Well, we are expecting baby number 2!

And I have to say, I’ve been more than surprised at how many people have asked, “Was this planned?”

Including my grandma. But I think I can understand why… though it doesn’t make the implication that we don’t know how to prevent a pregnancy any less.

Yes, this was planned. Yes, we were trying. Yes, it happened faster than we thought it might.

We had a deadline. Adam’s best friend’s wedding is the first weekend in September, and his sister gets married the first weekend in October. So we had to have this baby before those weddings, or I needed to be no more than 7ish months pregnant at those weddings. Nine months pregnant in the fall in Chico at a wedding in which my entire family is an integral part of sounded miserable. 

So, we had until Christmas, and then we were going to “take a break” until April. 

As you know, it took us a while to conceive Joey. But there was a lot of different factors at play this time. My body is 100% different than it was back then, and those complications don’t exist anymore. So, hopefully, we had a more natural path to conception this time. But, as history has spoken to me before, I wasn’t hopeful.

God, yet again, proved me wrong and gave us a little tiny fetus in just 3 months time! But this is a fun story, too.

We hadn’t told anyone we were really trying. My girls knew (the mom tribe), and Rachel knew, but that’s about it. It felt more private this time, like it was a journey we were on in our little house, and it was ok to keep it close. There was a lot going on with my family at the time, and it felt natural to have this exciting little secret tight to our chests.

So, the typical story. Thought I might be pregnant, so I took a test way too early. It of course, was negative. I missed my period. Hallelujah. Took a test. Negative. 

Took three more tests over the course of a week. All negative. I was a week late. So I called my doc, asked for blood work to see what was going on. Me, of course, always anticipating something was wrong with my body.

And then Rachel casually texted me, telling me I should pee on the stick first thing in the morning. You live and learn, people.

So the next morning, Saturday Dec. 15th, I peed on a stick at 4:30 in the morning, while Adam was packing up to hunt before heading to his other best friend’s wedding festivities, at which Joey and I were meeting him later. 

Eeeeek! Thank the good Lord. Positive. 

I walked outside in the rain to tell Adam, and he looked at me and said, “Welp, here we go!”

Romantic, I know.

At the wedding that night, we of course had a blast. It was so cold and so rainy but Joey was living his best life and I felt pretty good, excited, happy. 

The great thing about a busy toddler at a public event when you’re newly pregnant is that nobody asks you why you’re not drinking. You’re just too busy chasing the toddler for anyone to notice you’re sober. 

That night, after getting in the truck, soaked to the bone and ready to actually have a conversation about our next addition, we got the call that my dear dear Papa had passed away a few hours prior. 

I, the sober driver, pregnant emotional granddaughter, of course lost control of all my emotions and had to pull over at gas station to collect myself before we drove home. The conversation about our tiny baby and the excitement would have to wait. 

But it would have to wait over a week. Because Adam left for a hunting trip the next morning. For 9 days. 

That week was one of the hardest on my body I’ve had in a long time. I was slammed at work. JoJos were flying out the door and I had to pack them each and every morning before Joey awoke. I was sick. So sick. Tired, fatigued and still a little in shock. I was sad, and incredibly lonely. My husband, who is my support system for all things good and bad, was not here and I was having as many good and bad highs and lows as one person could probably have in a week. 

I decided to tell my Dad the next day, because I NEEDED to tell him. I told him in the car on the way to see my grandma and my mom, who had been making funeral arrangements and dealing with the initial grief and shock of losing their husband and father. 

He was so excited, I thought we might crash the car. It was exactly what I needed.

I told my momma later that night, too, letting Joey hand her the since sanitized pee stick. She thought it was a thermometer for the longest time, so confused as to why Joey have her a thermometer for Christmas. Until she figured it out and embraced me and declared it was the best Christmas gift ever. 

My poor momma. Talk about a rush of emotions in a short amount of time. 

We told the rest of the family on Christmas day, with the letter board hanging in the kitchen. And each and every person was legitimately shocked. And then happy. Which is the most interesting reaction I’ve ever seen. I loved every second. I’m so glad we decided to keep it close to our chest when we did. The reactions of loved ones has been such a high.

So how is the first trimester going, you ask? Well, fairly normal.

I feel eerily similar to how I felt with Joey. Almost down to the day. Same cravings, nausea and fatigue. No actual sickness but the churning stomach and spinning rooms keep me down, that’s for sure. 

As of today, we are eight and half weeks along. Baby is the size of a gummy bear, a little less than an inch long. Sweet baby’s heartbeat is 168 and unlike my nightmares, there is only one baby in there. Thank God.

Again, I have an aversion to meat of any kind if it’s warm. But leftover cold chicken sounds phenomenal. Cheerios and bagels and whole milk are life. 

Friends, it’s EXACTLY the same as my first pregnancy. It’s weird. 

However, my anxiety level has been through the roof. I went off of my anxiety medication per doctor’s request after we found out, and it hit me HARD.

Think, so hard that I was gouging holes in my floor from throwing Joey’s toys out of anger. Locking myself in the bathroom when he cried because it was triggering me. Believing I had lost my wallet when it was right there in front of me – going as far as calling the bank to cancel my cards.

After the third public meltdown for both me and Joey, I decided to call the doctor and ask for a pregnancy safe solution. The nurse informed me that what I was on previously was safe, and they had made a mistake and misunderstood my prescription. That I could take what I was already taken and it’s totally safe for baby. I have never felt so relieved in my life. Two days later, I was feeling completely back to normal and my family feels much safer knowing I won’t throw bicycles across the room.

I’m still working out, just as often but not as hard. I’m lifting the same weights but the workouts are going much slower and I often quit early. Mostly because my lungs feel like they are the size of marbles. I learned that this is from hormone changes, and I feel great knowing that once I start to equalize, I will begin to feel like I can breath again. That is, until my lungs literally have no more room to breath. Full first trimester work out post coming soon.

You’re next question is if we are going to find out the gender, and I’m going to make you wait a little while before I answer that question ;)

Joey is doing wonderful. We haven’t made it totally clear to him why Momma is so tired right now, but we will. When the baby starts making Momma a little bigger around the midsection, he will definitely understand. He’s watched all my girlfriends go through it, so he’s very aware of the process by this point. We will start having conversations with him soon. He’s been the sweetest ever – stroking my hair while I lay on the couch, letting me nap while he plays and bringing me my coffee in the mornings. The most empathetic little 2 year old I’ve ever known.

More to come on how we are preparing for baby, life and work wise, and products and things that have been overwhelmingly amazing for these first few weeks. But for now, I’m going to go pack as many JoJos as I can while I still have the energy to do so, and play in the puddles with my sweet boy. Because these are the days, and I am beyond blessed to know they are cherished by all of us. Even that little gummy bear in there, making momma want to sleep for days.

xoxo and cheers to Baby Andreini #2,

Nicole, Joey and Adam