Pfeff's Home Brew

 We got married, we bought a house, why not throw in a baby to really round the year out? If you follow me on Instagram @hkpfeff523 this is old news. Chris and I are so excited to let the rest of you in on our little secret. We are expecting a baby next July!

Whenever I find out someone is pregnant I always want to know how they found out and how they told the family. It’s just such a big deal and I think most people really enjoy sharing their stories. I knew I was going to break the news on the blog eventually but I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not to do bumpdates throughout my pregnancy. So while I pondered the idea I made sure to write down what’s been going on each week since we found out just in case I wanted to put it all out here. I have since decided that I am going to have you all follow along this journey with me if you choose. Don’t worry, if you’re someone who just comes for the dog pictures or the funny stories, those are not going away, I promise! This blog started because I have the most fun and cutest furballs to share about and they certainly aren’t going anywhere. The Ruff Life is just expanding to include our human baby and all that will come with my first pregnancy and our first adventure into parenting a non furry child.

So, get ready because this one is a LONG one. I just hit 9 weeks so I’ve compiled weeks 3 (when we found out) up through 8 to fill you in on what’s been going on. I plan to do a post a week and start with bump pictures once one starts to emerge! Let me know if you have questions or want me to talk about anything specific. I appreciate all your love and support through this very exciting time for us.

3 Weeks: Holy crap, I’m pregnant!

It was a Sunday, October 25^th, and Chaos had been acting…weird. Now you all probably know that Chaos is typically my little shadow. He’s a total mama’s boy and likes to be where I am at all times that he’s allowed to. But his behavior the past few days had been over the top clingy. So much so that Chris noticed it too. At first I thought maybe he wasn’t feeling well. He has a sensitive stomach and when it acts up all he wants to do is lay in mommy’s lap. But this was different. That little niggling feeling in the back of my head was telling me this was something to pay attention to. So on Sunday as I was lying down on the floor talking to Chris and Chaos walked up and promptly splayed himself across my stomach, we both knew something was definitely up. On the slight chance he was trying to tell us something in a fairly obvious way, we went and picked up the magic sticks that might hold the answer. And about a minute later it was pretty clear that Chaos did indeed know a little secret before we did. He was getting a human sibling.

Shocked and happy were the 2 big emotions of the day. I could hardly believe that A, this was actually real life and B, that my dog was the first to know. When I called my doctor the following day to break the news and schedule my first appointments I found out it’s fairly common for patients to find out they’re knocked up from a furry family member. Pretty cool, huh?

Week 4: Telling the family

I have heard that many people keep the pregnancy a secret until after the first ultrasounds and sometimes through the end of the 1^st trimester. Chris and I agreed we would wait to tell the world but we couldn’t wait to tell our families. When I was little I remember my parents having these t-shirts that said “Hilary’s Mommy” and “Hilary’s Daddy”. And yes, they actually wore them. I thought it would be fun to tell them the news by recreating the shirts with “Baby’s Pfeff’s Grandma” and “Baby Pfeff’s Grandpa”. My dad’s birthday was the Thursday before Halloween and we had planned to give him his birthday gift that weekend anyway. I told Chris if the shirts came in by Saturday (Halloween) we would give them to my parents that weekend. It worked out perfectly because I just pretended it was an extra birthday gift. My mom got it right away and cried but it took my dad a few minutes to figure it out. They were both so excited.

My sister is still living down in Nashville so we FaceTimed her as she was getting ready to go out with her friends. I asked her if she wanted to see mom and dad’s Halloween costumes and then turned the camera to them holding up their shirts. She cried and her friends screamed.

The following day we were invited to dinner with Chris’ family, which was perfect because everyone would be there and not the least bit suspicious. We went to Michael’s craft store that morning and picked up some supplies and a 6 pack. I used brown craft paper to cover the beer box and used tape underneath to hold it up, wrapping the ends like a present. Then I used stickers to put “Pfeff’s Home Brew Est. July 2016” on the front and added blue and pink stickers of tiny footprints, bottles and rattles. After dinner Chris set it on the table and it took a minute but once everyone got it they were all extremely happy. My sister-in-law is pregnant and due in February so the little cousins will be pretty close in age. 

Symptoms: Tired early, missed period

Week 5: Morning Sickness and Aversions Arrive

I signed up for The Bump app since I’m a first timer and want to know what’s going on in there each week. I laughed out loud when I read that this week baby looks like a tadpole. I also read that morning sickness can strike at any time and being that my hormones levels were pretty high pretty early, there was a good chance I’d start experiencing it sooner rather than later. I had actually already started feeling a little sick to my stomach if I didn’t eat a little bit every few hours but I don’t know that I even considered that nausea. But 5 weeks 1 day it hit me. I was in the bathroom getting ready for work and all of a sudden OMG I’M GOING TO BE SICK. It didn’t actually happen but it felt like it for a good 3 hours that morning. Luckily I was able to eat a snack mid-morning and the feeling disappeared.

This is the also the week my hot beverages aversion showed up. Of course it couldn’t be Spring when I’m about ready to switch over to iced coffee. Nope, just as the weather started getting colder, so too my drinks had to be. The strangest thing was that I could drink the exact same beverage iced and it was fine, it just couldn’t be hot or even a little warm. I thought it was simply a coffee aversion (like I’d read so much about in the first trimester) after I took a sip of a hot latte and gagged. But later that day while out at Panera for lunch I was nearly drooling over an iced vanilla latte. And I sucked that sucker down so fast. I tried hot tea, hot apple cider and even just plain hot water and they were all nada, no way, totally shut down. Oh well, it could have been worse.

Symptoms: morning sickness, EXHAUSTED, waking up in the middle of the night to pee and weird pulling sensations in my belly, aversion to hot drinks 

Week 6: Oh the Heartburn

So I had no idea that acid reflux is another wonderful pregnancy side effect. It also can (and has for me) come along with heartburn. Early on the hormone relaxin is hard at work doing as its name implies, relaxing your muscles so that they can stretch to accommodate the pregnancy. Well the esophageal sphincter is a muscle and relaxin doesn’t really discriminate so all the stuff that normally stays in your stomach is allowed to come up into your throat. Fun times. Especially at 2AM when you wake up because you have to pee and then can’t fall back to sleep because all of a sudden you’re hit with a massive tidal wave of that burning sensation down your throat and into your chest and become so insanely hot it’s like your insides are on fire. BUT munchkin is furiously growing away in there and it’s all totally worth it.

Symptoms: heartburn, reflux, nausea, hot flashes at night and waking up to pee, little cramps here and there and hold my eyes open until it’s time to leave work tired, still no hot drinks

Week 7: Symptom Roller Coaster

In early pregnancy HCG doubles (or more) every 2-3 days. By this point your body is starting to get used to the increase in hormones. Something I learned that really stopped me from getting worried is that symptoms can wax and wane significantly over these 2-3 day periods. HCG rises and you feel sick as a dog with raging heartburn and extreme exhaustion. But a day or so later these symptoms may be only mild or seem like they’ve disappeared all together. That’s just because following the rise your body adjusts to the new levels. And then it happens again. This doesn’t hold water for every person or every pregnancy but it was nice for me to know that vanishing or reduced symptoms for a day or two doesn’t warrant a panic attack. Mostly I do feel sick in the morning before I eat but it’s the worst in the afternoon. Working out, as hard as it is to force myself to do it, kicks that car sick feeling right in the ass. So as soon as I get home from work I head out for a walk or a moderate workout. It’s good for me and for the baby and keeps the nausea at bay until bedtime.

Symptoms: same as the last couple weeks plus craving sweet fruity treats like cherry pop-tarts, strawberry shortcake bars, apple fritters and any kind of fruit danish but (thankfully) also healthy fruit smoothies, hot drink aversion still going strong but now coffee, even iced, it totally off the table

Week 8: Seeing Baby for the First Time

We got to see our teeny tiny baby for the very first time this week. On Black Friday at 8 weeks 1 day we went for the first ultrasound and it was beyond amazing. The tech found baby Pfeff right away, just hanging out all content with a nice strong heartbeat flickering on the screen. There was a bit of movement but even after the tech had me cough several times, she laughed and said he or she is just very relaxed in there and isn’t going to move for us. We were so excited to send pictures to our friends and share our big news. I also went public with it via Instagram that evening and got some of the sweetest comments.

Nothing has changed much this week except maybe I had a few silly mini tantrums over Christmas decorations. One incident involved a garland that pissed me off and had me storming off muttering Christmas is SO hard! Yea, that happened. Thanksgiving was wonderful and I stuffed my face sans sweet potatoes, which had me nearly gagging although they are usually one of my favorites. There’s always next year.

Symptoms: I still want to eat all the sweet, fruity things and cold stuff! Apparently baby knows he or she is due in July and is a total summer baby. Smoothies and smoothie bowls are on the dinner menu most nights. But on the flip side there have been several occasions where all that sounds good is an egg McMuffin (sans Canadian bacon) or veggie soup and grilled cheese from Frisch’s. 

Happy Weekend!