Bun in the Oven

Bun in the oven might leave you scratching your head, and I know you can’t wait for the details, but first let me just say…

I can’t believe we’re here …and we’re here together! You guys have been with me from the beginning of this blog, the release of my first book, my engagement, my marriage, and so much of this pinch-me happily ever after. The next chapter of our lives has come into focus and I’m thrilled to finally let you in on the details…

You guys, there’s a baby on the way.

A BABY!

Had you guessed?  That’s the bun in the oven just in case you aren’t familiar with that old saying!

She (SHE!!) is in my belly right now …oh gosh, the waterworks are starting and my fellow coffee shop folks are politely pretending not to notice.

We are SO excited! My husband, Austin, was BORN to be a Dad (yep, now the tears are really flowing) and I just think she’s the luckiest girl in the whole wide world to have him as a father. There is a LOT of newness ahead of us and we’re really looking forward to riding the waves of parenthood.

You probably have questions, so let’s chat details!

Note: this is the most personal post I’ve ever written in my 6 years of blogging. Despite my private nature, we’ve made the decision as a family to share the real-real with the hope that it may comfort anyone who has experienced or is experiencing something similar.

How far along are you?

I’m currently 16 weeks! That puts me right at the beginning of my 2nd trimester. Baby girl is due January 13, 2018; which is actually my Papa’s (paternal grandfather) birthday. As soon as I learned the due date, I ugly cried. He was such a special, joyful, wonderful man that I have ALWAYS admired and who I strive to emulate. I was reminded that he was there, with us, excited to be a part of the ride ahead, even from up above. Note: I know the odds of her being born on her due date are slim, but gosh it feels like the warmest hug in the meantime.

How did you find out?

I took a “First Response” pregnancy test first thing in the morning before a BIG Beautycounter conference in Dallas, TX. Honestly, I didn’t think I was pregnant. I’d taken a test 3 days earlier (I was so eager) and had a negative result. I thought to take another test that morning because I knew there would be no shortage of cocktails at the conference, so I wanted to rule it out before I indulged in some bubbly with my beauty friends. My bleary-eyed 5:00 a.m. self looked at the positive result in jaw-dropped disbelief. My first (honest) thought was, “it’s too early to get this kind of news! Austin isn’t even awake yet!” I panicked. I put the stick back in the wrapper and hid it under the sink. I then made coffee, waited for Austin to surface, and took another test with him. Getting our great news didn’t play out like a movie. I didn’t bounce over to him with a fresh blowout and a positive test. There were no balloons or “you’re going to be a Dad!” greeting cards. Instead, it played out in the BEST real-life kind of way. My makeup was halfway applied, my hair was sopping wet, and my semi-packed suitcase spread out everywhere. In a frenzy, we took the test, waited the infinite 3 minutes for the results, and looked at each other in disbelief. It happened. A positive result. We’re being trusted with a baby!! Life was instantly different and I so, so cherish that haphazard morning.

Though we’d decided that we wanted our parents to be the first to know, that very evening my HIGHLY intuitive friend Diane Sanfilippo mouthed to me from across a party, “I’m onto you!” The next day, she asked, “are you pregnant? Because I have NEVER known you to pass up sushi and prosecco.” Ha! She was the first to know. 😉

Our parents were, of course, overjoyed. Baby girl will be the 6th grandchild (6th granddaughter, in fact!) on my husband’s side and she’ll be the first on mine. I think she’s got the best dang grandparents in the whole wide world.

Is she healthy? …and, how do you already know she’s a she?

I’m thrilled to tell you that she *is* healthy and measuring LARGE! Hearing her heartbeat for that first time was an incredible experience that I’ll likely never forget. One of our sonograms came back abnormal, so our doctor ordered a mother’s blood test (works like a normal blood draw, VERY different from amniocentesis) to rule out some possibly dangerous conditions. Scared isn’t the right word for how we felt …the couple weeks of not knowing were a strange state of limbo. We prayed for health and for the constitution to be whatever the baby needed. We weren’t scared because we knew we are made for (and will have joy in) the road ahead. We were eager to get official, not ambiguous results. We were eager to learn about the BEST ways to care for our baby in the womb. After a few weeks of waiting, we learned that the baby was healthy (PRAISE) and also that there were no Y-chromosomes detected in my blood …SHE’S A SHE! Though we’ll get an additional confirmation of sex at our 20-week sonogram, this blood test is known to be 99% correct.

GIRL POWER!!

Have you had any pregnancy symptoms?

Though the first trimester is notorious for nausea, food aversions, extreme exhaustion, and headaches, I’m counting my lucky stars because I have been symptom-free MINUS the headaches. I’ve experienced zero nausea, no aversions to any food, have had no food cravings (I have a hunch my diet is related), and only minor fatigue. That being said, the headaches more than made up for the others. GOODNESS, those guys were brutal. It’s possible you didn’t notice, but I’ve been a little slower to blog, slower to respond to emails, and slower to post on social media for the last couple months …this is why. Week 6 of pregnancy delivered the first migraine of my life and it knocked me on my tush for a good 4 days. After that, I’d walk through each day (of about 8 weeks) with a minor to severe headache. I’d try to muscle through work on the minor headache days and would wait out the storm hunkered down on the bad days. Because Advil is on the no-no list for pregnancy, I tried every other safe trick in the book. The ONLY thing that brought some relief was a visit to a chiropractor. Note: dehydration and food-related causes were all ruled out. I’m thrilled to say that it seems (knock on wood) that the majority of the headaches are behind me! I feel like me again and, after coming out of the fog, am eager to get back to work.

Were you trying?

Baby girl was wanted but not stressed over. Austin and I married in October of 2015 and knew that we wanted *at least* one year of marriage with just the two of us (and Gus, of course). Without knowing if we could even have kids, we’d made the decision to be open to whatever life had in store for us. After about 3 months of being ready for a baby, we decided to test my cycle with ovulation sticks. Worth noting: I have a VERY normal cycle. I’ve had a 27-day cycle ever since I stopped using birth control pills about 7 years ago. Though I tried the temperature method, I wasn’t quite as strict with the timings as needed for accurate results. As it turns out, I was ovulating a whopping 4 days sooner than I’d thought! Though 4 months before getting a positive pregnancy result is NOT a long period of time (it may take couples 6 to 12 months to conceive), the experience has left me truly in awe of the miracle of new life. For some brief entertainment, this YouTube video does an AMAZING JOB of illustrating the odds of conception …plus, the doomsday music had us rolling.

Have you picked out a name?

Though we DO have a front-runner for a name, I’m going to save that for a future post. However, we do have a nickname I can share! During our first sonogram, I remarked that the baby looked like a cricket …so we’ve been calling her Cricket ever since.

What does this mean for your blog/business?

For the time being, we’re business as usual! Amber, my trusted Project Manager, and I are working to get blog posts scheduled about 3 months out so that I can have a nice long maternity leave. That being said, I do still plan to post on social media in real-time. As I continue to learn and as we gather personal experiences, I will share our #fedandfitbaby experiences here as a new column!

Note that I DO have another enormous project we’re looking to launch late this year/early next year. This project is something you can *actually* sink a fork into! YES this is cutting close to when baby girl arrives. We’re building a team to help make it happen so that I can be in or out of the picture if ever needed. There’s a LOT of pregnancy left and a LOT unknown about Cricket, we’re planing my involvement on the extremely conservative side so that I can be fully present with her.

Any reservations?

A part of the reason I waited so long to share the news about this little bun in the oven is because I’ve seen *many* of my blogger friends get eaten ALIVE by unsolicited advice/parental policing by well-meaning readers. It, honestly, terrifies me …but, I think that there are two important things to take into consideration. First, this Fed & Fit community (YOU) is full of the most compassionate, loving, supportive, wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing …so I know you’ll honor us through this process. Second, addressing this head-first is out of respect for everyone involved. We have a LOT to learn and look forward to learning it in real-time with our personal experiences. We’re walking into parenthood ready to stay on our toes and excited to learn lessons in their due time.

I have more questions! Will you be sharing more??

YES! I plan to publish pregnancy updates (including bump photos) here on the blog, so I’ll likely cover most of your questions in the coming posts. If you’re familiar with me, my book, and my brand, you know how much I value informed decisions. As such, I’m currently and happily exploring the available trustworthy literature on the important pregnancy, delivery, and babe-related topics. I promise to share what resonates with our family (which when combined with personal experience, will get us closer to possible truths) as I finish sifting through what’s out there.

THANK YOU for being a part of this journey with us, and sharing in our joy over this little bun in the oven!

With love,

Cassy Joy