We are having a BABY! Writing those words feels almost as good as saying them out loud. I couldn’t wait to share our little (huge?!) surprise, but at the same time I relished in the weeks it was a secret just between the two of us. Once we were ready we slowly opened up to family, then friends, and now all of you.
I’m currently 18 weeks along, and I found out early (10 DPO for my fellow TTC peeps) so we’ve been keeping this in for quite some time. I posted a video on my YouTube channel sharing the exact moment we found out, which is so surreal to look back on. That day in December feels like a lifetime ago because so much has happened since then! I plan on sharing lots of pregnancy and baby details, but first I wanted to answer a question that always plagued me whenever another couple would announce they were expecting. How did they know they were ready? Did they just wake up one day and decide to change the rest of their lives? That’s crazy talk! Here’s how it went for us…
Jordan and I discovered our shared desire to have a family on our very first date. Literally. I remember thinking how ironic it was that this guy on the other side of the table checked off so many boxes when I had no intention of entering a serious relationship. I was 20 years old, freshly single, and in a self declared period of casual dating. A first for me! I moved to LA only weeks prior and shamelessly publicized, “I just want to date a bunch of hunks!” Well, I found one. And I married him…8 years later, but still. 😉 I’ve never been happier to be so wrong!
Knowing we were on the same page about babies was easy, but figuring out when to start a family proved a little more difficult for us. We talked about it endlessly, and even filmed video clips on special occasions to our future children (as seen in our announcement video on YouTube). However, we had this nagging feeling that we still had so much to accomplish first! We each followed fairly unconventional academic and professional paths by taking long hiatuses and then diving back in years after our peers. We chose to be a little more calculated when it came to deciding when to start a family, and wanted to wait for the “perfect time”. As if such a thing exists.
Leading up to our wedding in May 2018, the baby fever was stronger than ever. For me at least. Several of my closest friends either had a baby or had one on the way, and watching them take that leap and grow into the most wonderful mothers to their perfect little babies made my heart swell in anticipation of our own journey to parenthood. In June we jetted off on the most romantic honeymoon imaginable, but a few things still stood in the way of the honeymoon baby I always dreamed of. 😉
Firstly, my career was in a unique stage of limbo. I was happy and adored the family I nannied for, but I also felt compelled to enter the corporate workforce and dust off my cosmetology license. Secondly, I didn’t have health insurance! Once I graduated from UCLA, I was dropped from my former policy, and I couldn’t join one with Jordan until we had the legal documents to prove our marriage. This process took painfully long and my poor ovaries aged in dog years until it was complete. Insurance is a pretty critical part of prenatal care, so all baby plans were on hold until it was sorted.
Fast forward to August when I fell into my dream job with a fresh last name and a shiny new BlueShield card. Finally one night at a dumpy Westwood sports bar, over subpar wine and french fries we finally had the talk. I was surprisingly nervous to throw it out there, worried my husband might still think we hadn’t reached the perfect time. Thankfully, in a way only he can, Jordan read my mind and it ended up being less of a conversation and more of a declaration. Just like that we were officially “trying.” There were still a thousand things we could have prioritized in that moment. Owning a home, solidifying my new position at work, or having a year to ourselves as newlyweds suddenly took a back seat. We chipped away at our goals for so many years, pushing aside our dreams of starting a family, and we just didn’t want to anymore. We pretty much woke up one day and decided to change our lives and start a family. 😉
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows to get here and I know raising babes is hard work, but I must admit we are pretty darn happy where we are. We’re counting down the weeks (22 to be exact!) until we meet our little one, and we couldn’t be more smitten already. Just look at that little 11 week old profile! As much as I want time to speed up so we can meet our baby, I’m trying to soak up this pregnancy and our final days just me, Jord, and Mika. <3
Ah, congratulations! I have been following your story for a while and know how much you have wanted to start a family. My mother always says there is never a right time to have a child. She really wants grandchildren, so she might be biased. But I do think she has a point in that if you wait for the perfect opportunity, it might never come.