Ask Me Anything Reveal

The questions are in and here are my answers from this previous post. This was so much fun! I loved all the questions that were asked!

Meg. O: What's your beauty routine when you're in a hurry?
I don’t mind not wearing make-up (as you may know from this post) as long as my hair is done, but at the bare minimum I will use my MAC Studio Fix powder, mascara, and blush. That gives me enough of a “face” to be happy with the results. The powder helps with shine and evening out my skin tone, mascara makes my eyes pop, and blush adds some color. If I have the time, I’ll use some bronzer too.

Love jenny xoxo: How do you feel about your baby bump? I feel like I'm always comparing and wondering if I'm normal... is that normal?! :)
Based on my body type, I knew I would start to show soon. The length of my waist between my last rib and the top of my hip is maybe 2 inches, so I have nowhere for the baby to go, but out! In the beginning, I was a bit self conscious of my bump, that maybe I was showing too soon. My stomach is really the only part of my body I’m self-conscious of because I’ve always had a bit of a belly (even at 108lbs in high school and I’m 5’8”). One thing that I did when my bump first appeared is check out the week-by-week section at The Bump and you can see where you are at with the pregnancy, where your baby’s growth is, etc. In that same section, you can see pictures of other women at the same week as you and check out their bumps. When I saw how varied each woman was carrying and showing, I never compared myself again to other pregnant women. Some women hardly show at all, some women looked like myself, and other women had larger bumps than me. Each woman and each pregnancy is different. Everything is pretty much normal in pregnancy, just not everyone experiences it. Nausea is normal, but I never had any nausea during my pregnancy. Now, I love my bump, although getting dressed and shopping is more of a task, I feel more feminine and part of a little club now that my bump is all on display.

Frances: What is your favorite thing about being pregnant? Are you afraid of giving birth?
My favorite thing about being pregnant is feeling our little girl move. It’s the most thrilling part! Even though I can feel her from inside, I like to put my hands on my bump to feel her from the outside too. I can’t wait to meet her, hold her, and give her kisses. This is the most joyful time of my life and I’m thrilled Matt and I are starting our family.

Do you have a birth plan yet?
My birth plan is really simple: Do not die.

I know that giving birth can’t be planned out, and I’ve heard from so many mothers that their birth plans didn’t go as planned or follow what they thought would be their delivery. I just want to go with the flow and communicate with my doctor about what are options are at the time a crisis may arise. One thing I know for sure is that I want an epidural. I think I may die without it.

That’s it really. I’ve started just recently to do more reading into having a birth plan, and I have things for the baby like for her to be fed breast milk only, no formula or pacifiers, and to have her vaccinations spread out. I’m researching more about other things baby-wise that Matt and I will decide together.

Are you afraid of giving birth?
I’m sure my above birth plan gave it away with my fear of death, so yes, I am afraid of giving birth. I know women do this every day and have done so since the dawn of time, but it still scares me. I pray every day that my delivery goes smoothly and our baby girl is healthy. Any mommies out there with tips?

Carolyn: What are you most looking forward to about parenthood?
There’s so much I’m looking forward to! Loving her, supporting her, spending time with her, and teaching her to be a strong, independent, and loving woman. Seeing the world through her eyes and experiencing things for the first time with her, watching movies, waiting for Santa, the kindness that's embedded in children before the world shows them it's ugly side. I want to give my children the childhood I didn’t have. I want them to feel loved and have a home that’s safe, stable, and a place that they want to be.

What scares you the most about parenthood?
Parenting is scary in general. There’s no perfect child or perfect parent. It’s a job that’s filled with guilt because what works for one doesn’t work for the next. I believe each person takes the good from their own childhood and add whatever they needed themselves as a child and tries to leave out the bad. I’m just scared of not being the parent she needs me to be and not realizing it in time. I guess it’s really trial and error and good communication. Also, it scares me about what she’ll experience in the world that I can’t control, like bullying, heartache, things of that nature.

What is your FAVORITE beauty item? Only one! :)
Mascara! It’s a Godsend. It’s something that looks great on everyone regardless of eye shape and makes the biggest difference to my overall look.

What's been the biggest adjustment for you since becoming pregnant? 
All the food you can’t eat! The soft cheeses, rare meats, salami, eating seafood more than once a week, etc have been the hardest. It’s so crazy how much food you can’t eat nowadays. In one way it’s good, there’s so much more processed food than in years before and we know so much more about how the food we eat affect our pregnancies and babies. Still, that list of do not eat is ridiculously long!

Do you have names picked out? Are you telling them?
We do have our name and middle name picked out and had it before we even started trying! We are telling people what her name will be, but not on any social media. We want there to be some surprise. So I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait!

Mindi: What are your fave hair and skin products lately? 
My favorite hair product I've used recently is Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Foam. This gets amazing body without weighing your head down or being too heavy and forcing you to wash your hair the next day after using it.  For skin care, I'm in love the Ormedic organic line I reviewed here. It's the most amazing products I've used and have made a huge difference in my skin.

What is your go to style lately with being pregnant? Where are the OOTD pregnant pics? lol 
I've really just been wearing the same outfits as before, but now I'm wearing only my maternity jeans or my Kiki La'Rue jeggings. Luckily, most of my shirts were loose and long so they're going easy into maternity wardrobe.  My shift has been kind of wonky at work recently because I was training a new incoming class, but I'm back to my regular shift and will start to get off even earlier in two weeks so the hubs will be able to snap some pics now! I promise I'll have some more OOTD pics soon!

ooh and I am still waiting to see you wearing your glasses! lol 
I know! I need to get a pic of them! I just rarely wear my glasses, but I do love the new ones I picked up last fall. 

Thank you again for everyone that had a question! I love doing these posts and seeing them on other blogs. I think it gives you more insight to the blogger and a chance to ask a question you don't know the answer to yet from their posts. If anyone thinks of another question(s) ask me below and I'll update this post!
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I got a late question, from Pamela: I wanted to ask if you read any books pre-conception. There are a million of them out there and I want to delve into them but it's all so overwhelming! 

I actually didn't read anything while trying to get pregnant, I had thought about picking up some books before we started trying, but I felt like I was jinxing myself. I figured I would start reading something after our first month of trying, I also didn't want to put too much pressure on myself either. I was very blessed in getting pregnant right away, so I never had the chance to read anything before hand. Veronika from Veronika's Blushing has read several books that she has posted about on her blog, some of them are on my list of to-read too now!