Pregnancy Announcement + Answering First Trimester Questions

Hi All!!! Wow, I can’t believe my first blog post in 2020 is in mid-March lol! If you have been wondering where I have been, well, I have so much to catch you up on! We have big news for you – WE’RE PREGNANT and Jeff and I are sooo excited to be parents to a human baby!!! Here are photos from our pregnancy announcement with our darling little fur babies. We know they are going to be the best siblings to their human sister/brother! I’m sharing photos from our pregnancy announcement plus answering some questions I got about my first trimester!

Was this a planned pregnancy or surprise?

It was kind of both. My mom and dad had an extremely hard time conceiving, and after 13 years of trying, I was their miracle baby. Given their history, my mom was very worried that I would have trouble having a baby too. Jeff and I took this into consideration and said maybe we should start trying, thinking it could take us years. Surprisingly, I was pregnant almost immediately! Even though we weren’t exactly ready for it, we feel extremely lucky and blessed that this happened so quickly!

How did you find out that you were pregnant?

After taking time off of work during the holidays and through the New Year, Jeff and I headed back to work for the first time in 2020. We took the bus to work downtown that morning and I felt really sick, thinking it was just my usual motion sickness. I slept throughout the commute and told Jeff I’ll be fine once I get some fresh air. My bus stop is always before Jeff’s, and as soon as I stepped off, I felt dizzy and nauseous. I took a few steps forward and I suddenly had to throw up! It came up so fast and there was a ton of bile, I couldn’t contain it. I ended up throwing up alllll over myself! It was all over my hands, coat and in my hair! lol Luckily, no one noticed. I stopped at a nearby bench, got some tissues, tried to wipe some of it off, and compose myself. I walked to my office and cleaned myself up in the bathroom – none of my coworkers had any idea. My period was also late so when I got to my desk, I messaged Jeff and said “I think I’m pregnant.” That night, we got a couple of pregnancy tests which confirmed the shocking but very happy news! Pro tip: buy pregnancy tests from the Dollar Store! They are only $1 each and FDA approved!

How did you break the good news to your family?

Because I had severe morning sickness (more about that below), it was very difficult to hide my pregnancy. I disappeared off of social media and I was bedridden. We ended up telling my family and close friends early on because they were all wondering where I was or why I was so sick. We did a pregnancy announcement for my parents on Lunar New Year when I was around 8 weeks pregnant. For Lunar New Year, it’s tradition that my parents gift us red envelopes with money in it while we wish them health, prosperity, and a long life. During this exchange between my parents and Jeff and I, I also gave them a red envelope as a surprise pregnancy announcement. Inside of it was a picture of a random baby we found in a booklet and we wrote out “We’re pregnant! You’re going to be grandparents!” My parents were confused at first but after realizing the news, they were absolutely ecstatic! My parents are older so they’ve been waiting for grandchildren for a loooong time!

How was your morning sickness?

I had severe morning sickness. It was horrible, and I honestly don’t think I have ever felt so sick in my life. For six weeks straight, I felt nauseous 24/7 and threw up almost every day, whether it was bile or what I just ate. I had food aversions to meat – my Jeff was heating up salmon one night and the smell alone sent me straight to the bathroom. From that day on, I locked myself in my room anytime Jeff cooked. All I could eat were carbs and TON of it. To help with the nausea, I ate 7-8 times a day mostly PB&Js, bread and cheese, cereal, pizza, crackers, donuts and lots and lots of fruits. I remember I would wake up in the morning and immediately stuff Gold Fish in my mouth so that I wouldn’t throw up. I also constantly had chills, headaches and fatigue. Jeff had to buy me a heating blanket in addition to the 6 layers of blankets that I was sleeping with. I was literally bedridden for those 6 weeks. I think the most I moved was from my bed to downstairs to grab water or make myself a PB&J when Jeff was at work. It was like having the longest flu! Once I got to my second trimester, the morning sickness miraculously disappeared and I finally felt normal again! I’m able to function, be productive, and get out of the house now! Jeff was so relieved cause he had to take care of so much on his own while I was bedridden lol.

Any cravings?

I have a craving for something almost every day and I would HAVE to have it. I’ve craved a lot of things that I don’t eat regularly like sour candy, orange juice, Arby’s, and Taco Chukis. Whatever it is, Jeff goes on a quest to get it for me lol. When my craving is satisfied, it’s the best feeling ever. I usually love food, but I have never enjoyed food this much in my life before lol.

What gender do you think the baby is? Are you doing a gender reveal?

Following our pregnancy announcement, we found out the gender of the baby! I did a blood draw so I was able to find out at 13 weeks. I’m still amazed at how a blood draw could determine that! We aren’t planning on a gender reveal party or anything, but I do want to share in a gender reveal post. Stay tuned!

Have you decided on baby names yet? Will you do Viet or Korean names?

Since knowing the gender, we do have a name baby name picked out! I think I’m going to wait to share later on, but here are some funny puns that we thought of with Jeff’s last name, Son: Dam Son (lol! this is actually a meme) and Nate Robin Son (famous NBA player; I came up with this one and am so proud of it lol!).

As for Vietnamese and Korean names, we are pretty sure our parents will want this so we’ll work with them to come up with some ideas. These names won’t be on baby’s birth certificate though.