PREGNANCY FAVORITES, ROUND TWO

This pregnancy, to put it mildly, has not been easy for me. It’s felt like one very long road. And we’re still very much in it. I know that the difficult things are where we grow the most, and I know that the end result, a baby, a precious life, is so worth it. While challenging, there are a few items that are helping me through it. These are some things I’m liking this time around.

Collagen. How I make my decaf lattes into essentially a protein shake (10 grams!) with this. I even took the travel sticks with me on our babymoon to Arizona, that’s how committed I am. I add it to my milk frother and blend the collagen and the nut milk together, and it makes the creamiest, foamiest, protein-packed lattes.

You may remember from my stories a while back that I started making my own almond milk and was officially converted. The process in my blender became a little time consuming and tedious, and I ended up just buying it more often out of convenience. I recently discovered the Almond Cow, and it eliminates the straining step, and clean up is so much easier than with the cheesecloths I was using. So thrilled to have an easier solution for fresh, plant-based milks. Use code ALLIESEIDEL for $15 off and free shipping.

Nordic Naturals. My go-to for omega three’s. I like their Prenatal and Postnatal formulas, and we will be using their Baby Vitamin D Drops again with this baby.

Water bottle. Any will do. I’ve thrown this one around for three years and while pricey, I still love it.

I finally found a natural nail polish I like. Intended for kids, it’s non-toxic and free of fumes and chemicals, which I especially appreciate in pregnancy. It’s not as long lasting as the chemical formulas, so I use the base and top coat and sealer to gain a few extra days.

My mom got me these slippers while I was on bed rest and they are life changing. They run small, size up for the best fit.

Still my favorite maternity jeans.

Making sparkling water at home with this on repeat.

I have worn this every day for about a week now. Possibly the best maternity dress ever made, the fabric and fit is amazing.

Loving these! Hoping they make your pregnancies (or just daily life!) a little easier too.

Shared in partnership with Almond Cow, Vital Proteins, and Nordic Naturals. Some links are affiliate. All words and opinions are my own.

EASTER BASKET IDEAS

We’re slowly coming out of the fog of preterm labor, and finding our new normal. I don’t think of it as “back to normal,” because I honestly feel like a different person after having gone through that experience. My entire perspective has changed, along with my priorities, and what I used to think of as “important.” All the non-essentials have been filtered out from my life, and the essentials, namely, continuing to grow this baby to as full-term as I can get, have taken precedent.

It may seen trivial to share an “Easter Basket Gift Ideas” blog post in the middle of this, but in some ways, it’s helpful for me to have something else to think about for a little bit, and it’s also significant in that it means things have calmed down enough to be out of current crisis. I could not have imagined writing this post two weeks ago, but today I get to. It turned out much more “baby girl” than “toddler boy” than I planned, but those are the kinds of things I’m thinking about these days. It was really fun for me to put together. Enjoy!

Cuddle and Kind Dolls. I think I share this every year, but we can’t get enough. They are ethically made, hand knit dolls that give back 10 meals to a child in need with every purchase. They just came out with some new ones, this is Penelope the flamingo, and there are more darling, limited edition ones for Easter.

Plus-Plus, pastel edition. We got these for Christmas last year and they get tons of use. The pastel colors are perfect for an Easter basket. They also just came out with these puzzles which we love, and these tubes are great for travel.

Bannor Toys. Beautifully hand made wooden toys. The personalization option makes it extra special. They have a darling Easter matching game set that is perfect for basket filling.

Slumberkins. Started by a counselor and a teacher, this company aims to provide social/emotional support to children through plush dolls and books. The Family Change Fox is especially applicable for us as we think about welcoming a new baby.

Clamfeet. The cutest soft-soled, handmade baby shoes. In matching sizes for mama!

Smaller items:

Egg Shaped Chalk

Water Wow - great for travel

Dot Markers

GlowSticks - fun for the bath

Musical Egg Shakers

Wikki Stix

Happy basket filling!

Shared in partnership with Cuddle and Kind, Plus Plus, Bannor Toys, Slumberkins, and Clamfeet. All opinions are my own.

THE UNEXPECTED

It’s been seven days into this story, and it still doesn’t seem any easier to write.

We are home from the hospital. I am still pregnant.

Words, that last Friday night, I didn’t think I would get to write.

We entered spontaneous preterm labor last weekend, and found ourselves in the middle of a story we never imagined. It was a chaotic and traumatic few days, filled with middle of the night monitoring and vitals, strong medicines via IV, and a team of specialists, but they were able to stall labor. We were discharged with strict instructions for bed rest at home.

Now, we wait.

We don’t have many answers. No one can tell us if we will carry till term, or if we will deliver prematurely and have a lengthy NICU stay, or what this all means for our baby and our future family. We are told I could enter labor again at any point. One of the most confusing factors is that I am entering labor, daily - I continue to have contractions every evening, but they eventually fade. Only if they increase or my water breaks do we need to be admitted for true labor. We’ve already been back to the hospital in triage, for five minute apart contractions that lasted over an hour, for them to stop and for us to be discharged, earlier this week.

It is a terrifying place to be, living in the vast unknown and all the what if’s.

For the most part, we are ok. We are ok and we are not ok. Some parts of each day feel doable, and some parts feel so very hard. The contractions cause me to panic, and I enter this mildly-panicked state, daily. Imagine if your body was doing something involuntarily, that could cause you and your baby harm if it continued, and it could result in preterm labor and NICU stays, causing all kinds of aftermath and complications, the least of which you are concerned about is a giant bill. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

It’s all so painful, in every sense of the word.

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Trauma, for me, is a little like holding your breath underwater. No sensation of gravity, or time, or the things that used to govern my daily life. Weightless, soundless. A distorted picture of real life walking around on the surface. People going to work, laughing. I covet the set of “problems” I used to worry about: what crib to buy, work stress, toddler tantrums. A sense of normalcy so far removed from my daily life.

Now my worries are: Is my baby going to make it? Will I go into active labor today? How long will our NICU stay be? Will my baby have long term complications? Will I survive this, emotionally? Can I do seven more weeks of bedrest to get us to full term? And for those questions, no one has the answers.

So we just keep going. One day, one hour, at a time. We have been so well supported by our family and friends, who have truly rallied around us with all kinds of support, bringing us decaf iced lattes, dinners, flowers, and especially, giving us just their presence. No one can fix this. But someone can sit with us and remind us that no matter how this goes, it’s all going to be ok.

And that, we’re finding, is exactly what we need right now.

Thanks for being in this with us. We are so grateful.