Maternity Clothes I Like

Quince Jumpsuit

This is soft to the touch, doesn't pill, and makes you feel semi put together when pregnant. This is also easy since it is just one thing! 

Quince Smocked Dress

I actually prefer this to the Hillhouse one. The Hillhouse one feels more stiff and I think my Quince one is a size smaller but the straps constantly fall down on me with the Hillhouse one and it is super annoying. This is also one of the easiest style dresses to nurse in. There is almost nothing I would prefer to wear pregnant vs. not but the smocking is kinda cute with a bump if I had to pick something.

Madewell Pull-On Jumpsuit

This is sooo soft, I love this thing! It is probably an odd pick for pregnancy because you need to step into it so it is kind of a squeeze at the end but it also looks cute oversized so maybe size up if you wanna wear it pregnant specifically. I have 2 different sizes though and they both work for almost my whole winter pregnancies

Not Perfect Linen Mama Dress

For some reason I didn't "love" this dress when I was pregnant, there is a lot of fabric at the bottom, maybe that is why? The linen also looks/feels better a little broken in. Anyways, I've been wearing this all of the time and it has been a huge life improvement. I really want the long sleeve one for colder months! You can customize this for free by requesting snaps be added instead of buttons, making nursing even easier. I wore the same size pregnant and not and it for sure is comfortable all the way through the 3rd trimester. I am obsessed with Not Perfect Linen and legit want to replace all of my existing clothes and just own stuff from there

3rd Baby Pregnancy

 With my 2nd baby, long story but the doctor scheduled a c-section but thankfully it didn't end up happening. After a successful vaginal delivery with my 2nd I thought I would be in the clear and and not need a c-section due to previous shoulder dystocia, however my OB said it would be the same situation with observing weight etc. that we did with baby #2. I wanted to avoid that, so with baby #3 I switched OBs. I actually tried to switch to this practice with baby #2 but I was 36 weeks or something so they didn't take me and my story to reception probably sounded very odd. 

The new practice is a mix of doctors and midwives and was started by a Catholic doctor who is now retired (I think). My initial appointment with the new practice was sooo different than my previous doctor. This doctor said I would be considered low risk with my birth history and one of the first midwives I met said they usually recommend going into labor naturally vs. having patients be induced. I have no issue being induced since I was with my first 2 babies and considered both deliveries positive experiences. 

Let me back up a bit. I remember feeling tired on Holy Thursday 2024 (March 28th), like the kind of tired you only get when you are pregnant. P also has never slept through the night so I was probably also just tired. But I remember thinking I was pregnant when driving to Mass and I went to 2 churches for the 7 churches visit that night just by myself but I remember thinking I actually wasn't by myself. I went hiking on Good Friday with the 2 boys, this has been a tradition for the past 3 years. It is nice to be outside but it isn't overly "fun" like going to a playground and Jesus walked while carrying the cross. At some point I ended up carry both boys and I remember thinking I am actually carrying 3 kids right now. 

I took a pregnancy test on 4/3 and it was negative. I took a test on 4/4 and it was a super faint positive. I always test really early and I think the cheap strip tests I was using were expired, so I still was pretty positive I was pregnant even though the first test was negative. I got a clear positive test on 4/8. I wanted to tell the kids pretty early so as soon as I got a semi positive I drove to Dots to get one of the "better" tests where you get like a + symbol if you are pregnant and I remember being so happy and like felt surreal that I had such exciting news but was in such a mundane place as a grocery store and no one else knew. 

I started feeling nauseous around 4/18. Coffee started tasting gross per usual. Eating super frequently helped the nausea but it was still bad. I'm pretty sure I had self diagnosed perinatal depression; I didn't have this with my previous pregnancies. I noted that if I ate protein hourly it helped the nausea.  On 5/17 I started feeling better mentally, so about a month later. I started taking magnesium which I am attributing to why I started feeling better. I was able to drink hot coffee again around 12 weeks. 

I felt nauseous all the way to 21 weeks. This baby seemed to move a lot more than my others. I think I felt braxton hicks when I was on vacation when I was around 20 weeks. 

This pregnancy was luckily pretty uneventful. I read Made for This  (highly recommend) and of course, thought about having a natural birth but ultimately didn't think I could do it or want to do it. Oh, one thing about the new practice is you meet with a bunch of midwives but you aren't assigned a specific one, whoever is working the day you go into labor is who delivers your baby. I didn't realize I wasn't a fan of this at all until I got closer to my due date.

I felt the usual 'very' pregnant in the third trimester, but didn't really have any symptoms to complain about. I get kinda panicky about low fetal movement whenever you reach the point where you are supposed to monitor kick counts. I'm kinda bad at noticing things so the pressure about needing to know if your baby is alive or not and it actually being a big deal just feels like a lot. At my last couple appointments, I brought up how I was confident baby was moving enough etc. but in retrospect newborns sleep for really long stretches (3 hours sometimes) so baby could've just been sleeping? 

At my appointment on 12/16 (my due date was 12/12) I was feeling kind of hopeless about going into labor as I had exactly 0 labor signs. I also wasn't like dying to go into labor. I was also getting pretty nervous about the baby and would just feel way more comfortable being able to check on her outside the womb. The new office is definitely not super into medical interventions but I asked my midwife about pros /cons about me waiting until the date where you are required to get induced (42 weeks) vs. getting induced sooner. She said she didn't see any reason why it would be a benefit for me to wait and because I was getting worried about low fetal movement she actually recommended doing it sooner. I felt so relieved hearing this and really felt *seen* that I actually started crying. This specific midwife was working on 12/19 so she scheduled me to get induced that morning. We were having a baby in 3 days! I was gonna write about that day but this post is really long so I'll do a part 2.

Bruno’s Birth Story

I’m planning on also writing a 3rd trimester recap and my thoughts on Bruno’s first month of life so I won’t include info on that here. If I had to give my birth experience a reddit title it would be “Positive Induction Experience at 40+5, FTM”. 

Birth is one of those unique experiences that everyone who is present and part of the “labor group” that is in the room with you is kinda bonded forever over the shared unique experience. The only thing that it kinda reminds me of is running a  marathon. Similar aspects:

• You can die in both events
• A sip of water or snack can give you a much needed boost 
• You can do a lot to train or you can do nothing
• A lot of it is mental
• People who’ve done it love to talk about it
• People cheering really helps give you a boost

I was scheduled for an induction for May 28th on May 6th if I didn’t go into labor naturally beforehand which spoiler alert I didn’t. I felt pretty neutral about my Dr. recommending I be induced, it was kind of nice to know an “end date” and I trusted her rec even though there wasn’t a specific medical concern. There was some date that the Dr. office I went to basically requires you to be induced so having a planned date a little before that and after my due date didn’t seem like a big deal to me. I want to mention here that I get the need for “due dates” but wish it was more like a due date range that you would get, I did not anticipate the weird mental stuff that would come with going past my due date even though I was well aware of the % of births and FTMs that deliver after their due dates, and I think it is based on a 28 day cycle which mine is on average longer than that. 

The week leading up I pretty much didn’t feel like doing anything besides stalk all of the pregnancy Reddit threads. I worked up until lunchtime on Thursday (the day before the scheduled induction) this might be a good time to mention that all medical things really gross me out, I close my eyes whenever Covid vaccines are shown on TV and the whole pregnancy I was super nervous about labor that I kinda avoided thinking about it. I read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (avoided reading the parts about epidurals and anything negative about stuff I maybe would have), I think this book is what made me think I def did not want to have my water broken though. I don’t really remember what was going through my mind the night before, Brendan and I both went to bed early around 9 and I slept super well. I woke up at 4 the next morning and had peanut butter toast for breakfast, knowing it might be the last time I would eat a meal. We were scheduled to be at the hospital by 5AM, I called beforehand to make sure there were still rooms available.

We got to the hospital a minute or so after 5, it felt and I think actually was pretty empty on the labor and delivery floor. Our 1st nurse was super nice and kinda funny/sarcastic. I changed into a hospital gown and kept my sports bra on because it was more comfortable, I don’t remember if I wasn’t thinking of logistics of not being able to take it off or if I thought there would be time before I delivered to take it off. Hope Bruno isn’t reading this but the whole time I def was just worried about making it through the next “thing” and not excited about meeting a baby that day it still didn’t really feel real or something that I was allowed to be excited about because I knew we had to get through lots of other stuff first (induction methods, cervical checks, an epidural, contractions, who knows what else). I think they put an IV thing in me next, I turned the other way and had Brendan hold my hand on the side I was facing and I told them I was a total baby for all things like this.

this is me VERY pregnant in the delivery room

Then the nurse came in to see how dilated I was because that would determine how they would proceed. Judging from the way the check felt I wasn’t too optimistic, I’m assuming I wasn’t more than 2.5 cm (which I was at since they started doing cervical checks at 37 weeks) but she was nice and was just like “you’re gonna need Cervidil”. If I was, I think it was 4cm or more I could’ve started with Pitocin. Getting the Cervidil placed felt the same as a cervical check, it stuck to the nurse’s glove or something at first though so I needed to sit through that twice. Before each thing I would ask the nurse or whoever what will this feel like and would this hurt worse than “X”, and each time they were SOO nice and helpful explaining everything. After that we were supposed to just let the Cervidil do its thing, shortly after my mom showed up YAY. 

The nurses and my Dr. I’m pretty sure was there too, came in to check to see how I was progressing at 9 AM and I don’t remember the #s but whatever it was it was enough to make them think I didn’t need Pitocin. My Dr. was at the hospital at that time and said she would like to break my water and I kinda freaked out because somewhere I read something about that that like worried me but she reassured me it would be fine etc. I had my glasses off intentionally the whole hospital stay and I made sure not to look at whatever she used to break my water. Brendan went to the bathroom right before this but thankfully my mom was there and she held my hand for it so I was okay. I was surprised at how big the gush was and how it just like continuously happens the whole time with the whole water thing it felt pretty gross and warm and I’m sure my mom and Bren appreciated me announcing each time I like felt the water lol. 

A little after 11:30am I got the epidural. The nurse came in before and said the anesthesiologist had an operation at 12:30 or something like that so if I waited longer to get the epidural I would have to wait until he was done with that and I really didn’t want to be like “trapped” in pain waiting for him lol and I felt like I had done enough riding the contractions so it made my decision on when to get it easier. I don’t remember when exactly I felt the first contraction but when it said I had one on the monitor I was like oh I think I have felt one of these before during pregnancy. Contractions do feel like super intense period cramps, I didn’t labor with them too long but it felt like "enough" to me to check the self created box I had for that like, yep I can say I experienced that now. I couldn’t imagine them getting like way stronger than the ones I had up until push time, so def glad I decided to get an epidural. I was on the yoga ball for most of the time until it was time for the epidural and moving around hooked up to all the stuff was kinda annoying to me. I wanted to bite something and pull on a rope, I don’t think I hurt Brendan and there wasn’t a rope in this labor room. I could see why laboring in a tub would be comfortable. The thing with contractions are you do know you’ll get a break when each one ends, it is like that Kimmy Schmidt thing where you can withstand just about anything for 10 seconds (longer in this case but you get it). I still without question knew I wanted an epidural. 

Okay so it is a little after 11:30 am and I think I’m 4cm dilated and the guy comes in to do the epidural, I forget if he and the nurses explained it but whoever did, did an awesome job. I didn’t know that you have to be totally still during one part so I prayed that I wouldn’t have a contraction during that part and yay I didn’t. The scariest part was the staying still the pain wasn’t that bad. It felt kinda like getting a tattoo. Brendan being there with me for everything was immensely helpful.

After I got the epidural I don’t remember it feeling weird, it was hard to move my legs but I still could. I also could tell when I got a contraction but I wouldn’t describe anything I felt from then on as painful like I wouldn’t say “ow” to anything after that which was an ideal experience IMO. I didn't take a nap but I tried to rest but I think Brendan maybe dozed off.  I don't remember what I was thinking about, I didn't watch TV but it was maybe on and I just checked my phone a few times. I don’t think I would’ve minded not being able to feel my legs at all but my mom kept saying how she thought they did a really good job with the ep because of that. I used a peanut ball occasionally and I brought blue Gatorade but it I guess it wasn't considered clear so I couldn't have any but I did have cranberry juice (like right before pushing) and an Italian ice, both REALLY helped and were nice treats. Whenever the nurses checked on my progress they were happy and I forget when the decision was made but they said I wouldn't need Pitocin because I was just moving along fine after my water was broken. The epidural didn't seem to slow down anything at all. Around 1:30pm I was 6cm dilated then by 2:40pm I was 9.5cm dilated which was surprising/cool how stuff can just progress that much and with the epidural it doesn't even hurt! 

I stayed at 9.5 for kinda a while, like the next time the nurse checked me I think I was still there but then the next time which was probably a little before 5pm she said I was ready to push (which at the time I was kinda nervous for because I was thinking how can you have an entire baby and it not really hurt but was assured it would just feel like pressure probably). At first I pushed just maybe not holding onto anything which seems super weird, and then the nurses had me hold onto the handle bar things on the side of the bed, and then the last way was holding onto a towel that the nurse held the other side of like tug of war. I pushed for around an hour I think. Bren kept saying after how I didn't talk at all, I think I just didn't wanna waste my energy and wanted to have the baby. Having my mom and Brendan cheering on either side was absolutely what I needed right then and really helped me keep going. The 2 nurses were amazing and all their cheering really helped too. Someone in there saying the wrong thing woulda been extremely detrimental to me during this time. The only thing it reminded me of was wall sits or something similar to that in a sports practice LOL. Idk why but before I didn't anticipate like a workout portion (probs because I kinda avoided thinking too much about labor), the time for a quick break after each contraction/ push really helps you gear up for the next one. At some point the nurse mentioned me needing to put on an oxygen mask because of the baby's heart rate and idk why I wasn't thinking like "the baby needs you to do this" but I was like I won't be able to do this with a mask on I'm like claustrophobic and she didn't make me but I did try putting the mask on and after a second of like AHH it was fine and didn't bother me much and it did help the baby's heart rate or whatever they were worried about. During the pushing I remember asking all of the "physically strong" Saints I could think of to intercede along with everyone in the room's patron Saints repeatedly. 

At some point they got the doctor. I think this was after they had already said something about seeing the baby's head and hair color which was really encouraging because besides the positive cheers it was hard to tell how much progress or close you were getting, like you really couldn't but when they saw the head it was like omg this is getting close/real. Now idk how long it was really scary because remember I didn't have glasses on and I actually am pretty sure my eyes were mostly closed besides a few times I would look at my mom or Brendan but I guess the baby's cord was wrapped around his neck and the Dr. had to do some smooth maneuver to get his shoulder out. My mom was crying which I knew but I thought it was because like "omg this is so beautiful witnessing a birth and not omg this is super scary he might die". Brendan also said afterwards how scary it was, so I'm SOOO glad I was unaware because I could've freaked out and my pushing coulda been impacted. When I was actually pushing him out I could feel that unlike the other pushes when it didn't feel like I was pushing anything but again, nothing painful! Bruno was born at 6:18pm (ha my mom was mad I left my sports bra on but the nurse skillfully lifted it over the IV somehow and said she had the same kind/ really liked it lol so we could do skin to skin). He was 8lbs. 10 oz. and 21 inches long. This was also a shocker, I expected a 6 or 7 lb. baby but not having any indication before worked in my favor because that woulda just been another thing that worried me! Also shocker, he was conventionally pretty cute, I was expecting him to look like a baby picture I had just seen of Brendan as a newborn. I had to ask Brendan after to check but we didn't attempt nursing until the 2nd room where you sleep and stuff. I kept saying "hi baby" and double checking with the Dr. that he was okay because I was in disbelief that we made it. I obvi cried while holding him, even the nurses were crying after he was born. 

baby B with the eye medicine stuff on

Brendan holding him for possibly the 1st time

I consider my mom and Brendan essential to this whole thing and feel grateful in a way I am having difficulty to describe. The (labor/delivery) nurses were also amazing.

In typical me fashion this is really long and ridden with typos and run on sentences but glad I have it for the mems!

2nd Trimester Recap

 The 2nd trimester was largely enjoyable and uneventful. I stopped feeling super sick around 15 weeks. I still would throw up occasionally in the mornings, I even did randomly at 18 weeks and 25 weeks but by 15 weeks I really started feeling better nausea wise until I just felt totally normal. Life feeling sick vs. life not was exponentially different, I really just looked forward to going to bed every day when I was feeling sick and couldn’t believe how people dealt with this and the remainder of the 2nd trimester I could actually see why people liked and could miss being pregnant. 

I didn’t feel the baby move until later than normal, probably because I have an anterior placenta rn and in general I feel like I am kinda not in tune to what is going on lol. The first time I felt the baby move without a doubt was 1/16 (22 weeks), before that there were some super questionable movements. When the big move happened I think I was getting out of a chair and I kinda screamed and was like “that cannot happen” it felt like my body was going one way and the baby was going the other way like a flip. It didn’t hurt or anything it just felt sooo weird and like startling. I think I started regularly feeling the baby move the evening of 2/13 and I have since then. It is pretty subtle and doesn’t hurt at all. I love putting my hand on my stomach and feeling the baby move, it makes me think of when you’re at the beach and see a dolphin come out of the water and wait for it to pop up again for air and its exciting each time. 

Helpful Things

• Yoga Ball - I borrowed one from my parents super early like Thanksgiving and started using it as my work chair and have loved it. I’m not to the uncomfortable all the time phase yet but think this will be even more useful when I get there.
• Pregnancy pillow - I got this one, pretty early on in the first trimester just because it was one of the cheapest ones on Amazon (it was $32.95 at the time). I slept on my stomach because it was still comfortable for really long, probably up until about a month ago. I brought the pillow into bed maybe halfway through the 2nd trimester and don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner it is the perfect little cocoon and I sleep super comfortably. I’ve slept weirdly so well the whole pregnancy there’s been like 3 nights where maybe its because I had caffeine those days but it feels like it takes really long to fall asleep but I still feel more well rested the next day compared to how I would feel pre pregnancy. It kinda feels like I am half asleep when I am trying to fall asleep. Every other night I fall asleep pretty immediately and don’t wake up at all throughout the night, I don’t know if its just that I am so tired by the time I go to bed or what. 

Eating - I still haven’t craved one specific food for an extended time or anything but in the 2nd trimester I definitely started craving sweet things like ice cream etc. I was having these little Friendly’s sundaes basically daily up until Lent (gave up sweets). 

Wearing - I feel like I’ve been wearing basically the same thing every day. I usually rotate comfy sweatpants or joggers that I wore pre pregnancy with regular t-shirts. I got these maternity jeans from j.crew factory and they are okay but the stomach part would be comfier if they didn’t have the extender or the lower back imo. I’m excited for the warmer weather so I can wear t shirt dresses and stuff.

First Trimester Recap

 I’m writing this while 13 weeks 6 days pregnant (according to due date calculators). I’ll start from the beginning so my thoughts on pregnancy thus far are in one place. *Warning I talk about throwing up so don’t read if that bothers you.

When I found out. I was pretty sure I was pregnant, I just had a feeling and when riding in the car one weekend Mary’s Magnificat was like playing in my head and struck me in a super particular emotional way. Not sure enough though, to not drink that weekend. The next week, 9/11, a Friday I needed to pick up a lamp I ordered at Target so I went there at lunch and just since I was there I picked up a pregnancy test. It was really early, like a day or two before I was even supposed to start my period but I couldn’t really wait and wanted to know for practical reasons like if it was still okay to drink coffee basically all day. Seeing the two lines or whatever did feel like unreal and it was hard to just focus on working the rest of the day. At some point I snapchatted Bren the positive test. That night when Bren got home from work I just acted totally normal and we went to Lucky Star Brewery for dinner. We sat in our usual place outside on the patio, when Brendan ordered a drink and asked if I wanted anything I was just like “Omg didn’t you check snap” and then he did and I forget what he said right after that probably like, “Wow, you’re really pregnant.”. And then we finished our dinner and talked about normal things. I texted my mom casually two days later. The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was the Monday after I found out I was pregnant and in the Maronite Rite at least they do this cool Blessing of the Four Directions in addition to the veneration and stuff so it was nice getting blessed and being the only ones knowing I was pregnant. 

Weeks whatever until 6 - I made a Dr. appointment two days or so after I found out for October 13th and then an ultrasound a few days after. I went to my mom’s work for an ultrasound 2 weeks before that which was SO nice to be able to see the baby, which is always a relief and Brendan and my mom were there too. This seems cute now because they still don’t sound appetizing at all now but at the time it was a nice treat, but one of the first things I did was get decaf k-cups and non-alcoholic beer from Trader Joe’s. I felt pretty normal, a little more tired than usual. I downloaded the Baby Center app (later I switched to What to Expect) and found out I was due 5/23. This is the same due date the baby measured at when I went to my initial Dr. appointment. I ate all my regular foods and would go on 1 longish walk on the trail really near by for exercise. 

This is a schedule Brendan made to help me know when to take B6 and eat and stuff. I went to bed a lot earlier and ate a lot more.

Week 6 until 14 - This is when things started to change / go downhill. The 1st Monday of the 6th week I went on a walk before work and threw up almost immediately after going outside twice and I was totally surprised like what is going on / this is awk. That pretty much became the routine feeling sick all the time and throwing up a couple times a day. It’s hard to describe the feeling I guess its just “nauseous” but I had a hard time describing what it felt like besides just not good. Smells and a lot of foods totally repulsed me too. I deleted social media for a few days because people’s food pics would totally gross me out, and food commercials on TV were rough too. If Brendan would mention something like Roosters I would be like that sounds like that nastiest thing ever are you insane, I never thought I could feel so strongly about food. I also know that my sickness def wasn’t on the far end of how bad it could be, I definitely wasn’t throwing up everything I ate and I still worked daily etc. Bizarrely, the 3 times I visited Columbus it was like a night and day difference I still threw up sometimes but I felt a million times better. After feeling sick I REALLY appreciated all the times I felt normal. When I went to the Dr. they recommended Unisom & B6 for nausea like I was having (like not bad enough to need something stronger) this was the only thing that I did that noticeably made a big difference. 

Other things I got / did that helped in the moment:

• Lemon essential oil - I just got some from Whole Foods. This really helped if there was a smell that was really grossing me out and smelling it before I got out of bed helped too. 
• Gin Gins - These are hard ginger candies that you suck on, in the moment they did distract me and help but I don’t think they helped beyond that. In retrospect I would’ve preferred the kind of ginger you get with sushi.
• Preggie pops - These are actually really good. The raspberry flavor is my favorite. If I feel nauseous at all now I will grab one still. They’re pretty sour. 
• Morning Sickness Sweets - These were a good mix of ginger candy and regular candy. 

When I was 13 weeks I thought I was feeling a little better and tried not taking unisom one night, I also had some real coffee that day so I was up until 11pm, my normal bedtime on unison was no joke between 7 and 8. Anyways, I felt sick but I’m really bad at knowing when I am going to throw up and I went to bed, Brendan fell asleep like right away and I threw up next to the bed like a ton and Brendan woke up and I was like we need to find more unisom because I was out so it was a whole scene and we went to 2 places before finally finding it at the 3rd that was luckily still open. I’m still taking it but am going to try to not again tomorrow. Oh also notable event, I started cooking or helping cook dinner when I hit 13 weeks previously I was eating Trader Joe’s frozen things or bagels. 

Other questions that I would like to know

Are we finding out the gender - yes

Am I wearing maternity clothes - I got one pair of Blanqi maternity leggings but other than that I am just wearing clothes that fit or getting clothes in a bigger size that I can wear when I’m not pregnant. Working from home has been so nice for this and in general, I would probably be really stressed worrying about vomming at work because I just throw up wherever I am like while driving (low point lol). I don’t think my jeans have fit comfortably since like 8 weeks. 

Foods I‘ve liked - cheez-its 

TLDR: The first trimester was almost laughably bad/gross but now I am on the mend. 

Btw, I feel like it goes without saying but even though I am complaining a lot I realize a lot of people would love to get pregnant and aren’t able to. The baby & myself have also been healthy thus far.

Thanks for reading! 

Xoxo,

Sally