I cannot believe I am writing this with my sweet baby boy lounging on the couch next to me. It is SO surreal! But y’all, I love him so much it’s crazy. People would warn me that this would happen once he was here but I never fully understood it until I held him in my arms. He does something to me that no one else does and I cannot imagine life without him…and I don’t want to!
I thought I was going to have some more time before he arrived but he just could not wait to make his debut (and I am glad he did!) so let’s finally get to the third trimester questions! A lot of you have sent me DMs, or responded to stories, or even texted me so I am going to do my best to answer any and all questions that I may have received. If for some reason your question did not get answered, send me a DM! I have some time at home now so I will respond as soon as I can! :). Here we go:
Do you all have a name?
Miles Pratt Jacobs! If you follow me on Instagram then you have seen that by now but I was excited to finally share his name. So this was my grandfather’s name and I have always loved it. I have always wanted to use Pratt but Jon Luke also loved Miles so we just used the entire name! It is obviously super special to me as I lost my grandfather when I was in high school and we were very close. I love that we can carry on that legacy!
What were your favorite maternity brands?
To be very honest, I did not buy maternity clothes. I was gifted a pair of denim and two dresses before quarantine and I purchased one pair of denim but other than that I did not buy anything. Between the quarantine and what I had in my closet, I was able to make my leggings and flowy dresses work the entire time! These are the jeans I did buy and I love how they resembled my Levis. Also, these jeans from Show Me Your Mumu were gifted to me and they were SO comfy, so I would definitely recommend if you are not pregnant in the dead of summer haha. Also, these dresses (here and here) from Pink Blush Maternity were perfect for the events I was able to attend before quarantine so I would definitely check them out!
What was it like being pregnant during the pandemic?
Weird. This is how I envisioned my pregnancy: a large gender reveal surrounded by friends and family, multiple showers (one or two in Louisiana, one in Texas and one in Alabama), a baby moon with Jon Luke to somewhere tropical, maybe a small one to California, maternity pictures in California, a ton of time with our families before the baby came…you get the idea. This is how our pregnancy turned out: we did have a gender reveal (so thankful!), a drive by shower, a ZOOM shower, I didn’t see my parents at all in the third trimester, no trips, maternity pics in Baton Rouge (also thankful for!) and a ton of time with JL organizing the house.
With all of that being said, please don’t get me wrong…I am INCREDIBLY thankful for the time we had and the love that our friends and family showed us throughout. It was truly amazing. And Jon Luke and I had SO much great quality time together which I think was exactly what we needed before Miles came.
So to answer this question, it was weird, and it was unexpected, but it ended up being exactly what we needed. I would have pushed ALL of my limits and tried to do it all before quarantine, I truly believe that the Lord used this to make me slow down and appreciate our time together which I am extremely thankful for.
Did you end up having baby showers?
I did! They were just different than what we expected haha We were able to have our gender reveal right before we were told to quarantine and that was treated as a shower. My work friends hosted a ZOOM shower (and completely surprised me) which I loved! I loved being able to see everyones faces after so many weeks of working from home. And then we also had a drive-by shower from my Pure Barre people (also a surprise!) so that was amazing because I could see them, even if from the comfort of my front porch. Like I said, these showers were not how I expected them to be but they were perfect in their own way and I am beyond thankful for these memories!
How much weight did you gain?
Total I gained 32 pounds. I started the process around 140 and the day before my water broke I was 172. Looking at my body I feel like all of my weight gain was in my belly. My legs, arms and face seemed to stay the same so I think most of my weight gain was through my midsection!
Did you have a birth plan?
Other than I knew I wanted my doctor there and I knew I wanted the epidural…no. I told my doctor in the end that I wanted to do whatever I needed to do to make sure she delivered my baby haha (yes, I am a control freak) Luckily, she had no travel plans because of COVID so she said she would be around no matter what. The funny part was, she scheduled to induce me because of his size, but then my water broke four days before that…and it was her off day. When the nurse told me that I panicked but thankfully she still came in and delivered! And my only other plan was that I knew I wanted to try to push and I knew I would have the epidural. Let me be honest, none of this was written out or anything…I just went with it.
Any new cravings the third trimester?
I wanted cold fruit all the time. I think part of this was because of how hot it was outside, but smoothies and cold fruit were my favorite!
Did you register for a lot?
I don’t think so? Honestly once I knew we weren’t going to have a ton of showers, I really scaled the registry back. I wanted to make sure we had everything we NEEDED and if there was anything “fun” I wanted I could get it later.
What is on your registry?
As I said above, I scaled our registry back when I realized we were not going to have a ton of showers. I think I am going to write a blog post on my favorite baby items instead of sharing everything we registered for because I want to share items that I think are actually useful!
Are you taking maternity leave?
Yes, I will take maternity leave. BUT, after working from home for so long due to quarantine, I have developed a good system. I will probably try to do a small amount of work each day just to stay up-to-date with what is going on. I had a good routine before him so I think I can keep that up!
Do you plan on nursing?
Yes! I am going to give it a go but I am also preparing to give myself grace in this process. I know it is different for everyone so I don’t want to “make a strong plan.” It will be better for me if I go into it with lower expectations incase something happens because I don’t want to feel defeated or like I am not good enough for some reason. Stay tuned to see how it goes!
Best and worst thing about pregnancy?
Can I say he is the best part? haha I am so obsessed with him. No but actual pregnancy…best part is just seeing what all my body can do. It is pretty crazy to watch the changes and see him grow inside of me! Worst part for me was the very end. I felt very large and was hot all the time. I know it was summer time but I just never felt like I could cool down!
What surprised you most about pregnancy?
I think I had expected it to be a lot worse? I expected to be super sick and miserable the entire time but really I felt great! I taught Pure Barre (livestream from home) until I was 36 weeks pregnant so life felt pretty normal the entire time!
What are you most excited about?
My answer before he came would have just been to get to know him. I am excited to begin the journey of motherhood and learn what it is all about. Now that he is here and we have gone through the delivery process, I am super excited to watch JL become a dad. I love watching the two of them together and cannot wait to see what is to come!
Hopefully I was able to answer most of your questions but if I missed something, please feel free to shoot me a DM! Now that this post is done, I will start working on the postpartum Q&A because I know there were a ton of questions there. Stay tuned for more and we will talk soon!
