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Hi there!

First of all, thank you so much for all kind words and wishes! I am very glad to have you in my life!

After my last post it seems like you’d like to know it all about my pregnancy, birth of Sofia and so on. So I figured I’d write it in chunks not to completely overwhelm you. *Pregnancy and motherhood tend to be overwhelming at times, duh?! Haha!*

It’s kind of crazy but the time flew by so fast that it feels like I was never even pregnant. However, I will share with you some fun facts about my roller coaster ride.

• The month I actually got pregnant, I could have sworn I wasn’t, even though we were trying to conceive a baby. I had no symptoms whatsoever. The night we found out I was pregnant, I took the test only because Justin was insisting on it to make me feel better about the beer I had earlier that evening. The month before that I was avoiding the alcohol completely because I thought I was pregnant. I even took 2 tests. Seeing them turn negative was the most disheartening thing ever. *I guess nature is weird like that!*
• Justin’s reaction was too funny because he kept on asking, ‘Are you sure?’ Well, yeah! There are 2 lines, don’t you see?! *Haha!*
• The following day we were visiting my parents. It was sooo hard not to tell them the good news! What was even harder is not to make them suspicious when I refused a glass of wine. I made up a lame excuse that my throat hurt and I took some pills. *I love, love, loooove wine and a sore throat would never be an issue. Haha!* Later my dad admitted that this was definitely out of character. *Great! Now I make myself sound like an alcoholic!*
• We kept the secret from our families for a total of 1 week and 1 day. I did take another test the morning of just in case because Justin still couldn’t believe it. *Poor guy!*
• The hardest part of keeping my pregnancy secret from my friends and colleagues was attending all Christmas and New Year’s parties. There was a lot of winking going on between me and bartenders and a whole lot more of Virgin Bloody Maries and gin tonics while mouthing ‘without gin’ and followed by a wink. Yes, essentially it was tonic with some ice and a slice of lime.  I’ll never forget this bartender who was at first very confused, but then did the entire performance with the bottle of gin and ‘pouring it’ into my glass once I pointed at my still flat stomach. *Great stuff!*
• The only side effect that I had was getting dizzy on public transportation. Fainting is definitely unpleasant and, frankly, embarrassing. So I made it a point to always wait for a bus with an empty seat and have a snack on me at all times.
• Having to hear the heartbeat and see tiny little Sofia in my stomach for the first time was the most exciting and scary experience of my lifetime.
• Even though I thought I was expecting a boy, I secretly hoped it was a girl. Why? Because some people were very insistent on telling me how FOR SUUUURE it was a boy. *As a side note, I’d be happy with either one as long as my baby was healthy.*
• I had no cravings at all apart from Ginger Ale in the last 2 months. My appetite remained pretty much the same as well. That being said, I was super inspired to cook and bake Ukrainian dishes for my husband. *Lucky him!*
• Food aversions: Meat and eggs *unless they were hard boiled*.
• The biggest craving: sushi! *You bet that was one of the first things I had after I gave birth!*

• The biggest inconvenience: BENDING! Especially putting my shoes on. And…. um…. having a necessity to know a location of the nearest washroom at all times. *LOL!*
• The best investment: Snoogle. I can’t emphasize enough what difference it made in my ability to sleep comfortably!
• The most annoying pet peeve: When complete strangers commented on how small my stomach looked like and then touched it. *Please.. don’t ever comment on a size of a belly whether it’s small or big… and don’t touch the belly unless you are super close to the person and they don’t mind it…*
• The best decision I made was to take the last three weeks of pregnancy as vacation to relax and get ready for motherhood. Surprisingly, fatigue hit me like a brick wall right after I stopped working. Generally, I am not someone who likes to nap, but it definitely changed in those last few weeks.
• What made me the happiest was feeling Sofia kick! She was used to get hiccups a lot, it never seized to make me laugh. Interestingly enough, I never really got used to her moving around, so every unexpected kick would make me jump. Justin got really annoyed though because she would always stop kicking whenever he tried to feel her. It never failed!
• My favorite workouts throughout pregnancy were prenatal aqua class, yoga and walking. I kept on running for about the first 18-19 weeks, but then switched to biking on a stationary bike and then to fast walking instead. Bouncing around too much would inevitably lead to me running to the restroom. *I bet people had a good laugh!* I also opted for lighted weights to tone my upper body.
• Total length of pregnancy: 39 weeks. I was induced at 38 weeks and 6 days, but Sofia was born the following day.
• Total weight gain: 22 pounds. First trimester – 0, second – 10.2 pounds, third – 10.8 pounds.

That’s it for now!

xoxo
Olena