Pregnancy Milestones

I woke up on August 1st, 2019, with one thought in my mind: by the end of this month, my son will be born. This realization hit me so deeply that I couldn’t get out of bed for a few minutes.

Me. A mother. By the end of this month. Where did the time go?

It feels as though it was just yesterday that I told my husband, Steven, that the pregnancy test I took had tested positive. As I reflect on the amount of life that has happened in the past nine months, I think it’s important to share with other moms-to-be about the biggest milestones I experienced during this pregnancy. All of the “expectant parents” books you will buy will all say the same things, but if you’re anything like me, then real life experiences are what I’ve wanted to read about as I venture closer to motherhood.

Milestone #1: The Positive Pregnancy Test

This milestone is a given, it’s the beginning of the journey! Seeing the two lines light up is such a beautiful sign. Forget the fact that you’re holding a stick that you just peed on (this might even slip your mind completely as you squeal with excitement), and go tell your SO about the happy news. My temptation to tell everyone right off the bat was too great, and I had to reign in my excitement to keep the secret for a few months, but I will never forget when I shared this news with Steven. It was an early morning in December when I was still living on my college campus, I was getting ready for work and I was only one day late. I saw the pregnancy test under my sink and thought, “What’s the harm?” I took it and then proceeded to brush my teeth and when I looked over at the test three minutes later, I stared in disbelief. Two incredibly faint lines were staring right back at me. I called Steven, and he rushed over from his house and I jumped into his car. As I held up the test for him to see, his eyes welled with excited tears. Our lives were about to change in the most amazing way.

Milestone #2: Hearing the Baby’s Heartbeat

Absolutely nothing in the world can prepare you for the sound of your unborn child’s heartbeat. This was without a doubt the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my life. When I heard the heartbeat for the first time, it was a complete accident. I had picked up a bug while flying and found myself very sick as the new year was rolling in. When my mother and I rushed to the ER to make sure the baby was okay, we were convinced I was close to 7 or 8 weeks along. Turns out, after our first ultrasound, I was only 5 weeks along when I heard my baby’s heartbeat for the very first time. From the very beginning, this little one has had the strongest will to live and hearing his heartbeat brought me to tears.

Milestone #3: First Ultrasound

In mid-January, Steven and I were able to see our little one for the very first time. As the OB pulled the image up of our baby on the screen, we were amazed. Our little baby looked like a tadpole, yes, but we were so in love. Each time the OB pulled up a clear image of him, he would wave his little arms and bounce away from the screen and we would have to find him again. At 9 weeks old, he was already playing hide-and-seek with us (and he was winning).

Milestone #4: First Kick

I credit the baby’s first kick to Bob Marley. On a five-hour car ride from Jacksonville, FL, to Pensacola, Steven and I found ourselves staring into the night drive with such tired eyes we didn’t know if we’d stay awake. I decided to turn on some reggae music with the hopes that we would stay awake jammin’ (thank you, Bob Marley). As we taped our fingers to the island beat, I felt something utterly amazing. At only 17 weeks, I could feel movement so delicate and deliberate there was no mistaking it for anything other than my unborn child letting me know he was there.

Milestone #5: Telling the World

When it came down to spreading the news about our little one, this took some deciding. Close family and friends had already received the exciting news, but how did we want to tell the rest of the world? It took us shy of an hour to test out different settings with our message board with the news written on it, but we were fixated on the when to tell the world, not the how. After tons of deliberation and settling on a way to announce our news, all it took was the click of a button. Suddenly, the world was informed and the congratulations and well-wishes flooded in.

Milestone #6: The 3D Ultrasound

Seeing our little baby in a 3D ultrasound was something I almost gave up, but I am so glad that I didn’t. On this day, my husband found out that he had to work later than he was originally told, and our ultrasound appointment was over an hour away. I hopped in the car and sped over to the appointment, calling my mother to meet me there, and tried to convince myself to not feel bad about my husband being unable to join. As I laid on the table watching the ultrasound technician find my son’s most prominent features, I was overwhelmed with such excitement and joy. Our cantelope-sized little guy was sleeping so soundly and couldn’t be wakened. Out of the entire hour that I spent watching my baby sleep, we were able to get three half-decent photos of him with his fist laying slightly under his head. He was sleeping so very soundly, and he was incredibly beautiful.

Milestone #7: The Birth Month

Over the course of my pregnancy, I was given three due dates that ranged from August 17th to August 21st, but once I hit 36 weeks, I expected the baby to come any day. I constantly kept the house clean, I made sure we had groceries stocked up, and I worked ahead on as much schoolwork as I could. August 1st came and went, then the 10th, then the 17th. I crossed my fingers to feel anything special on the 21st, but nothing happened then either. Every night in August, I went to bed with the feeling that I was waiting for Christmas morning, and then once morning came, my heart sank. Eventually, we couldn’t wait any longer and had to induce labor since we were nearing our moving date. If we had waited any longer, our baby would’ve been less than a month old before leaving. Nonetheless, August was a whirlwind.

On August 28th, our newborn son joined the world. My best friend and brightest sun made his way into the world and now I sit here, two months later, reminiscing over those beautiful moments when it was just the two of us against the world. For nine months, we were growing together and now we continue to grow together each and every day. In each smile we share, I can feel my heart bursting with love.

There were many times throughout my pregnancy that I realized my life was changing in the most beautiful and amazing ways– from buying my first set of maternity shorts to realizing I cannot not submit to my cravings, everything was special to me. Each little milestone was bringing me one step closer to meeting my little one. Thank you for reading about my biggest milestones as I was growing our little bean!