Brittany and Jesus, sitting in a tree-K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First comes love.
Then comes marriage.
Then comes the baby in the baby carriage.
So that brings us to the beginning, right? If you don’t know how Jesus and I met, here’s a good story for you! Our wedding photographer, Lindsey Roman, wrote a blog post about our love story and she honestly wrote it better than I ever could have. We love her and it’s worth a read!
So after the love part, we got married in a gorgeous intimate ceremony in Jesus’ home, Puerto Rico. It was everything we wanted and more!
We had a few photoshoots in between… and then we found out…
Photos by Abigail Renee Photography
Photos by Anna Shields Photography
(I was pregnant here and didn’t know it!)
How we found out
Fast forward a couple of cross-country moves and years later and we were pregnant! Jesus and I found out we were pregnant the day his mother flew in to visit us in November of 2021. We had just gotten home from an amazing weekend in New York City where we picked Jesus’ mother up from the airport (Aguadilla flies direct to JFK so it was just easier this way) and I decided to take a pregnancy test. I had a couple in the cabinet and really just did it out of curiosity. I didn’t have any inkling of pregnancy, no nausea, no bloating, no anything! So it really was because of a wild hare that I decided to take a pregnancy test.
I peed on the test, hopped in the shower and forgot about it, because I really didn’t think I was pregnant. Well about mid-shower, I guessed the time was up and the result was in so I peaked my head out of the shower thinking it would be negative and I would just go on with my day and you guessed it… it was positive. My jaw dropped and I felt like I wanted to pass out and happy cry all at the same time. Not a faint line positive, but a glaring, YES YOU’RE PREGNANT, positive. I couldn’t yell for Jesus to come look because that would give it away since his mom was with us in our 900 square foot apartment. So I calmly finished my shower (it was calm in my mind but was probably actually frantic) and hopped out. I quietly called Jesus into the bathroom where I pointed at the test. It took him awhile to figure out what I was trying to tell him because he wasn’t familiar with what the 2 lines meant and after I explained that it was positive, he said “that’s not real.” To which I responded, haha, yes it is. To prove it was real, I pulled the only other 2 pregnancy tests we had in the cabinet and took them. Once all 3 were showing positive, he was mildly convinced but still not 100% convinced. He really thought it was a prank but I would never joke about pregnancy because I’m very sensitive to the fact that many women struggle with infertility and have had friends and family who have experienced it.
The next day, we were still in shock and wanted to have it confirmed by medical. Well, medical couldn’t get me in so I asked for an OB referral and went on with my day. On my way home, I stopped at CVS and bought 4 more tests *just to be sure*. So, 7 tests later… Jesus was finally convinced I was pregnant. We were elated but also apprehensive at the same time because we weren’t ignorant to the fact that the miscarriage risk is greater in the first trimester. We also made the decision to not tell anyone until the first trimester was over, to which I almost immediately broke. I soon realized that if I was pregnant and then did have a miscarriage, I would want the support of my friends and family to be able to get through such a horrible season in my life. We slowly started telling friends and family to share in the joy with us. Everyone was so excited for Baby Sagardia. Funny enough, 1 other woman at work and 3 of my coworkers wives were also pregnant and due within a month of me.
I hands down wanted my momma to be the first person I told but I was conflicted because I wanted so badly to be able to tell her in person and soak in her reaction of the news. But I wasn’t scheduled to see her for months… so I caved and told my closest coworker, Jen. I kept talking about wanting to tell my momma and realized it didn’t matter that I couldn’t be with her in person and that she was the one person I wanted to share this news with and have in my corner. I FaceTimed her and she immediately guessed it because I had the biggest grin on my face. I hadn’t smiled like that since before Ryan passed away so she knew something big was happening. This baby was the blessing that held us together and kept me from going down a very dark path after Ryan’s death. The timing was divine.
His name: Nilo Thomas
I often find myself asking how parents chose their little one’s names out of pure curiosity or to see if they have a family name or if it has any sort of meaning. Well, Nilo’s name is a combination of both. I desperately wanted to name this baby Liam. Well, Jesus hated every name suggestion I threw out so after about 100 options, I told him he was up to bat so he literally googled “Hispanic baby names” and started reading off of the lists that populated. He read the name Nilo and we were both intrigued. We looked up the meaning behind it, which is “God is my judge” and fell even more in love with the name.
The first name was chosen, but what about the middle name? It took no time at all to decide on this. Family names have always been important to Jesus and I and we already had girl names picked out with female family members names incorporated into them. With the recent passing of my brother, we decided to honor him by using his middle name, Thomas. Thomas is a family name on my dad’s side and is also the name of Jesus’ favorite uncle so it served a dual purpose. It brings me peace knowing that Nilo has a piece of Ryan with him always and that he will know how special his name is.
Engagement + Wedding Photos by Lindsey Roman
Maternity Photos by Mikaela King
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