2020 was a crazy year, for many reasons. If you follow me, chances are you’ve seen the news on my social media: we had a baby! I thought I would share a little bit of my pregnancy journey and introduce our sweet baby on my blog!
Finding out
After being married three and a half years, we felt like the time was right (if there is such a thing) to start trying for a baby.
After a few months, I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant on February 23, 2020. We were so excited and terrified at the same time! I honestly expected it to take longer for some reason. I know a lot of people struggle with infertility and miscarriage, so I will never take for granted this blessing.
We found out together and told our families that same week with personalized poems!
First trimester: highs and lows
This first part of pregnancy was pretty rough for me. Constant nausea and throwing up 2-3 times a day. I did not get out of bed much, as I felt tired 24-7. I lost about 12 lbs, and the only thing that ever sounded good to eat was grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup… lol.
This was also during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, so I didn’t even really leave my house for a month. Because of all those factors, I believe I experienced a bit of depression during this time. Thankfully, God, my husband, and McDonald’s frozen coke are what got me through it!
There were some high points to those first couple months though!
I had my first prenatal appointment on March 30th, and I heard that little heartbeat for the first time. Logan couldn’t go with me because of the restrictions… so I took a video for him. They confirmed my due date for October 31st! We made our news public that week and it all started to feel more real. 
Second trimester
This is when I started to feel some relief! I had some energy back, I got on some new medicine that helped tremendously with the nausea/vomiting, and I had a huge shift in my mental health. I was back to feeling like myself again!
The medication I was on caused me to have terrible constipation and occasional head aches. I would also get random spells of hot flashes and lightheadedness which usually led to vomiting… this only happened a couple times, thankfully. 
First Mother’s Day
I started to gain some of the weight back that I lost, and then my belly started to pop! I felt the first baby kicks on May 30th (Logan’s birthday), between 18 and 20 weeks.
June 11th was my next sonogram and this time Logan was able to come with me! We decided we wanted to find out the gender together at the appointment.
I couldn’t believe it! I thought we were having a girl!!! The picture was pretty clear though, boy! It was so special to find out together because we didn’t feel like we were on display, expected to react a certain way. It was intimate and gave us time to process and be excited about the news just the two of us! We had a gender reveal for our friends and family the next day. 
Choosing our baby boy’s name
We actually had his name picked out before I got pregnant: Fletcher Thomas Schrag.
The story of his name happened two years back when we were vacationing in our family’s favorite spot in the Bahamas. We were visiting Pete’s Pub, a local gem in Abaco, and we happened to be there when the owner was there with his family. 
Abaco, Bahamas. December 2018
We were watching their adorable kids play on the beach, and we heard the name “Fletcher.” From that moment on, it stuck. We both loved that name. It’s unique, but still “normal” lol, and we feel like it has a special connection to our favorite place we’ve traveled!
Thomas is a family name, after Logan’s grandpa whom he is very close to.
Third trimester
This was the point in pregnancy when my belly looked like more than just a food baby lol. I absolutely LOVED my third trimester. I could feel STRONG kicks (I mean, wow), hiccups, and I looked forward to my weekly appointments to hear that little heart beat. I finally understood those crazy people who said they loved being pregnant lol.
I felt pretty good besides some back pain, but mostly just anxious to meet our boy! 
A lot of fun things happened during this time! Including planning the nursery, baby showers, traveling, and maternity pictures.
Nursery theme
As most people know about me, I love to decorate. So planning the nursery was extremely special to me! I wanted a (subtle) rustic woodland animal theme. But mostly I was focusing on the colors and textures in the room. I put together this design board to help my vision come to life!
Update: since we moved to our new house, I am still putting together the nursery! But when it’s finished I’m planning to share details of how it turned out! I’m loving it so far (:
Baby showers
We were extremely blessed to have amazing friends and family that planned THREE showers for us!
The first one was a coed party for our friends in our business. It was so much fun! 
The second one was hosted by my Mom and two best friends. It was a woodland animal theme, and absolutely beautiful!
The third one was hosted by my Aunt in Kansas City for our extended family and friends that live there. It was a travel theme and so amazingly creative!! Also, she got a food truck! I still can’t believe there was a food truck at my baby shower (: 
Every shower was uniquely personal to me, and I’m deeply grateful to everyone that made it special! Here’s the aftermath of all the beautiful baby items we were blessed with lol. 
*Fletcher was actually born two days after my last baby shower. A complete surprise, 5 weeks early!
Travel
We did a fair amount of traveling during this time. With the pandemic and pregnancy in mind, it was mostly to the family lake house, and short drives to Colorado. But non-the-less, we really enjoyed taking a few trips before the baby!
Maternity pictures
I wanted a good variety of shots, so we decided to do some nature pictures, some downtown pictures, and some more intimate pictures at home. Here’s a few of our favorites, taken by our good friend Brittany. 
Funny story: these were taken less than two weeks before he was born, and she wasn’t finished editing them yet! I remember receiving the email with the pictures when I was still in the hospital and asking if she could last minute schedule us for newborn pictures. (:
Welcome baby
The last pregnancy picture I tookAt 35 weeks and 3 days, my water broke on the morning of September 29, 2020! Fletcher was born later that evening and we are so grateful the delivery went so smoothly. I will share details of his birth story in another post, but here are a few pictures of our sweet premie boy.
Through some emotional ups and downs, I am grateful that God gave me this opportunity and I am absolutely loving this season of life. I’m also excited to share his birth story, and how the nursery looks! Stay tuned! Thanks so much for reading and following our journey. Love you all, God bless!
XOXO
ASHLEY DIANN
