Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.

This has been such a trip! I enjoyed looking back to when I was pregnant, all the great stuff that made my pregnancy such an experience and all the other stuff like the 4D Scan and the baby showers. It made me realize how much WORK goes into planning for a baby! They don’t just pop out and “ta-dahhhh!”… No sir, you have to plan and pre-plan and unplan and replan and plan to plan your plans. Such a brain freeze when your brain feels like mush!

It’s no secret. I am kind of a freak when it comes to being organized. So you can imagine the brain work that I had invested into planning for Curlys arrival! For starters, I had a very precise check list of things we needed to get before she arrived.

I also knew what type of birthing experience I wanted. I believe that God answers prayers and I knew that I had to be specific with what I wanted. And so I made a list. Top of the list was that I wanted a birth experience that was HAPPY and not “AAARGGHGH!” (like how woman make it seem in movies).

Here’s a snippet of my list: 
– Painless labor. I wanted to be joyful and not miserable.
– First signs of labor must be at home
– Water to break naturally
– Short labor. I especially wrote down 3 pushes. lol
– Smiling and happy
– Supernatural stretching. My body would do what it was designed to do, naturally.
– No afterbirth pains. Apparently those really suck.
– Breast feed naturally and easily
– Healthy and happy baby and mom
– No complications

I prayed over this every day and I believed God for it. I also read the most amazing book called ‘Supernatural Childbirth’ by Jackie Mize. It’s a must read for any expectant mom. I highly recommend it.

But besides for the spiritual and supernatural aspect of the birth, I also made sure that I sorted myself out in the physical. I prepped and planned where I could, to make sure that it would be an easy transition for me and my family.

My hospital bag was packed to the T, up to an extra charger for my phone and my Journey Journal, to document my first few hours with Curly. I made sure to pack my “special nightie” (yes, I have one of those) – the same one that had belonged to my grandmother. I wore it when my son was born too.

Total live savers that I am glad I packed in were:
– Maternity undies. They are a dream, after giving natural birth!
– Soft feeding bras, pads and lanolin nipple cream.
– Lots of change of sleepwear that are easy to get out of and easy to feed baby in.

I also had a labor room bag, since my hospital bag was too bulky to take into the labor room. My labor room necessities were: 
– My slippers. I knew I would be walking into the labor room, fully dressed and would probably change into hospital clothes while I was there. So I did not want to be barefoot.
– Documents for admission.
– A laundry bag for the clothes I wore to labor room.
– Something to tie my hair up with to avoid hair in my face.
– Some lip ice, just in case.
– An energy bar.
– A pack of tissues
– A CD with all of our favorite, soothing, worship tracks on it.
I also made a note of what must go where, and slipped it in, in case Hubstopher was unsure.

Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.
Thinking back to when I found out I was pregnant and how much I enjoyed my pregnancy made me so nostalgic for that feeling of expectancy and excitement!

One thing I knew I wanted to do (even before I fell pregnant) is a 4D “photo shoot” (aka ultrasound).

At 4 months preggers, my Curly refused to give the ultrasound tech a good flash, so that we could see if she is a boy or a girl. My heart was hoping for a girl but I was okay with a boy too. Although, between you and me, I knew she would be a girl because God showed me a picture of a ballerina one morning while I was praying over her (not knowing the gender yet).A beautiful ballerina princess! I was convinced, but kept it to myself.

I found it quite amusing that God had chosen to show me a picture of a dancer. If you know anything about us, you’d know that we are a musical family. We love music – we sing, play instruments etc. But I would not exactly call us dancers. In fact, I am probably the opposite of a dancer. I don’t do “dance” well. So how amazing that God completed this musical circle by adding a dancer to the mix!

Anyways, so ultrasounds were like precious commodities while I was pregnant. I planned my weeks around them! I loved seeing my baby and hearing it’s heartbeat. Dude, I even dreamt about buying an ultrasound machine and keeping it my living room! Yep – all kindsa crazy, this one 🙂

Curly was quite feisty in womb – she just could not lie still! But with all the movement going on, she still refused to open her legs. My wonderful gynecologist happened to be the same doctor that “caught” my first born many moons ago. So I had the privilege of taking my boy to meet him and sit in the room while we did an ultrasound. He was a bit more impressed with the equipment than the tiny picture of his sister on the screen though. But none the less, it was a moment for me! (Que the emotional tears)

We booked the 4D ultrasound at a place that offered what they call ‘gender ultrasounds’ – which means that they would do the 4D and look specifically to see what the gender of baby is. And if baby is too shy to show then you can go back another time. Sounded legit to me!

I did my part in making sure Curly was active by (gasp!) having a chocolate a half an hour before the ultrasound. I also made sure my bladder was full – but I cant now remember if it was needed or not. But I do remember that I needed to pee quite badly. (Heck, who am I kidding, I needed to pee quite badly all the time when I was pregnant.)

The moment arrived… I lay there, excitedly searching the screen, trying to figure out if I am looking at an elbow or a leg… and then I saw her face! (Que: Bruno Mars) Her beautiful little face, perfectly formed! I could feel tears coming! But I was like, “No, Luchae, keep it together!” And instead, I squealed in delight and said “Awww she looks like MEEEE!” heehehee 🙂

She was there… beautiful and dancing! Arms up, lips pouting, and yep, with little girly parts 😉 our baby was definitely the ballerina princess that God had showed me weeks before! We were over the moon!

We were given about 6 different shots of her 4D scan – all perfect, all beautiful!
My favorite is this one, that shows off her pout, with arms up in the sky, pirouetting for mommy and daddy.
This was one of the most special things that I did during my pregnancy. It made everything just so REAL.
We were going to have a real life baby! A real one!
Woah! My mind was officially blown!

Check out how detailed the 4D scan was compared to real life.
Proof that we did actually get the baby as was advertised on the screen 🙂

Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.

So, if you recall my post last week, as a build up to her first birthday, I am taking the time to remember the little things that made being pregnant with my Curlysue so sweet and precious to me.

I loved being pregnant with her! There is just that something about knowing that there is life inside your belly. It gives you this sense of wonderment and excitement: Who will baby look like? What will her cry sound like? Will she love peanut butter the way her daddy does? Will she have my moms green eyes? Will she share our love of music? The prospect of a brand new life, with new possibilities, growing inside of YOU, makes you gawk at the beauty of God and the perfect way his grand design falls into place.

I did have the swollen feet syndrome and my hip joints ached on the regular, because of the weight. But other than that, it was a lovely pregnancy. I love that when you’re pregnant you can wear just about any kind of maternity clothes, because  no one is looking at you thinking “does she know that top makes her stomach look big?” I also love that I got to take my slippers to work with me, for those moments when my shoes cut off my blood circulation. See exhibit A:

I had vowed to make this experience the best that I could, knowing that it would probably be my last!
Yep, this factory is closed for business, Mister!

Here’s a bunch of things I did that really made my pregnancy special: 

1. Took a lot of selfies and pics of my ever growing belly. Bathroom selfies were a must. They say if you’re pregnant with a girl, then you will see her beauty on your face – well I don’t know how true that is but I felt SO beautiful when I was pregnant with my girl. My hair was longer and thicker, my skin was clear and I just felt like something special. I was host to precious cargo! It felt amazing.

2. I began to journal about all the little things that I was feeling or thinking (Or doing!) and added photos and special dates and appointments to the scrap book. I wanted my baby to know that she was loved before we even met her! I wrote more about it here.

3. I did a full on preggy photoshoot. Check out some of the pics here.

4. I continued to do the things I loved doing! At 8 months pregnant, I was on stage at our church’s annual Arise Womens Conference. I sang a song called “You know me” by the Bethel Music collective and the lyric fits so perfectly with what I was experiencing. God knew me before I was in my moms womb and He knew my Curly too! It was a wow moment for me.

5. I surrounded myself with girly things all the time! Because we have 2 sons, I knew I had to wrap my brain around PINK. Not that it was very hard for me 🙂 Im a pink girl at heart. I produced a little princess skit for the womens conference, that was totally inspired by the fact that we are our Daddy’s Girls… Princesses of the King.

6. I watched Frozen. Yep. I did. “Do you wana build a snooowmaaaaaaaan?”
I figured that girls are watching it and I’m about to pop one out, so I need to get with the programme.

7. For my birthday, I hosted a Pink Picnic In the Park – just to get my pink on and also because it was my birthday and I wanted to do something that featured my baby on board.

8. I helped to plan baby showers for my best friend and my baby sister (and yes, all 3 of us gave birth in the same month!) Celebrating with them made me so much more excited about mine!

9. I attended expos and seminars and did everything and took every photo and filled in every competition and listened to every speaker! I just wanted to experience it all!

But more than all of that, I constantly reminded myself to take it all in. Every moment, every ache, every doctor’s appointment. Just like your wedding day, it all passes so quickly, and soon it’s just a sweet memory!

Ahhhhh if I could do it all over again…
xxxL