We're having a muthafriggin' BABY!!! 🥳

I’m soooo FRIGGIN excited about this first.blog.post! Ahhhhh! 🙌🙌🙌 To be honest, I envisioned myself creating blog posts ever since I decided to dive deeper into the health and wellness space before I was even certified as a holistic nutritionist, holistic health coach, all the thangs lol. Here I am like 2 years later…BUT better late than never, right?!

Let’s f*cking do this, shall we?!

So, we’re having a muthafriggin' BABY! Whuuuuuuuttttt?! 🤯

It still hasn’t FULLY hit me yet, to be honest…I think it gets more and more real with each day that goes by 😅

But before I get into this part of my journey, I want to mention first and foremost that as a holistic health coach with advanced education in women’s hormones, I especially know how sensitive this topic can be for some of you…

I am hoping that whatever I share here can be helpful to you in some way, but if you feel it’s not, or if you’re just not interested in reading this, I understand FULLY ❤️

In this post, I’m mostly just sharing MY OWN personal experience into this new phase of our lives – preparing myself and my body, deciding I was ready, and then doin’ the damn thang (hehe) 😉 

THE PREP

Let’s take it back real quick…

Darius and I got married in Tulum on August 7th, 2021. It was INCREDIBLE. Sooooo f*cking✨DREAMY ✨

Several months prior, I had noticed some small rashes appearing on my legs. I brought it up to my primary care doctor at my yearly check-up, and she referred me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist biopsied the area and I was told it was eczema. Naturally, she prescribed me some steroid cream and sent me on my way. But, when I got back home after the wedding…shit hit the muthafriggin FAN…😳

The rashes spread like wildfire! They were larger, anddddd they appeared to be infected. 

What a mess 🫣 But, this whole eczema story is meant to live in another post on this blog (or maybe several lol) 

Fast forward to me trying to get to the ROOT CAUSE of this eczema that had suddenly gone haywire. In November of that year (2021), I finally had my gut tested and it seemed this was the culprit, so I made significant changes to my diet in an attempt to heal. 

This was a long and challenging journey…

I was in a really tough place mentally throughout this process, and I was worried about what this might mean for me in terms of my fertility. I’m SO in tune with my menstrual cycle and during this time, my cycles were off and hella whacky. 

I knew I had to be patient and heal my gut before even thinking about trying to have a baby. The microbiome has a huge impact on nutrient absorption, detoxification, mood, appetite, and mental function, so when it’s out of balance, it can lead to inflammation and hormonal issues. Not to mention, a healthy microbiome also helps improve fertility and leads to healthier pregnancies. 

Point is, I wanted to be as healthy as possible before growing a tiny human and that meant healing my gut was going to be my focus, and it was…for MONTHS.

By April 2022, my rashes had mostly healed and flare-ups were rare. My menstrual cycle also seemed to be back to my usual. I was finally beginning to feel “healthy” again 😌  

BEING READY

I had all my labwork redone the first week of May and everything was looking pretty good! Phew! 😅

Now, I was feeling like mayyyyyyybe I would be comfortable enough to *try* conceiving, but I still hadn’t decided anything yet; it was just a step forward and I was in no rush…

My husband, Darius had been ready for a whileeee and I knew that about him. For additional context, he’s 2.5 years older than I am and everyone in my family is always giving him shit about it too 😂

Anyway, I don’t know that there was an exact moment when I knew I was "ready." For me, it came as more of a progression…

Here’s what I did know: 

• I knew I wanted to have a baby while I still had some youthful energy🤣 and…
• I knew I didn’t want to wait too long and end up struggling to conceive or with a high-risk pregnancy because of it

I guess going through that whole eczema fiasco sparked more of the “maybe now’s the time” thoughts. Because you never f*cking know…

Right before going through that, I felt like my healthiest self, and then BOOM. I wasn’t. 

Now that I was doing much better, I didn’t want to risk anything sneaking in and snatching my health away…plus I really had NO IDEA if I would have trouble conceiving, being that I was JUST experiencing whacky menstrual cycles and hair loss not long before 🤷‍♀️

At the end of May, my closest cousin, Liana, got married 👰‍♀️ and something about that weekend also brought me closer to feeling like now was the time. Maybe it’s because growing up, I always dreamed we’d get married around the same time and start families around the same time…so, maybe her tying the knot was good enough? Who knows…

I did end my MOH speech with a toast to having babies 2 weeks apart 🤣

Either way, when we got back home after the wedding, I was coming up on my fertile window. I track my cycle like a HAWK 👀 so I knew exactly where I was. I spoke to Darius and let him know that maybe I was ready to “stop not trying” 😂

Neither of us wanted to put ANY pressure on the situation. We went into it with ZERO expectations…and I got pregnant on the FIRST try 🤯 🥳

FINDING OUT

Sooooo I pretty much suspected I was pregnant shortly after my ovulatory phase. Again, I’m so IN TUNE with my cycle and the way I normally feel in my luteal phase that I was almost positive I was pregnant. 

I just didn’t feel the way I typically would…I actually had A LOT of energy. I found myself wanting to be more active and wanting to do more intense workouts. Pfff…in my luteal phase, that pretty much NEVER happens. I slowwww down. I desire Pilates and Yoga, more rest, and more carbs. 

But, I didn’t really feel any of these things…

My basal body temperature also remained consistently high. Normally, my temperature drops back down before my period starts, and that also hadn’t happened. 

The 2 weeks post-ovulation were friggin' torture 🙄 They went by sooooo slow. All I wanted to do was take a damn pregnancy test. 

I FINALLY took a test just one day after I was “supposed” to get my period again. Darius was on a work call in the office, so I used that time to sneak the test into the bathroom with me 😏 

For some reason, I guess I wanted to do this part alone? 

I took the test, saw it was positive, went back to the couch, and waited…

That call took F*CKING FOREVER to enddddd 🙄

I was waiting so long to tell him that the second he got off the call and came out to the living room, I looked at him and said “sooooo, I’m pregnant.” 

That was it. Hahahah. 😬

Nothing special. I was sooo chill about it that he just kind of froze...He didn’t really know what to do or how to react because I was just sitting there on the couch. I think it just took him a minute to process what I had said. 

He came over and sat beside me, hugged me, and then we were excited together 🥳🥳🥳

I was SO HAPPY and GRATEFUL to have conceived on the first try. But, I truly believe that a lot of it has to do with what I do and what I teach my clients. I’ve been on my own health journey for years now and this was proof. 

Proof that a healthy lifestyle makes a difference.

Proof that understanding your menstrual cycle makes a difference. 

Proof that learning to track your fertile signs makes a difference. 

I was using the Fertility Awareness Method for over a year to avoid getting pregnant. I decided I felt ready enough, and all I had to do was DO IT during my fertile window 😂

Wow. What an incredible feeling. 

I can’t wait to continue sharing more of this journey with you in posts to come…it’s only just the beginning! Wait till ya hear how the first trimester went. That was…an experience. 😅

Thanks SO much for being here 👊 

Mucho love 🤎

Cait