PART 2 ⇢

Hey, y’all! It’s been almost two months since I’ve sat down to write anything, so I thought I would start off by writing the second part of our “nine” months waiting for Ripley!

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I left off at the month of March in my previous post about sweet baby Ripley so I will pick up from when we found out about him!

As I previously mentioned, I was 24 weeks along when I finally figured everything out, so to say we were terrified is definitely an understatement. However, we were lucky because I was going home halfway through spring break anyways to go home for another doctor’s appointment. I was so thankful because 1. I got to see Cristian in person and talk through our situation together, face to face, and 2. Was able to get access to the doctors I would be seeing for the remainder of my pregnancy. 

That Sunday, after my parents and sister were made aware of the pregnancy, my dad sat me down and told me that I should not go back to school because I needed to see a doctor ASAP— BUTTTT the problem there was that I HAD NO GYNECOLOGIST!!! There was absolutely NO WAY in the world I was going to go see the old gyno that I had been to previously; I mean, they couldn’t even catch the pregnancy. Why would I want him looking after my unborn baby’s wellbeing??? Hell no. So I was now in a panic, trying to search for a trusty doctor willing to help me out this far along. 

As one can probably guess, I found a doctor… an AMAZING doctor at that. I am beyond thankful for him and his nurses, they changed the entire experience from frantic panicking to an amazing, exciting experience. 

✰ APRIL 2018 ————————

By the time April rolled around, I was ready to tell the rest of my family and head back to school to finish up a few assignments and pack up the life I’d made the past three years in Tuscaloosa. 

Naturally, I thought it would be perfect for telling the rest of my family that I was pregnant on Easter … which also happened to fall on April Fool’s Day this year (: It made the nerves go away because we were so excited to see if they thought it was real or not because of the date. Hahaha, and we were right; I wish I had a recording of the reactions because a few did not believe us at all. 

Now that everyone close to us knew that we were expecting, I flew back to school for about two weeks to finish up. It really hit me then when I got off the plane that I was about to leave the place I had grown to love more than anywhere I’d ever lived, and the place I truly called home. I made some of my best friends here and made the most amazing memories in Tuscaloosa, so to think that I only had a ~PREGNANT~ two weeks to fit in an entire year of time I was going to lose was hard to swallow. At this time still, only Halle, Lexi, and Dinah knew about the baby, so there was a bit of excitement as I was trying to think of ways to tell everyone the good news while also breaking the bad news that I was going home for good. Alex, who I told on the way back from the airport, helped me buy supplies for us to throw a mini gender reveal for all our friends that I hadn’t told yet. It was honestly really fun and just what I needed to take my mind off the fact that I had to leave. 

Those two weeks were so strange as I walked around campus like nothing was wrong, wearing my usual baggy clothes but extremely paranoid that everyone who walked by me knew I was pregnant. I was going crazy, hahaha no one could see my tiny stomach under all my XL clothes… but part of me was really not ready to give up the fact that I was no longer the same as I was when I left at spring break. It seems so dramatic to type out, but my mind was a web of confusing thoughts about what to do, how to act, what my life would be like, what everyone would think of me, etc. I soon realized that none of it mattered … AT ALL … but it took me a while to understand that. 

So the time came that I was dreading for the entire two weeks… it was my last night in town, and I had to actually find the courage to tell all my friends that I was pregnant and gettin’ the heck outta town. {{ For some reason, the entire pregnancy, I had the hardest time actually voicing to people that I was pregnant. I think it had to do with the fact that I did not have much time to let the news process within myself because as soon as I found out, it was panic mode to ensure the baby was all good and healthy. }} We planned a fun night to tell everyone and have a little “gender reveal,” and the reactions that I got were so much happier and more supportive than I had ever dreamed of. I’m not sure why I assumed I would be shunned by everyone I ever knew because I was pregnant, but those were the types of thoughts going through my head, hahaha … very overdramatic, you could say. 

The next day was the day I had been dreading since I got back to Tuscaloosa. Now that all my friends knew, all my assignments for the semester were completed, and my room was all packed up. It was actually time to go home for good, and as I was saying goodbye, I was stalling pretty hard because it was an emotion I literally had never felt, and I didn’t really want to process how I felt or how much things were about to change for me. Eventually, my mom was able to peel me away from my friends and leave… honestly impressed because I am pretty stubborn. Those 12 hours home uhhhh sucked, and I was in a pretty shitty mood. 

Thankfully, I had Cristian and my family back at home to help take my mind off leaving school. Plus, there was so much to prepare and think about that I wasn’t focusing much on what I was missing. 

✰ MAY 2018 ————————

By the time May rolled around, everyone was getting antsy for me ~officially~ to tell the world, not to mention I was just growing larger and kept popping out of my largest clothes by now. I was visiting Cris every weekend, so we decided it was best to post something on his **21st** birthday {what 21-year-old doesn’t want a baby for their 21st?!? I mean, come on}. We went through with that plan and were again shocked by the support and encouragement we received from people; well, I was. 

I was just going back and forth between doctors, Ashland, and home for the rest of the month. I was doing anything to take my mind off of the looming reality of a baby. I also decided to take a May-mester class to keep myself as busy as possible. Cristian got back home for the summer right before Memorial Day, and that is when things started feeling all too real. 

✰ JUNE // JULY 2018 ————————

  June starting meant … BABY MONTH! Such an exhilarating and terrifying feeling as we realized any day now, we could be at the hospital holding our new baby boy. 

The month started out great as many of my friends flew in for the baby shower Elli and Lauren threw for us. And a baby shower means R E A L, which was another thing I struggled wrapping my head around. The day was perfect, though, and baby Ripley was showered with love and sweet gifts as everyone was patiently awaiting his arrival to the world. By this time, I was HUGE and lost my breath every time I had to walk for more than three minutes at a time; plus, the heat was destroying my weak self, so I was ready for him to show up. 

It was a surprise to no one when he was … LATE … considering I am always pushing my luck with time too. He was due June 30th, so the week off {and after … } I was walking all day and night and waiting ~not~ patiently for him to be ready to enter the world. I was so large and uncomfortable; nothing fit, I could not sleep, and I kept wondering how the heck a baby the doctors predicted to be about 9lbs still fit in my stomach. My doctor agreed and scheduled me to be induced on July 5th if Ripley didn’t want to show up of his own free will. Since he was over his due date, we were all really hoping he would be a little firecracker baby and make his appearance on the 4th of July…but nope, he needed to be forced out. 

✞ Well, that’s about all I have from the months leading up to Ripley’s arrival.  I will do another post on what it was like being induced and how I felt in the hospital waiting for Ripley to be ready to see the world!!

✞ Again I’m an open book so feel free to reach out if you want more details or have any questions!!!

☄︎ Blasting off,
The Rocket Mama ✰✰