Oh my gosh, both Bo and I are overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support we’ve felt over the past few days since sharing our news publicly. As you can imagine, it was very difficult to contain our excitement these past twelve weeks.

When you share so much of your life on social media, it is very difficult to keep up an active, energetic appearance when all you want to do is sleep and eat Saltines. There were days when I would watch other friends conquer tough workouts, run races I’d once planned to run and immediately want to dive under the covers. Keeping this news private was very overwhelming for me due to the amount this wonderful news changed my lifestyle almost immediately.

For those of you who haven’t been on the journey of motherhood, I quickly learned that the first trimester is the most fragile. I didn’t see my doctor until week seven and before that, I was constantly worried about doing something to harm the baby. As soon as we found out we were pregnant I started sleeping more, changed my workouts to exclusively walking and barre classes, fueled my body with nutrient packed foods like protein, fruits and vegetables, and said NO to commitments.  While all doctors are different, during our first visit, my doctor recommended that I focus on rest and relaxation during the first trimester to balance the stress of everyday life. She didn’t want me doing high intensity workouts or pushing myself. While I’ve historically been stubborn and prided myself on my ability to “do it all” I took this feedback to heart and pushed the brakes the first twelve weeks.  The human body has amazed me through this process, as it naturally forced me to slow down by using all my energy to form Baby Girl Diamond and the headaches and nausea forced me to sleep more than normal.

Now that we are in Week 12 I feel like I’m starting to experience the pregnancy glow and energy that so many people told me would come in the second trimester.  Last week I craved workouts for the first time in three months, enjoying everything from incline walking to two Body Pump classes. My aversions have subsided while my cravings for fruit, protein and sparkling water are still going strong.

Here are a few statistics and updates for everyone:

• Week of pregnancy: I entered week 12 yesterday!
• When is Baby Girl Diamond due: As of now, her predicted due date is Father’s Day – June 18th, 2017.
• Who is my OB-GYN: I am in love with my OB-GYN, Dr. Cheon. My friend Meggie referred me to her and since then I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to refer four of my friends to her. She personally calls us with updates and test results and has spent at least 45 minutes with us during each of our appointment.
• How many months did it take you all to conceive: We were actively trying for three months before we conceived. I will do a dedicated post on this topic later this week.
• What birth control was I using, if any before? I had an IUD in for five years until March 2016.
• When and how did you find out you were pregnant? Since we were actively trying, I started taking pregnancy tests the day after my period was supposed to arrive. I had five negative pregnancy tests before having two positive ones five days following my expected period. I looked and felt very lethargic the entire weekend my parents were visiting us in New York City and my mom insisted that she thought I was pregnant. Luckily I took the sixth test right before they left for the airport on Monday morning. I was 3.5 weeks pregnant when we found out.
• What kind of pregnancy test did you take? Clearblue PLUS Pregnancy Test
• How many doctor’s appointments have you had so far? We have had two appointments, week seven and eleven, including two sonograms.
• Did we want a boy or a girl? The only thing we wanted was a healthy baby – the sex did not matter.
• Do you have a name yet? Yes, we have a name but we are not sharing with anyone, including parents and family, until we hold the baby in our arms and decide that the name fits her.
• Aversions: Randomly, the three things I’ve had the largest aversion to are brussels sprouts, coffee and bacon.
• Cravings: Fresh mango, cottage cheese, seltzer water, lots of protein (cottage cheese, Baby Bel cheese, Fage yogurt), shrimp and Greek salads.
• How did you find out the sex so early in your pregnancy? We opted to have an optional blood test during week eleven which measured PAPP-A and Free Beta HcG as well as provided the sex of the baby.

Please keep the questions coming friends! For those of you who are less interested in pregnancy posts, my posts Tuesday and Wednesday this week aren’t pregnancy focused!