Baby On Board!

Benjamin and I are looking forward to our first child coming in February of 2020.

It’s a Girl!

My birthday is June 8th, and all I really wanted this year was to be pregnant. We had been “trying” since the first of the year and not really sure if we could even get pregnant but June 4th, 2019 rolls around and that was the day we found out we are going to be parents. IE birthday wishes do come true!

We were exploring southern Utah at the time and had planned to keep the RV life going along the west coast until the end of the year and possibly longer. With the new baby on the way, we had a lot to think about.

To spare everyone from all the details, we decided to head up to SLC and find a midwife who was willing to work with a traveling couple. SLC made sense to have the baby there as we both have family in the area, and could use the extra support during that time. We found a great midwife named Heather from Segolilly Midwifery who helped us come up with a game plan for what we needed on the road, and what the monthly check-ins would consist of until we got back to SLC. Throughout the process, she has been extremely helpful and available at all times day or night.

Travel Plans

We’ve kept our original travel plans and had a great time visiting national parks as well as our family and friends throughout Idaho, Oregon, and California. We plan to conclude our adventures before Thanksgiving and plan to be back in SLC the first part of December to get ready for the holidays, and Baby Beck arriving in February.

After some recovery time, we plan to head back down to Austin Texas to settle down as a family. We have honestly loved this adventure and couldn’t have had a better first year of marriage traveling and spending so much time together. We are both lucky, and so excited about this next stage of life.

Here are a few questions you may have!

How has being pregnant on the road been?

Well… I don’t have anything to compare it too but it was rough the first trimester. My mother had 5 kids and said she doesn’t remember getting any morning sickness for any of them! Me thinking my genes would make this stage a breeze, I didn’t anticipate the brutal reality of morning sickness. It wasn’t fun but Ben was a really big help. The worst part was just feeling too hot in certain areas of the country. We do have AC in the RV but it can only do so much. When you feel like you are overheating and there isn’t a place to escape, it can be rough. If we were by a body of water or a pool I would often go take a dip and cool down. There were times I felt like a hot iron being cooled off by water with steam and bubbles coming off my body as I slowly submerged myself (to give everyone a visual).

At nights, I would have a squirt bottle by the bed and Ben, being the amazing husband he is, would squirt water on me which would help cool me off.

As we got into Oregon and near the coast, the weather cooled down and has been really pleasant for the most part.

Why did you keep traveling after finding out about the pregnancy?

Great question… Because we like to do difficult things? This RV life has been a blast and we really were looking forward to exploring the west coast. We figured we would just go for it , and if needed, adjust along the way. It’s been great and I am glad we decided to keep going rather than settling down while the little gummy bear grew.

Did being pregnant limit your life/travel style?

The first trimester I felt really exhausted, slept and gagged a lot. I remember making lists of things to do during the day and if I got two thing done it was a good day. We still went on daily multiple walks, but slower this time. As far as exploring each area, we did take it down a notch as my energy was limited. However, we still enjoyed hiking in places like the Oregon coast, Redwoods, and Yosemite. We even went to the sand dunes and had a blast riding around in a dune buggy! So the answer is yes and no. We still enjoyed every place we stayed but had to be more conscious of energy expenditure.

What about the 20-week ultrasound?

This was the one tricky thing that our midwife was not able to do herself. We contacted a midwife in the area and asked for a one-time appointment and a California referral in the area for a 20-week anatomy scan. We had to wait until week 22 as we were in Yosemite for weeks 20 and 21 but it actually wasn’t that hard. A very nice midwife in Paso Robles named Jennifer who came to our RV and talked for about an hour. The next day we went to the ultrasound and then went over the results with her. That information was relayed to my SLC midwife and added to my chart. So not to bad!

What do your monthly midwife check-ins look like?

Heather has been really helpful, caring, and available to chat/text/email whenever I need. There have been a few times I reached out with questions or concerns and she got back to me within the day. Our monthly chats consist of me giving her my blood pressure (which I test myself in the RV) and questions from me or from her regarding the progress of our baby. She asks things like “have you felt any movement yet?” or “have you experienced blurry vision or dizziness?” sort of stuff.

I really appreciate the personal touch of a midwife. I couldn’t imagine dealing with different Dr’s offices along the way. Everyone is different in the kind of care they like but we have been very happy with our choice.

Any crazy cravings?

The only thing that stands out is I kept craving crappy birthday cake at Yosemite national park. Like the kind of cake you get in a box from the store and the tub of Pillsbury frosting to put on top because you are too lazy to make your own. It seemed like every Netflix show we watched had some form of cake in it that made this craving worse. Eventually, we went to the only gas station nearby and found me some cake. It was delicious.

Any other questions that I missed?

Conclusion

Our RV life has been amazing but we look forward to planting some roots and having a family. We have seen so many places in the USA and seen so many of our family/friends scattered around the world and know this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We also know we will never run out of amazing places to explore whether it’s here in the USA or abroad. Now we get to have a little one to share the experiences with.

Here we go!