Lacey Chabert’s Blog: I’m Having a Baby Girl!

Please welcome our newest celebrity blogger, Lacey Chabert!

The actress, best known as Claudia on Party of Five and Gretchen in Mean Girls, can next be seen on CMT’s Still the King, premiering in June, and in Hallmark’s A Wish for Christmas.

In 2013, Chabert, 33, married Dave Nehdar during an intimate wedding over the holidays.

The mom-to-be confirmed in February that the couple are expecting their first child, who will be welcomed by their chihuahua Kitty. 

You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @IamLaceyChabert.

Courtesy Lacey Chabert

Anyone who knows me well is aware of the fact that I’ve always wanted to be a mom. From playing with baby dolls as a little girl to being an aunt to five nephews, I’ve always adored babies and have dreamed of one day having a child of my own.

Last year, with our second wedding anniversary approaching, my husband and I decided to start trying for a family. I was nervous, but incredibly excited. The truth is, finding the “perfect” time to have a baby, especially given my career as an actress, had been a struggle. When I finally realized there was no such thing as a perfect time, we made the choice to throw caution to the wind and allow fate to take its course.

A short time later, we were in Texas visiting my family for Christmas. My sisters and I are incredibly close and the best of friends. When I pulled my sisters aside to tell them there was a chance I was pregnant, they immediately ran to the store to buy a test.

Well, they purchased eight of them.

We snuck away to “wrap presents” so we could secretly take the test. Let’s just say that I had barely taken it out of the box and that thing was positive. We could not believe our eyes — so much so that we took the other seven tests as well just to be sure. Anyone else feel the need to take eight tests before you were convinced?!

We laughed and we cried as I realized my life was forever changed, for the better. It was incredibly special to have shared this moment with my sisters and I couldn’t wait to tell my husband that we were pregnant. He was overjoyed and we were both so thankful for this amazing gift.

So, in a sweet twist of fate, on our second wedding anniversary, we found out we were going to be parents! On Christmas Eve, together, we told my entire family the good news. Everyone was thrilled. I think that will always be my favorite Christmas.

Waiting to go to our first doctor’s appointment felt like forever! Any little ache or pain caused me to worry so of course I turned to the Internet to look up every symptom. Word of advice? If you’re pregnant, I don’t recommend looking up every question you have about pregnancy. While the Internet can be incredibly helpful, there’s too much info that can send you into a downward spiral of anxiety. Instead, I highly recommend consulting your doctor regarding any concerns.

I have a feeling I’ll be using this word often in this journey of parenthood, but our first ultrasound was magical. The doctor laid the device on my belly and moments later, there it was. The heartbeat. The heartbeat of our little baby! I was in awe. It’s a miracle; there’s no other word for it.

I started crying, which isn’t surprising because I’m typically an emotional person, but when I looked over and saw that my husband was also in tears, my heart was full. I think I fell a little bit deeper in love with him in that moment. Even though the baby was only the size of a grain of rice, it had already brought us closer through this moment of pure joy.

Courtesy Lacey Chabert

Everyone immediately asked if we planned on finding out the sex. YES!!!!! People who have the patience and discipline to wait nine months to know the sex of their child is beyond my understanding! I envy this kind of restraint!

Much to my surprise, we were able to find out the sex around 12 weeks through a routine blood test. I sat on pins and needles the following two weeks that we awaited the results. Early one morning the doctor called that the test results were available. As we waited for the lovely nurse to triple verify that she was giving us the correct information, Dave and I barely took a breath. We were both such nervous wrecks!

Most importantly the baby looked healthy and for that we took a huge, thankful, sigh of relief. A few moments later she said, “Congratulations, you guys are having … a baby girl!”

IT’S A GIRL!!!!

I have five amazing nephews so the fact that the Chabert family is finally welcoming a little girl is very exciting news for us. We would have of course been thrilled with either sex and hope to have both one day. Secretly though, I’ve dreamed of having a little girl first my whole life. We both cried again. Who knew we were such criers?! This little lady is totally taking away our edge! We love her so much already.

I think Kitty is particularly happy that it’s a girl because she’s hopeful I’ll stop dressing her up and have fun dressing the baby instead. 😉

Pregnancy has been such an interesting journey so far. I truly have no complaints, but the first trimester had its expected challenges. The biggest challenge was that I wanted to sleep 24/7. I was literally falling asleep in the middle of sentences and counted the minutes until I could take a nap.

I was also starving. I don’t mean, oh that sounds tasty, I need a snack-kind of hungry, it was more like, IF I DON’T EAT RIGHT NOW I’M GOING TO SCREAM GIVE ME THAT LOAF OF BREAD BEFORE I SNAP -kind of hunger. Sounds aggressive? It was. Can anyone relate?!

I must say I was fortunate to have endured only a few episodes of morning sickness. I know some women really suffer and I’m so thankful that I did not. Now that I’m well into my second trimester, my symptoms have subsided and baby girl and I are feeling great!

I have so much to learn and look forward to sharing this journey with you. I’m deeply grateful that we have been blessed to experience this.

Thanks for being so supportive of us during this new chapter of our lives! I’d love to hear from you on Twitter/Instagram.

— Lacey Chabert