Pregnancy: The Continuing Story
Thank you everyone for being so excited with us about our pregnancy! Sergi and I are completely overwhelmed by such an astounding flood of congratulations and warm comments. We did read ALL your comments and are so thankful to everyone who took the time to write and share in our happiness.
Announcing the Pregnancy to Our Families
The perfect opportunities to share our exciting news with our families came just a few weeks after our first visit to the doctor, when we finally confirmed that yes, indeed, we WERE pregnant.
The last two weekends of August, we celebrated the weddings of both our baby sisters. August 23rd, my baby sister, Karina, got married and on August 30th, Sergi’s baby sister, Angie had her wedding day. Of course, all our family members came from near and far to celebrate such wonderful occasions.
The very first people to hear our very happy news were my parents. It had been so hard not to tell them up until that point, but I really wanted to tell them in person, not on the phone. In the days leading up to the wedding, we had different groups of family members arriving at different times, and my parents were going to be staying with my brother and his wife. I was just about to leave for work one evening, when my parents arrived from New York, and they decided to stop by our place for a few minutes. This was our chance! Our other guests weren’t there at the time, so it was perfect timing. We told my parents to sit down and then I placed the ultrasound pictures in front of them. There they were, sitting at our dinning room table, staring at something that had for so many years seemed impossible, a picture of our baby. 
My Dad got a huge smile on his face and Mom immediately started to cry. I can safely say that they were completely shocked by the news. We asked them to keep it a secret for a few days until we told the others. There was a lot of crying and hugging in a short five minutes, because I had to run out the door quickly so as not to be late for work.
Since we had just moved into our new home, we invited my family for a “housewarming party” to our house. Little did they know that this was just a ruse to spring our surprise news on them. 
After eating our dinner, Sergi stood up and gave a beautiful speech about how blessed we were to have such an amazing family, thanked them all for their hard work helping us move and remodel (which we couldn’t have done without them; they were incredible!), and finished it off saying that we were so thankful for the beautiful home God had blessed us with and a NEW BABY that was coming this spring.
I was expecting everyone to be excited, but at that point, the entire room erupted with emotions. Everyone jumped up from the table and started crying, hugging, laughing and shouting. It was a beautiful moment that will always be ingrained in my memory. My two nieces were literally sobbing from fear. They couldn’t understand why all the grownups were weeping, hugging, making so much noise and had completely gone crazy. My Dad patiently calmed their fears and explained that we were all very happy that Aunt Olga and Uncle Sergi were going to have a little baby. 
Sergi and I had ordered a cake from a local bakery to go with the announcement. It turned out so cute and was really delicious too, a Cannoli cake, which is a favorite in our family. It was a long time before we all settled down.
We had wanted to do the same type of pregnancy reveal for Sergi’s family the next weekend, since all of his family was in the area for Angie’s wedding. Their family is twice bigger in size than my family, so it was very challenging to get them all together at the same time, and the schedule never worked out for us to get together with everyone. Of course, we were really disappointed, but we knew we needed to tell them all at the same time, because if you tell one, it will quickly spread, you know how it goes:). We sent them all a group message with our news and some pictures, of course. This time, the phone exploded with everyone’s excitement:). They were definitely shocked, but everyone was thrilled.
My Health, Food Cravings/Aversions
As I already mentioned in the first post, the sight, smell and even thought of meat turns my stomach upside down. You might have noticed that recently my blog posts have all been meatless:). My poor meat loving husband. I do try to still make something with meat for him sometimes, in that case I can’t even look at it when he’s eating it, LOL. For the most part, though, we’ve become almost vegetarians.
When I can tolerate food and feel somewhat hungry, I’ve been craving all kinds of pickled foods and veggies in any way, shape or form. I want them grilled, roasted, steamed, you name it. The only other foods that I can tolerate are really bland types of food, like bread, toast, sushki, applesauce, apples, bananas and soup.
One of my favorite snacks, apples.
Pregnancy aside, I have to deal with a lot of GI issues on a regular basis. (If you’re new here and don’t know about why I have GI problems, you can read more about it here, and here.) When I became pregnant, not only did I have morning sickness, but the pregnancy heightened all my other issues as well. Lately, it’s been really hard to keep down any food at all and instead of gaining weight, I lost weight and was extremely dehydrated. Because of this, I’ve spend the last few weeks in bed or on our living room couch, since I am too weak to do much else. I just had a PICC line placed yesterday and have been getting IV fluids at home. 
A PICC line is a peripherally inserted central catheter, that is a more permanent type of IV, so now I don’t have to be poked every time I need a new IV. The doctors are vigorously checking up on my lab work and adding whatever I am lacking to the IV fluids. I am so thankful for modern medicine and for my amazing doctors, who are taking really great care of me and the baby.
Getting myself some yummy bread. It has been my friend this week.
I now have a handy little backpack for my IV fluids and pump, so it’s easier to get around.
The most important thing is that the baby is the perfect size and is growing right on target. The doctors assured me that in my case, since my only issue is malnutrition and dehydration due to my short bowel syndrome, and I don’t have any other medical conditions, that they baby should be just fine. Babies will take everything that they need to grow from the mom, but the mother might suffer because of it. I think it’s so amazing how God engineered it all and I am really thankful that the baby is growing and thriving. The baby will be delivered by c-section when I am about 39 weeks pregnant, unless I go into labor sooner. Hopefully, I will be feeling better soon, but for now, I just think about my precious little one, nestled within me and thank God for sending us this miracle.
58 Comments
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Caitlin
Congratulations!! I literally just discovered your website but I am looking forward to getting to “know” you better… I just told my husband (he is from Russia) that I found a great site with Russian recipes. Now he is excited too. 🙂 By the way, I am also pregnant… our little one is due just about two weeks before yours! You’ll be in my prayers!
Irena
Congratulation Olga, for the last couple of year I have followed your posts. You are such wonderful people, very happy for you. God Bless. I had a horrible morning sickness during all three of my pregnancies, working full time as a doctor too. I am not sure if you can tolerate kefir, but it did work for me as one of the foods that stayed down. Best wishes.
Irena
Anya
Oh – I am so so happy for you and Sergi. God is so good and it’s so encouraging to hear of His faithfulness and provision. Many blessings to you.
Dina
Oh this is so precious!! I loved reading this post and as always it made me cry! If I was at your guys family dinner when Sergi and you revealed your amazing news, I’d be jumping and being loud along with the group :))
Thank you for sharing with the rest of us all this amazing details!
Anna @ Happy Medley
Oh Olga! I’m so so so so happy for you! It’s amazing how great, powerful and absolutely wonderful is our God… I’ll be praying for this baby and your pregnancy to go as smooth as possible.
Much love
Anna
Yelena
I am so happy to hear your exciting news. It’s been such a pleasure to follow you on instragram and blog. You are such an amazing person Olga. May God Bless your pregnancy, give you strength and a wonderful healthy baby.!
Mariya
I am also pregnant and like with all my previous pregnancies I can’t stand the smell or sight of meat either:) I have really bad morning sickness and 3 little kids so it’s really hard but when I hear your story I realize that other people have it worse, thank you for that reminder and God bless you and your baby! Both my husband and I are so happy for you!You guys deserve a baby and God knows what we need and when! Congrats!:)
Tina
Your news brought tears to my eyes!! I’m so happy for you and Sergi. Being a mom is a wonderful thing…I recently gave birth to our first child as well. Its an amazing journey! May the Lord protect you and your Little One in His arms. I wish you a blessed pregnancy.
Yelena
You will be in my prayers! May God give you health and strength you need to carry this lil one to term!
Luba
I am so happy for both of you! God is amazing and His timing is perfect. Will be praying for you and your family.
vita
God look over this amazing angel of yours….guard her with your angels….God is with u all the time. .. thank you for sharing your amazing story and how miracles of our Heavenly Father are still happening ToDAY 🙂
alla
Reading this just gave me goosebumps and tears!! So happy for ur family:) Prayers to you and your pregnancy! May God keep u and ur baby safe and healthy:)
Elya
Hey Olga,
We are very happy for you and your husband. Our God is amazing. He does everything in the right time. May He bless you and your baby.
Elena Izoita
I was crying reading the news!
God is good, oh so good!
You will be the most wonderful mommy ever! And dont worry about everything else.. your body healed itself to be able to carry the baby without any problems ! What an amazing story!
Love you guys!
Anna
Olga, I am very happy for you! I have been reading your stories for a while and I can’t tell you how happy I am for both of you. I couldn’t get pregnant for over sever years also, when home test showed positive result I didn’t believe and made my doctor do a blood test. I could not wait for a doc appt. have been admitted couple of times for IV fluids, all I could eat is bread, potatoes and rice and that’s what my kids love to eat now. And we had a big surprise at 16 weeks we found out that i had two babies in there and one of them was hiding all that time 🙂 we had a lot of problems with them not growing at the same rate, but God is great and He knows better. I had them at 31week 2days 2lbs 12oz and 4lbs and after 50 day NICU stay they are healthy beautiful babies. I will keep you in my prayers and hopefully sickness will go away soon, mine stopped at around 20 weeks, I took zofran for it but one of the side effects is constipation and it sure is so it’s probably not for you. May God bless you and Sergi, can’t wait for updates and pics of your baby.
Tatyana V.
Olga! Congrats to you and Sergey! You guys have been through so much… But God sees our hearts and He is faithful! As you opened your hearts and your home to those little babies that are less fortunate God has blessed you with your own!!! All I can say is God bless you and your baby!
Luda
Congratulations on your pregnancy, may God bless this little one till the end. My heart goes out to you. Since I found your wonderful blog I can enjoy your recipes and pray for your family. After 2 miscarriages we decided to adopt. Right before the process was to start we had to refinance our house. While dealing with it I started to get sick and few weeks later found out we were pregnant. Because of the previous history and losing one of our babies at 16 weeks the next few months were a challenge. Our miracle girl turned 2 this Aug. God is good. Blessings to your growing family
Marine
Congrats Olga! I have been following your story for a while and I’m so excited for both of you! What a wonderful blessing! I was very ill with my first daughter as well and lost weight as a result and ended up at a hospital with the IV as well. I also had exactly the same cravings as you are having. Vegetables, fruits, and no meat! I lived on bland turkey sandwich! As I was reading this post I was taken back to that difficult and at the same time special time. Thank you for sharing your story and please keep us posted on your well being! Blessings to you from my family to yours! 🙂
Vlatka
That AWESOME, congratulations to both of you! I’ve been using your recipes and following everything you post. When I read you are pregnant I got soooooo happy–the news made my day (and I don’t even know you in person how amazing is that!!!??) I’ve followed you through all of the experiences you’ve been blogging about ; from the unfortunate pregnancy and nearly losing your life, the attempts to adopt a Russian kid, all the way to your foster parent experiences (amazing and heart-breaking at the same time). All the way through I kept wishing for you to get pregnant and I am so so glad my wish came through :). You so deserved it! Hope all goes well with your pregnancy and that you enjoy the experience to the max despite the side-effects. I also really hope its not to much of a burden on your own (fragile) health– take care of yourself! Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes and tips and keep us all posted on how things are unfolding.
Yelena
Congratulations Olga!
When I first discovered your blog several months ago, I sat there for hours reading everything. Ever since then I have been checking back daily and making most of your recipe’s. You inspired us to actively start pursing fostering again (which I hope you can continue as well). Anyway I am just so happy that you are pregnant, Our God really is amazing. God bless you on this pregnancy and delivery.
Julia
Congratulations!!!! I am very happy for you both!!!! Our God indeed is a wonderful God, who does the impossible!!!! May He bless the rest of your pregnancy!!!
Svetlana
It so nice to hear from you how God made such miracle for you! I saw on the cake the sign of “gues what? March 6 2015” is that the day when u will have a Csection? Our first daughter was born on March 6 🙂 and I still remember how sweet it was when the spring comes with a new borning leaves and grass and everithing awakens from thevsleep and a new life comes to this world. It is such a nice feeling! Good luck to you and all the best wishes and wish to you a very good health. May God bless your pregnancy and comming little lady or gentelman! :)))
marta
Such a beautiful story! Im so happy for both of u! I was crying reading this post! May God Bless you and ur baby for a safe and successful delivery!
Irina Nieshte
Olga&Sergi CONGRATULATIONS!!! We are so so so happy and super excited for you! Our God is AWESOME! He knows what He is doing and His timing is always perfect! Hope you feel better soon Olga. Have a happy and healthy pregnancy! P.S. I craved apples during my first pregnancy:-)
Olga
Congrats Olya and Sergey!!! I know that you don’t know a lot of your fans, but all my sisters and I are so excited and happy for you! We go through life and as Christians we know that our God is a God of miracles and then when you see an obvious miracle, you just can’t help but be in awe of the One we serve. Everything is in His perfect timing!!! Again, happy for you and hope that pregnancy will go smoothly and you will be blessed with a healthy, beautiful and spokoinen’ki rebenochek!!!!
olya
Oh my I don’t know we’re to start
Dina
Congrads Olga! I am so excited for you guys and so happy to hear such great news! May God bless you with a healthy pregnancy and a healthy beautiful baby!
Dina
I was craving a lot of apples during my pregnancy as well. Apples are good for the baby’s brain development, so keep eating those apples for your precious little baby 🙂
Snezhana
Olga, I am so happy for you! Your post brought tears to my eyes, reminding me how great our God is! From your blog and posts, I can see God in you and He will always take care of those who love him. I pray that your pregnancy goes smoothly with no complications and that the little person in you comes into this world healthy, beautiful, and peaceful.
Gods blessings!
Julie
AMAZING!!!!!!
Congratulations to both of you!
Praise God He is so good to us!
May God give you good health and everything you need!
So happy for you!
Snej
May God bless your family!!! God is AMAZiNG!
I’ve read your whole story and it made me realize how ungrateful sometimes we are.
We are expecting our first baby and it hasn’t been an easy pregnancy… Thank you for sharing your story!
Olya D
I had tears of joy reading this post. I even texted some of my friends tht follow your blog, to tell them you’re prego!, when I read your previous blog abt this. I didn’t even bother to comment figuring you’d have a million of them & will be hard getting around to it :). But I’m honestly overjoyed for your news! I’ll keep praying for you, that your body absorbs the right nutrients & stays strong despite your GI issues. I’m a nurse too, so I’m really interested /worried abt the health aspect of this…thanks for your updates! It’s weird how you can get attached to someone you’ve never really met! 🙂 🙂 One of the beauties of todays technologies 🙂
Petr Goncharenko
We are very happy for you!!! Yes the Lord Bless you and more!!!!
Tanya S
Congratulations !!!!! I’m very happy for you guys!!!! May God bless your family.
Courtney
Olga, I have been reading your blog since this past May, I believe. Your story has inspired me to no end. It’s amazing what you have done as a foster mom, and looking at your past posts, I figured that perhaps you were not able to conceive. Oh, me of little faith! You are already an amazing mother, and will continue to put the rest of us to shame, no doubt. I wish I could know you in person… you have touched me that deeply through your blog. Many, many blessings to you, your husband, and of course, your little one!
Pat Soltis
Olga and Sergei,
Congratulations! I read both of your postings about your pregnancy just today (Sunday).
I’m 64 years old, divorced for a long time, married for a long time before the divorce. My ex and I never felt that we had “what it takes” to be really good parents. From what I’ve read in all of your postings, I have the impression that you’ve made the open-ended commitment to do WHATEVER it takes to raise a healthy, happy, beautiful child (or children?).
The two of you are a kind of miracle. We (the human race) need more like you.
Profound best wishes to all three of you. (Yes, I understand — as you do — that the little one is a miracle too.)
Pat
Alina K
Congratulations!
So so happy for you and your husband! God is AWESOME!!! Wow wow wow!
I will be praying for your family and the tiny precious Baby in your belly! Hope your pregnancy and birth go well!
Blessings!!!
Lena
I am so happy for you! Praise God, yes He is the God of miracles. Thank you Jesus. May He keep you healthy and strong, and come march, for you to hold a beautiful child in your arms.
Irina
WOW! Olechka! Congratulations!!! What a blessing! I am so happy for you, I almost cried (But didn’t so as to not ruin my make up ) 🙂
It’s so interesting to see how God works in our lives. At the time you wonder why things happen the way they do…and fight with God and argue with Him. All the while He silently and patiently teaches us to trust him and to have faith in him. Just this morning our pastor said a very interesting thought that will probably stick with me for the rest of my life. ” Why was Jesus able to fall asleep so deeply and quickly after getting into the boat before the storm? Because he knew his Dad ran the universe” He is our Dad too…. if only we could live with always remembering that fact.
Blessings to you and your hubby! SO SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!! I have a 5 week old little one and can attest to what an amazing miracles babies are. Can’t wait to “meet” your little one!
Nata
Olichka! Wow, this is amazing news!! I have been following your blog for some time now & am very excited for you & Sergi. May God Bless you guys abundantly & your sweet pea:) May your pregnancy become easier for you & May you have a fast, easy & as pain less as possible delivery! God is awesome & you are a wonderful example of His Glory!! Love, Nata!
Viktoriya
Olga! This post literally made me cry! I am so excited for you and your husband! It was precious to read how each family reacted to your announcement! May God bless you and help you through this pregnancy. Anxiously waiting more posts!
Olga
Dear Olga!!!
I had my eyes water up as I was reading your post, so touching.
God is so kind and amazing. Reading your posts I understand
this baby is an answered prayer. So thankful to Him, and I want to
wish you a blessed pregnancy and delivery.
I will be praying for you.
Vanya cooper
Wow! I’m so pleased for you. Hope this pregnancy rushes by!
Vanya
Ani K
Olga cograts on your pregnancy, I am so happy for you. I just want to say that you are one strong and inspiring women. You and Sergi are going to be such great parents.
jules4v
Olga and Sergi, Congratulations from my husband and I. We have been in your shoes from me being sick to fostering to adopt and losing our adoption to losing our own child and then fostering again 30 kids its been adventure that God thought we could go through. God has recently blessed us even more of giving our miracle Rainbow Baby! I am currently 19 weeks with thrombophila and 80 % of losing our baby anytime.( Thank God to doctors and modern medicine keeping our baby and me alive). We are forever blessed each day of having our little one grow. Its a bitter sweet feeling being pregnant again. God has a plan for our babies. we cried reading your post and thought of our little miracle as well. May God give you strength, patience wisdom and health to deliver your Miracle rainbow baby. If have time look up the meaning of rainbow baby. I am thinking of having a rainbow baby shower its an idea for you guys too.!
Natasha of Natashaskitchen.com
What an awesome story! Thank you so much for sharing and being so open about everything. God bless you and your little one to stay healthy and strong through this pregnancy and beyond! 🙂
Katie M
So happy for you Olga!! Reading your story brought tears to my eyes (happy tears)! Slava Bogy for the little life growing inside you! Good things come to those who wait! You’re a wonderful women and you’ll be a wonderful mother! God’s blessings to you, hubby and baby as you walk this journey! 🙂 <3
Ana Mik
Oh our God is good!!! Congratulations to you and your husband! I read your anouncment crying like a baby!!! God bless you both even more and keep you and the baby safe. Thank you for sharing your life stories with us, We are all so happy for you!!! A lot of my girlfriends and ppl from church were talking about your beautiful news, sometimes i feel like our family is so huge considering the fact that we have brothers and sisters in Christ. We dont even know you personnally but everyone knows your story and sometimes that is enough to give GOD thanks and pray for each other more often!!!!
oksana
We are absolutely ecstatic for you and your honey! Oh Praise be to God! The news made my heart rejoice! You two have been through so much, and God has come through with his promise! Thank you Jesus! Were so happy for you :)))
Elizabeth S.
I am crying and laughing just reading about this, Olga! And to think I just stopped by to get some new recipe ideas! 🙂
Adrienne
I am so happy for you!! Congratulations!! :))
Yuliya
Its such a blessing! Im very happy for you!
Lyuda
Congratulations! I am truly touched by your story, thank you for sharing! You have inspired my cooking, and now, you have also made me cry 🙂 God is good! Keep on praising Him.
Angelina
Hi Olga,
It amazing to hear your story, Ive been blessed by reading your love story with Sergi, your journey through fostering, and now your pregnancy. Its truly a miracle how the Lord gives each one their own unique path. Through your sharing, you have definitely impacted my life. Its always beautiful to see a couple that has put their trust in the Lord, joyfully following Him, surrendering in beautiful obedience, going through trials and yet remaining faithful to the One who proves Himself faithful over and over. This post brought me to tears, how wonderful HOW GLORIOUS is our God! You are in my prayers, and I just want to say thank you for encouraging and sharing your lifes struggles and blessings with us:)
May the Lord bless and keep you both!
Angelina
Lyuda
Olga, u are just an amazing person!! God bless you!! Im sooo happy that you r having a baby!!!! I read your story bout your previous pregnancy, i just waNT TO HUG YOU! It made me cry. Gods blessings to your little sweet family:)
Lyuda
By the way, i love your kitchen!!!:)
Liliya
Olya at how many weeks did you start having morning sickness ? And when did it get worse
olgak7
I didn’t really have “morning sickness”, Liliya. The extreme nausea, vomiting and other GI symptoms were this bad because of my short bowel syndrome, not due to the pregnancy. The pregnancy just escalated all the GI issues. It was the worst during the second trimester, however, I had it throughout the entire pregnancy.