So beyond happy for you!!! I love this story. I am glad to hear you are mostly feeling better and hope it is smooth sailing for the rest of your pregnancy!!!

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  13. You can totally see all of the joy in your faces in that photo! So excited for you guys as you continue on this journey and share your amazing story.

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  14. I am so excited for you guys Olya!! I'm so glad you didn't have any trouble and I know how hard it must have been to wait through the holidays. I also know exactly what you mean about feeling so sick...hormones are horrible things and the nausea that comes from high doses is so gross. I'm glad you're starting to feel much better. I can't wait to follow along! You guys are going to be great parents!

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  15. Ah! I love this whole post! Just so very happy for you guys! And how awesome that you guys got pregnant the very first cycle! SO wonderful!!

    I hate that you've been sick. I'm hanging out at 29 weeks right now and still sick, ha! Hopefully you will be feeling MUCH better soon!

    I am totally doing weekly pregnancy updates because I know I want to remember all these random little details. But I decided not to share them on my blog. Partially because there's a lot of medical stuff going on that I don't necessarily want to share with the world and partially because this is such a sweet and private time for us. I am definitely sharing (nearly) weekly photos on Instagram, though. I think it's good to figure out what you are comfortable with and stick with it! :)

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  16. I am so so happy for you! If you want to go ahead & have the baby a few days early on the 23 I wouldn't mind sharing my birthday lol.

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  17. Congrats!!!! That is awesome that you guys got pregnant on the first try. That's how it happened for us too. Sorry that you've had a rough first trimester. Hopefully it gets better for you. I'm sure you guys are so excited!

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  18. Such wonderful news!! Congratulations Olya!

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  19. I'm finally home from vacation and have time to catch up on blogs and was SO excited to come here and read about baby! YAY! I'm so thrilled for you. What a beautiful gift! A giant grace that you didn't have to go through treatments during residency.

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  20. I'm a little late on this, but Olya, I'm so excited for you! You and Chris are going to be AMAZING parents. I can't wait to follow your journey on here!
    Randi

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