Mama Moments

Hi! My name is Sarina and I am a first time mama to a beautiful baby girl. She will be a year old in August. I am married to an amazing man and we will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary this July. We also have a golden retriever pup named Thor and he will be two in August too. My husband is surrounded by a bunch of Leos- myself, our daughter and our pup! A house full of “stubborn love”, always seeing the best, wanting the best and supporting each other in any way possible. 

I love being outside—the beach, hiking, adventuring, walking with our pup. I enjoy a good movie on a rainy day and we often throw on a Harry Potter film to help pass the time. Odd note— our daughter was born during a Harry Potter weekend and it was perfect- being that we are such Potterheads ourselves. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE my family. Definitely very close to my parents and siblings of which I have two- a twin brother (yes, it’s awesome and we always had a really good relationship, no I cannot read his mind or feel how he’s feeling) and a younger sister…a self-established Professional Wedding Photographer…she’s incredible. They both are. 

What did you do before pregnancy or while pregnant?

Before our daughter was born, I was a Special Education teacher & Board Certified Behavior Analyst. I worked 6 years as a preschool special education teacher and then switched over to a public elementary school. At the Elementary school I taught student’s who’s behaviors impacted their ability to be full-time in a mainstream classroom. I was teaching in this environment when COVID hit and we all moved to remote teaching. The following September (2020), I resumed teaching full time in person for our kids, got pregnant in November 2020 and continued the year, masked, sanitizing regularly and surrounded by an amazing team of assistants and consultants who helped to keep not only me safe but our baby girl too. 

At the end of the school year I packed up my classroom and all my content and curriculum is sitting boxed up in our garage…until next time. 

Did you go back to work after your baby girl was born?

I did not go back to work after our daughter was born. Although, while pregnant, I did say I would while my husband silently nodded and said “Sure babe, no problem, whatever you say”. He knew better and knew I would want to be home and financially, we could swing it. I am still maintaining my BCBA CEUs and professional learning so that if/when the time is right for us, I could jump back in and start again. 

Pregnancy experience: 

How long did it take you?

 We were surprised at how quickly I got pregnant as it was really hard to track my cycle. My period had never been regular and I had been on birth control for a short stint to help regulate it way back when. When we first started trying, I remember saying to my husband that this could take some time…we’re in it together, however this plays out. 

One month in I wasn’t pregnant and my husband had a very strong emotional reaction. He felt like we should have had a positive test already and felt as if he had already failed as father. 

One week later, our pregnancy test was positive. 

How did you find out you were pregnant? What signs/instances told you, you may have been? 

Our pup, Thor, 4 months at the time started to become very snuggly, smelling my legs, laying on my lap. We thought well, maybe he knew something we didn’t and sure enough, he was right. I was pregnant and probably 4 weeks at the time. 

Since then he’s been more of a mama’s boy, at times getting both of us in a sticky situation…more on that later. 

Unforeseen hiccups or difficulties while pregnant? 

I had a very smooth pregnancy, felt great…definitely gained close to 50lbs and it showed. Healthy, active and despite being in a school environment with kids…never once got sick. So thankful. 

Two oddly difficult parts of being pregnant— my sister got married in June. I was 32 weeks pregnant. When I had to pick a dress size (months earlier), that was a little tricky and a little unnerving right up until her wedding day. Luckily, it fit perfectly and had plenty of room to dance in! The other side of being pregnant, postpartum, my brother got married September 2021— our little was 8 weeks old and naturally, in order to get that bridesmaid dress in time, I had to pick it while I was about 30 weeks pregnant….who knew what I was going to look like or what size I would be once our baby girl was born. #funtimes 

Cravings?

Not really… two odd cravings, Oreos and pizza. Pizza I swear was my husband’s fault. Laying in bed one night, 10:30pm and he goes, “Wow, pizza would be really good right now”. UMM HELLO! Pregnant and yes pizza sounds amazingly delicious…let’s get some. Not proud of it and we got 7-11 pizza and it wasn’t half bad. Wouldn’t do it again and yet, in a pinch, it worked. 

Family response to pregnancy? Husband/partner response?

After seeing a positive pregnancy test, I tried to calmly walk back to where my husband was waiting…instead I ran, skipped, jumped and he knew before even seeing my face. He was ecstatic, especially after having a difficult emotional response the week prior.
My family…overjoyed. Excited. We recorded the moment we shared the news and it’s a video I still watch to this day, still tear up at the same part and they have been amazing every step of our journey since the moment they found out. 

Our little one helped us through some really difficult moments and she truly has so many angels watching over her…I’m thankful every day.