Although a lot of my life is public and I love sharing the majority of my behind-the-scenes moments on my social media accounts… There are a few things in my life that are very private. Mostly because they are hard and scary, and also because I have a hard time talking about those types of things openly and honestly with people who don’t know me personally. Pregnancy and our family planning, are one of the very private parts of my life that I have a hard time talking about… Mostly because I don’t want the continuous questions of “We heard you’re trying…” or “How’s it going?“ or “any baby news/updates?“ It’s just a lot of pressure and although in my work life I perform really well in stressful situations, getting pregnant is one situation where I try to remove as many stressors as possible.
The Backstory
We started trying for baby number two about a year ago… Why did we wait almost 5 years in between our first child to try again you may ask? Well, mostly because I started dealing with very intense postpartum depression (around six months) after I had my daughter and to be quite honest, and until recently our five-year-old was a very tough and needy child. Ever heard of the term “Three-nager?” Yeah, we had a rough go there for a few years, and she still has her days. A couple years back, Mr. Curtis wanted to try for “just one more” and I was perfectly content with my one crazy one. I mean, we’re both kinda crazy so it seemed to be working… Well about a year ago, I could feel it too, that little feeling like our family was missing a little someone and so we started trying for number 2.
It seems like when you’re finally ready to have another one, it becomes harder and harder to be patient. Month after month, disappointment after disappointment. I started to feel frustrated, angry and upset with my body. I was quite depressed and lethargic most of this summer. No motivation to eat well, workout or even go anywhere. I continued to have negative pregnancy tests, and the stress had really gotten to me.
In June I started my period, but it was super irregular. I’ve always been super irregular, but bleeding for 14+ days had me worried. I ended up calling my OB and asking some questions about my concerns. They recommended that I come in for a pap smear because it had been a few years, :::::::::cough five years cough cough::::::: To which the result was totally normal and healthy… okay?! Immediately following the appointment we started to discuss infertility options and possibly starting me on a drug called Clomid (which is supposed to make it easier to get pregnant) and I was instructed to come back right around the time my next period would be starting, and we would go from there.
Spoiler Alert
Well… if you haven’t guessed it by now, this story ends with me being pregnant. That next period never came, and to my surprise, I had a positive pregnancy test! The first one I’ve had all year since trying. Excited I called my OB to set up my first prenatal appointment, to which they told me we wouldn’t give me an ultrasound until I was for-sure 10 weeks along. So based on my math, I was closer to six weeks… Maybe eight tops, due in March 2019… So I booked the appointment for another three weeks out. When I went in for my first ultrasound appointment I was shocked to learn that the baby wasn’t measuring at 10 weeks, but closer to 15-17 weeks… You guys! This baby had developed arms, legs, fingers and toes… (insert shocked emoji here)!! Which was a surprise for both me and my midwife?
That appointment was followed up the next week with a better ultrasound (on a nicer and newer ultrasound machine) confirming the actual size around 17 1/2 weeks, due January 2019! Luckily Nick and Jade happened to be at that second appointment and it was a sweet and wonderful moment for our little family to share together. I mean, in the game of Pregnancy, being further along than you’re expecting is the biggest blessing ever… To literally shave of six weeks of your pregnancy right at the beginning! I’ve been making jokes, that maybe the next time I go in for my 21-week appointment they will tell me that I’m 39 weeks and that they’ll need to take the baby right away! ?? What? A girl can dream!
Anyway, for now, we are just thrilled to be sharing our joy and excitement for this long-awaited new addition… And feeling truly blessed that we have not waited as long as some. All we are truly hoping for is a healthy baby. Thank you to everyone who has sent sweet messages of love and congratulations to our family, it really means the world to us and we are so excited to share a little piece of our journey with all of you!
Before I forget… Is anyone weirded out about how I just had a pap smear and they didn’t check for Pregnancy at that appointment…? That poor baby was like. Whoa, whoa what’s happening?!?!?!?