First and foremost, thank-you so much for hanging in there… to my surprise, I haven’t posted on my blog since DECEMBER of last year and am very much aware that inconsistency doesn’t lead to active readers. My goal now? Posting once a week.
Let me rewind to what’s happened since I last posted… I think you’ll find it sheds some light on the delayed postings…
Actually, let me start with even before that; the whole timeline is pretty important to my story. In May 2019 after many months of Haroon (my husband) commuting roughy 4 – 6 hours (depending on California traffic), we finally moved from Rocklin, CA (which is North of Sacramento) back to the Bay Area. Though neither of us have ever lived in our current city, we love it and are so happy with our choice to move here.
Just a few days after getting into our new house, I applied for a job at a chiropractic office on a whim, and within 5 minutes I had already interviewed with the owner and about a week later I began working there (of course after multiple other interviews/meetings with the staff). While the intention was to work only part-time, soon enough I realized quite a few things about the office and due to a lack of staff and a ridiculous amount of work, I began working full time pretty quickly. The days were long, the breaks were few, and while I was finally working in the exact environment I had been wanting to be in — I’m a firm believer in taking a more holistic approach to health and a focus on the spine/nervous system is imperative to that — the environment unfortunately became exceedingly toxic and discouraging. I will say, I met some truly amazing patients while working there, and am still very good friends to this day with a few of my coworkers. My health was taking a nose dive and while I was working with a naturopathic doctor, my lack of sleep and overall stress level was so bad, I found it difficult to believe I could heal my body while staying in that environment. With the encouragement of my husband, my mom, and amazing friends (especially Kristin who heard my bitch most days of the week), I decided I had to leave no matter how much I wanted to make it work. My last day at the office was Wednesday, November 27th, 2019… the day before Thanksgiving.
Health — of all forms — is of course important to a person’s well-being, but because my husband and I were trying to get pregnant since June of 2019 (well actually I think August was the first full month of trying), my health became more important than ever. Haroon told me, “I bet if you leave your job, you’ll get pregnant within a month.” Wouldn’t you know it, my husband is incredibly smart!?
Technically speaking, December 23rd is considered the first day of my pregnancy… oh yeah, I’M PREGNANT! As of January I began a new health and fitness journey with my friend and now coach, Lauren Condit (check her out on Instagram @stylemelauren.) I was finally able to shed pounds and had my diet in check, I was working very diligently with my naturopath getting blood work and fixing my thyroid (amongst other things), and never even considered I was pregnant… in fact, I actually put that on the back burner in my mind… my focus was myself and my health so I could be in the best shape both physically and mentally to carry a baby.
On January 22nd, 2020 I went on a Costco run with one of my favorite people and geographically the closest friend in my life (we live 2 miles from eachother and pre Covid-19 I would see her at least 4 days per week). I was losing weight and feeling good, but I had seemed pretty tired as of late. Blythe suggested I take a pregnancy test and I kind of brushed it off. However, that night before Haroon got home, I figured… what the heck? Why not? So I took one… and then another… and then another… and HOLY SHIT I WAS PREGNANT. I wrote Haroon a sweet card to let him know (which was actually really funny because he somehow didn’t understand the card….????) and took one more test just to prove it. What a sincerely joyous day. I will say I never cried or got SUPER excited or anything… it was almost like, I just felt at peace. In finding out, I knew this baby growing inside me had chosen me and that brought me such grateful serenity.
Now the first couple weeks of me knowing I was pregnant was no big deal… I really had no symptoms besides maybe a bit more tired than usual. In fact, we even celebrated my 30th birthday during that time. But around the end of week 5… well let’s just say I spent the rest of the First Trimester feeling like I was hungover 24/7. I couldn’t stomach fruits or vegetables, I felt nauseous and exhausted all the time, and the only foods I wanted were greasy, yucky, disgusting foods. Thankfully I stayed on my vitamins for the most part during that time… but yeah, that wasn’t the best. Surprisingly however, it actually wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be… which might sound weird based on what I just described, but you have to understand my body’s first reaction to anything is nausea so I thought I’d be way worse than I was so if you’re extra nervous about feeling shitty while pregnant, don’t put too much emphasis on this… you really never know how it will turn out. And then, suddenly it lifted at just about the end of the First Trimester.
Of course you all are also aware that Novel Coronavirus aka Covid-19 became a serious situation in our country in March, so I’ve been basically quarantined since March 11th (our area went on official Shelter-In-Place as of March 16th.) I’ve left our home less than a handful of times since then (and it is APRIL 24th!) Haroon is not even allowed to come to our baby appointments which is sad as he’s always wanted to be involved in the entire process, but overall, we feel truly blessed and grateful. I’ve spent tons of time pouring into my baby book, reading, and getting our house and nursery ready for our little one… but writing on my blog is an outlet I want to pour into as well.
All of this to say, between leaving my “regular” job and staying busy with freelance work, not feeling too hot during my First Trimester, forced lockdown and all the implications of Covid-19, and now just trying to be as productive as possible while I’m feeling good and not too big, getting back to writing very much took a back seat but I’m crossing my fingers I can finally push myself to make the time.
At 17 weeks and 4 days pregnant, I honestly have never felt better about who I am today and all the work I’ve done on myself over the years, I’ve never felt more grateful and blessed to be carrying our sweet baby, and I’m pretty sure any of my friends will tell you, while I understand there’s so many challenges the world is facing right now, I couldn’t possibly feel and be more positive and ready for this next adventure. Pregnancy is everything I hoped for and more. I promise NOT to write only about baby stuff and pregnancy on my blog, but I felt the need to update anyone who’s been patiently waiting for a next post (and a special thank-you to those of you who’ve reached out and reminded me there are people waiting to read haha.)
With all my love, I wish everyone health, a positive outlook, and blessings during this chaotic time.
