Half Way There- Our Pregnancy Story

À la Bon Jovi... OHH WE’RE HALFWAY THERE!

Yesterday we shared with you all that Mr. Marques and I are expecting a baby girl. We could not be more excited! Today we want to share our journey thus far (to our male audience... this post is a bit too TMI, sorry beforehand).

PLANNING FOR BABY

Sergio and I had thought about having a baby when we were about 30. With my law practice and his work, we wanted to feel "somewhat" ready for such a big step and when we thought about 30, at that moment, it felt centuries away (gosh were we naive). When we realized we were approaching thirties, he brought up the conversation again (between us... I think Mr. Marques had been ready and it was this diva that was a bit more unsure.) I confess that I was worried about the changes a baby would bring to our lives and frankly whether I was ready for the journey to conceive due to medical reasons. As I mentioned previously, I had been diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and the condition was accompanied with irregular hormone levels and irregular menstrual cycles. Doctor's had warned me that while not impossible to conceive, the journey was going to be lengthy and frustrating. So as you can understand, I was afraid of taking that step-- more like fear of the unknown. But after my trip to Paris, I was convinced that Sergio and I could take this on together.

After reading the book Before Your Pregnancy, I wanted to take a month off to detox my body and try to be as healthy as possible. I started a running routine with a friend and said no to alcohol--- the book recommends doing all this for 90 days prior to trying to conceive. I only did it for 30 days to be honest. I also decided to start tracking my cycle, I used the app Glow to understand if my cycle was regular or irregular. I began to notice that for unknown reasons my body had become regular (perhaps due to my weight loss two years ago).

So after the thirty day detox, we decided to start trying to conceive on my next ovulating cycle (Glow tells you that time frame based on your menstrual cycle) and since the doctors' had advised us of the long journey maybe we'd reach the 90 days suggested by the book indirectly. Boy were we surprised a few weeks later!

HOW I BROKE THE NEWS TO MR. MARQUES

Two days before TOM (time of the month), Sergio and I had arrived from Honduras. I came back sick with a terrible stomach flu-- yuck! When the day arrived for TOM, I found it strange that it was missing... I quickly brushed off the idea of pregnancy and said that must've been from severe dehydration due to my stomach flu. However, that evening I kept thinking how accurate my Glow app had been for now sometime. So I asked myself... should I tell Sergio to be with me to see the test results together or (assuming the test came back positive) would I want to surprise him?! There is nothing I love more than surprising my husband... so I thought suck it up buttercup and do the test yourself!

I promise you I wanted to record Sergio's reaction, but as you saw from my video my nerves were at an all time high and I placed my phone discreetly in a terrible angle (also please excuse my furniture and rug in the background that was all for the office we were building)... haha! It's still a beautiful memory we will cherish!

HOW WE BROKE THE NEWS TO FAMILY

After the test, you begin to wonder who do I tell! You want to shout it to the world... but I need to be honest... I was terrified at first. I want this blog to be honest and share my true feelings... you never know who else has felt this way or is currently feeling this way. Soon after we took the test, panic set in. The only thing I can attribute my fear was that since my doctor's had previously warned me of how hard it was for me to conceive I just kept thinking this was surreal. I would wake up constantly in the middle of the night wonder if the baby was ok... wondering if I was still pregnant. It was an awful first couple of weeks and all I did was pray that it was in God's hand. As a result, I was nervous about who I should share the news with.

So I made a rule... only tell those that you'd feel comfortable sharing a loss... in essence people you'd seek comfort from. I know... super pessimistic and unlike me, but as I said in the video... I didn't even know if this was going to be possibility for us and for the longest time I prepared myself for the hardship. I also decided to wait to tell certain individuals till our official doctor's visit that would confirm the pregnancy which took place once I was about 6 weeks. Check out some of the reactions...

HOW WE BROKE THE NEWS TO EVERYONE ELSE

Once I hit the 12 week mark, Mr. Marques and I decided to share the news with the rest of our family through a pregnancy video. Our family was ecstatic to see that we'd finally join the parent club! A week later, we posted the same video on social media to share with everyone else!

SO YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT JOINING PARENTHOOD

Here are my tips if you're thinking about starting a family soon:

- Schedule a preconception appointment with your doctor to share your intentions of starting a family and so they can run preliminary blood tests. The tests will show whether there are any medical issues you need to address prior to attempting to conceive. It will also give you the green light!

- Start tracking your menstrual cycle. use apps like Glow to learn more about your fertility window.

- Take a health detox for ideally 90 days and encourage your partner to join you. You both want to be your healthiest when attempting to conceive.

- Start doing some research or reading books on the matter. I loved "Before Your Pregnancy" and "What to Expect Before You're Expecting."

- Pray and have faith-- everything in God's time and have an open heart throughout the journey.

Hope this post helped anyone in their journey and if you've been there hope this post got you just a bit excited for the arrival of Baby Marques!

Love Always,

Jenni