...After we found out we were pregnant, I checked out a couple of mommy to be websites/apps. Found one called Baby Bump. Found a lot of ladies who were pregnant around the same time as me and went into forums and chatted and posted things.. Came across a girl who had the same exact due date as me (Sept 4th). Her name is Jackie. We chatted a little bit and then she emailed me, asking if I wanted to be belly buddies. I had no idea what she meant, so I literally Googled it, haha!! A belly buddy is essentially a mommy-to-be pen pal anywhere in the world (with a due date roughly around yours) that you correspond with, share your pregnancies stories, woes, confusion, excitement, experiences etc with, and also exchange gifts on certain milestones (i.e. after your first ultrasound, when you find out the gender, your baby shower and an after the baby is here gift).
I thought, how cool is that? Someone who knows exactly what I'm going through at exactly the same pace, and fun little gifts in the process? Count me in!! So, we emailed constantly back and forth, getting to know each other, and sharing everything pregnancy related. The first day we started emailing and being belly buddies, she found out that I lived in Lynnwood, WA. She told me she lives in Utah, but that she was born and raised in Redmond, WA!! No way, right?? LOL
Anyway, we emailed constantly over the next few weeks, sharing our pregnancy stories, getting to know each other and what not. We sent each other gifts after our first ultrasounds. We eventually got tired of emailing, and instead added each other on Facebook and started texting each other, because texting is far more instantaneous and fun. We started texting so much, that we were literally chatting every day. Funny, a total stranger and I, bonding over our soon to be babies. We both secretly wanted girls first, so wasn't it a delight when we found out that's what we were both having?! :-)
She was pretty sure she wanted to name her soon to be daughter Breelyn and I was dead set on Adriana.
To make this belly buddy story even better, Jackie's mom who still lives in Redmond, wanted to throw her a baby shower. So, Jackie was coming up for that and invited me to go! And, what are the odds that we would have a friend in common (who was also pregnant with a girl)!! So, I actually went to the baby shower with my friend, to meet my belly buddy!!! It was awesome! I ended up hanging out with Jackie after the shower for the rest of the night. Met her husband, and her family. How crazy to think that someone who was just originally supposed to be a support system pen pal/cross country mommy-to-be friend, ends up becoming an actual real life person friend??
Having her during my pregnancy was such a fun experience, because we literally became super close and got to experience/discuss daily our excitement of our soon to be baby girls. She was also extremely sweet and a wonderful shoulder to lean on (via computers/phones) during the whole ordeal with my mom. When I found out my mom was not going to live past this year most likely, Jackie was nothing but supportive and sweet.
Jackie ended up having Bree 19 days early on August 16th. I remember that morning the texts I received from her talking about how painful her "Braxton Hicks" contractions were, and her saying that she must be a wuss, because she can't imagine real labor contractions hurting worse than those. Turns out, she was actually in labor! So, she was a mommy now, and I was still miserable and pregnant.. And thinking I was going to be super late and go past our due date. But, lo and behold, I went early too! My water broke on Sept 1st and I had Adriana on Labor Day, Sept 2nd. So, our girls are 17 days apart. During our pregnancy (since we were both pretty positive we were naming our girls Adriana and Breelyn) and afterwards, we've been kindly referring to them as, Baby A and Baby B. Haha!
So, now we both had our baby girls and now could continue our "pen pal turned real friendship" into a mommy long distance friendship. And both of us being on maternity leave has left us with extra time on our hands LOL
Now, when I say we talk daily, I seriously mean every day. No joke. We have grown so close, it's almost insane.
We shared in our stories of our little baby girls, shared pictures, concerns. Asked questions, lamented, shared joys, gave support through whatever we needed each other for. That brings us to the couple of days before my mom passed away.. I was super down, because I knew that it was coming, and fast. Jackie felt so horrible, but continued to be there for me and even mentioned, if we did the funeral in 2 weeks she would fly up for it. Even in the middle of the night, when my mom passed away, I texted her at 3:30am and she was there for me instantaneously.. I was a mess, distraught.. Had no idea how I was going to get through this. Let her know the following day that the funeral was going to be in a week, that coming Monday. She wished that we were gonna have it the weekend after, but we just wanted to do it sooner. She understood.
What happened next... well. Wow.
We had the funeral for my mom on October 21st; it was beautiful. I'm still trying to process that she's gone forever, it still doesn't seem real. Then, come Saturday, October 26th. I hadn't heard much from Jackie that day, just a little bit in the morning and her asking me what I was doing that day. I'm just sitting on my bed around 4pm, when I started breastfeeding Adriana. A few minutes in, there was a knock on the front door. I told Brad to get it, because I couldn't get up. He goes down stairs and is talking to whoever is there.. And he calls up to me and says, "babe, you need to come down here." I said, "I can't I'm feeding the baby." He then comes upstairs and says, "You need to go downstairs, Jackie is here." I was like wait, what?????????? I gave him Adriana and went downstairs and sure enough, Jackie was standing at my front door with Bree and her friend Mackenzie. I was literally stunned!! She flew all the way from Utah to surprise me and be there for me. They told me to get ready cause we were going to get our nails done and hang out. So, I packed up the baby and showered real quick (cause I looked a mess), threw my hair up and away we went. She took me to get a pedicure and then we had dinner at her parents house. The babies got to meet for the first time too!!
She told me that when I told her 2 days before my mom passed away that I thought she would pass in the next week, she immediately bought a plane ticket for 2 weeks out, not anticipating my mom passing as quickly as she did. But, it worked out better anyway, because this way, she could really cheer me up and we could get out of the house to get my mind off of everything.. She was here for 4 days!!!
We literally hung out every day she was here!! It was exactly what I needed. I'm still stunned. Jackie is seriously the best belly buddy I could have ever asked for, and now someone I consider a wonderful friend and person. I'm thankful, every day, that she came into my life!!
..And she got the babies matching outfits. So, they had a couple of photo shoots together. Below are some of them. :-)
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| Baby B and Baby A |
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| They linked arms! Awwwwwwww! |
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| Adriana is showing off her muscles!! |
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| Apparently my little girl is a carnivore? lol |
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| Haha, little cuties! |
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| Jackie and I with our sweet girls :-) |
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| Yeah, they weren't diggin' the leaves LOL |
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| Love this girl and her sweet little bebe! |
