A New Season of Life: Pregnancy, Cultivation and Rest

Surprise! I’m pregnant! And I’m stepping into a new season of life…

Pregnancy announcement - Emma's Edition - Seattle fashion blogger - Seattle influencer

The last two months of 2022:

I was not expecting to take almost eight weeks off at the end of 2022. In fact, Q4 is typically my biggest, busiest season as a content creator. And last year, Q42021 was my highest-earning quarter.

While Brandon and I are excited to welcome our first baby, I had no idea my first trimester would take me out. I got pregnant in October. And from week 5 to week 12, I was out.

I didn’t experience morning sickness; I experienced nausea all day every day and fatigue. For almost eight weeks, I only had the energy to manage nausea, walk Boone, and complete the campaigns I lined up back in October for November and December. I figured out quickly what made me nauseous:

– An empty stomach, so I was nauseous if I wasn’t eating every two hours.

– Drinking water on an empty stomach (I threw up a glass of water)

– Taking vitamins/pre-natal on an empty stomach (I threw up my vitamins)

– Eating too big of meals (I threw up after Thanksgiving dinner)

– Getting too cold or getting too hot

– Car rides

– The smells at the grocery store or just smells in general

Luckily, I had a few weeks before we left for Europe to figure this out. So, while I was nauseous while exploring Munich and Prague for the first time, I packed plenty of snacks, and we built in plenty of breaks in our travel schedule.

(Ironically, as I write this on the balcony of our hotel in Cancun, a wave of nausea has hit to remind me that I need to eat lunch soon).

Pregnancy announcement - Emma's Edition - Seattle fashion blogger - Seattle influencer - mom content creator - motherhood

Allowing myself to rest:

While I’m in awe and wonder at how my body can grow a baby, I’m also surprised at how much the first trimester impacted me – physically, spiritually, and mentally. I’ve never taken close to 8 weeks off – ever.

When I graduated from college, I had exactly four weeks to move my life to Southern California to start my first corporate job. And when I got laid off after 6 years in the aerospace industry, I rolled into content creation full-time. I think I only gave myself two weeks off in between the biggest career change of my life up until that point.

But I had no choice but to surrender to what my body needed.

Don’t get me wrong; I felt guilty not working. I felt helpless at times. But I needed rest. I needed nourishment to battle nausea. I found myself lying down on more days. I found myself needing to take things off my to-do list. And I found myself feeling truly different.

Today, at 14 weeks (as I write this), I feel much better. I’m only experiencing nausea once or twice daily, and my energy levels feel closer to normal. But I’ve genuinely sensed a shift in me. I know I can’t continue prioritizing work and only work like I used to.

Embracing a new season of life:

When I turn to my intuition, the baby’s birth is a new chapter, a new wave, a new edition, or maybe more of an evolution of me.

For 30 years, I’ve known myself as Emma – as a college student, graduate student, aerospace professional, and full-time content creator. I’ve known Emma as motivated, highly focused, and balanced. I know I’ll still be me, but in this vulnerable time, I know change is coming.

And I’m slowly opening myself up (again) to the change, the next step into motherhood and parenthood with Brandon. And to align myself for this next chapter, I need cultivation and rest.

It’s a new season of life I’m vastly unfamiliar with. I’ve never once described myself as someone who needed or enjoyed a lot of rest. I’m the opposite. I’ve previously been someone who could work a full-time job, attend graduate school in the evenings, and work on her side hustle.

But my body, the baby, and my soul call me to rest. I was fighting the changing tides, but I knew I was supposed to flow with them, not against them. I’m unsure what this will mean, but I’m not supposed to know yet.