THE SANTSCHI FAMILY IS GROWING

POST AUTHOR: GRACE

I'M PREGNANT!!!

Gosh, I have been wanting to shout those words from the rooftops for weeks! It feels so good to finally be able to share that we are expecting our first little one in January, 2019.

I've dreamed of this day for as long as I can remember and I've been over the moon happy since the word "pregnant" appeared on that little white stick!     

​So buckle in and join me as I share a glimpse into what our world's been like the past few months. I hope you find it helpful, maybe humorous and, if you're pregnant too, I'm excited to share this amazing journey with you. 

The "Trying" Stage

We've been married 5 years and have had any number of reasons why we wanted to wait to start our family -- my husband's graduation from college, moving to a new city, buying a house, opportunities to travel, saving, saving, and saving some more (have I mentioned my husband is a planner?).

Finally this was the year we decided to start trying to get pregnant. Yay! This is the exciting part right?? I'm going to be completely transparent here...I did not enjoy the process.

We were blessed to get pregnant fairly quickly, but the two week waiting time between ovulating and the start of my period each month, was a total mind game. I would think and pray and hope I was pregnant and then I wouldn't be. It didn't help that the week before I start my period is usually an emotional roller coaster anyway without the added stress.

Wanting that positive pregnancy test with all your heart and being sad when it's negative, is completely normal. I have several friends who have been trying for a while to get pregnant and it is super hard to stay positive when you've experienced disappointment month after month. I don't really have any good advice here except to allow yourself to feel those emotions.

Also, don't put things on hold waiting to get pregnant. I had a really sweet conversation with a friend about not wanting to buy new pants for fear of outgrowing them in the future. Her advice was to BUY THE PANTS! Enjoy life and when you do get pregnant, you won't care that you bought those fun pants that you can't wear for 9 months. Just use it as motivation for fitting into them after the baby ;)
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The most helpful thing for me was to tell a few of the women I am closest with that we were trying and to have my heart filled by their love and encouragement along with a listening ear and an occasional shoulder to cry on when it didn't happen. Women should ALWAYS empower women. If you have empowering women around you, lean into those relationships. We are in proximity for a reason.

How I "knew" I was pregnant

My initial pregnancy symptoms were not at all what I expected them to be. I thought my breasts would be sore, that I would be nauseous or have major food aversions. It turns out....every woman and pregnancy is different!

The things I noticed the week I found out I was pregnant, was that I felt out of breath and I was very thirsty. I would chug a bottle of water and immediately want another one. Another oddity, I didn't want any sushi. I wasn't repulsed by it, it just didn't sound appealing and that never happens!

I hadn't had any of these symptoms before, so I had a slight suspicion that maybe just maybe...but again, fear of being disappointed kept me from getting inside my head.

Finally, after two or three days of a missed period (not totally uncommon, I've been late before) and these weird symptoms popping up, I asked my husband to pick up a pregnancy test. 
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I waited until the next morning to take the test -- you know, for the MOST accurate HCG levels. I purposely woke up early, before my husband, took the test and waited for those few agonizing moments -- I swear it felt like time slowed to a crawl!!! -- for the results. I was shaking as I waited and as soon as I saw "pregnant," I ran into the bedroom and woke up my husband. He was SO happy! We were SO happy! It was, by far, one of the most exciting day of our lives!

The Symptoms

I didn't experience any noticeable symptoms until I was six weeks pregnant. I kept thinking..."Is everything okay? Will I ever feel sick?".

Luckily, I have 3 sisters and several friends who can share their experiences and advice with me and have all assured me, no two pregnancies are the same.  Some have had great, fairly easy pregnancies and others have been sick the entire time. Woof!    

So far, my symptoms have been the common ones. As soon as I hit the six week mark, and I mean to the day, I started feeling not so great. I had to keep bland food on my stomach all the time to keep from feeling terrible and I was SO tired. I also gave up coffee. The combination of no caffeine and wild hormones, did not help my energy level.

I had really weird food aversions -- like grilled chicken and spaghetti. Weird, I know. I also only craved junk food. I couldn't fathom eating a salad, which used to be my lunchtime staple. So I ate what sounded good because sometimes that was all I could do to keep going.

I gave myself plenty of grace and tried to keep in mind that my body is working overtime to grow a human being! Not an easy job. But guess what? I'm craving healthy food again and it feels so good. I'm also feeling more energized, so things are looking brighter. 

According to my doctor, I really only need an extra 300 calories a day while I'm pregnant. Unfortunately, I'm not actually eating for two, whomp whomp. 

Eating healthy can be a real struggle, but it's especially challenging when you have cravings and don't feel well. I feel like I'm getting back on track now and consuming as many good fruits and veggies as possible each day.

The Bod

To be honest, I did not workout much the first few weeks. My energy was zapped and I just plain felt blah. Until one random morning, I woke up wanting to workout. It was incredible to feel like myself again.

I am trying to squeeze in four workouts a week now and, honestly, it looks different every day. Some days I just do cardio (a lot of power walking) and other days I do workout videos. Right now, I am loving Tone It Up's prenatal workouts and Knocked Up Fitness. Normally, I love taking walks outside, but this intense summer heat is making it hard for me to want to be outside at all right now. So instead I've been hitting the gym and utilizing their indoor track and a few light weights.

Trying to stay healthy for baby!

Boy or Girl? 

Again, my husband is a big time planner so he wanted to know as soon as possible if we were expecting a boy or a girl. I, on the other hand, would have been just fine waiting until 20 weeks, which is when most people find out. But when we learned our insurance covered genetic testing at 10 weeks, I was totally onboard with finding out!

My husband thought we were having a GIRL and I was pretty positive we were having a BOY.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for (or did you scroll straight to the bottom already? haha!).

Baby Santschi is...

A BOY!

​Thanks for sharing in our joy! This is a dream come true for us and we're anxiously looking forward to meeting our little guy. I can't wait to see how God has uniquely knitted him to be our son.

I'm excited for you to join me on this journey and I'll be sure to keep you updated on my progress, and also on the products, the workouts, and the fashion that I love and find helpful throughout my pregnancy.

Stayed tuned! Next week I'll be revealing the name we've chosen for our little man and how we chose it!

XOXO
​The Santschi's

Photography by Anna Godwin Photography. Check her out!