Hi friends. Welcome to the Life with Loverly podcast. I’m Brittany, a wife, mom, and lifestyle entrepreneur here to help you discover your best daily style and encourage you to try new things when getting dressed each day. I took a tiny following on social media and turned it into a community of over one million amazing women, and I am so glad you’re here. I’ll be sharing my heart with you beyond the 15 seconds on Instagram, so we’ll be diving into things like personal growth, friendships, motherhood, marriage, and of course, the business of blogging. Really, this space is here to serve as your go-to resource to building a life you adore while sprinkling some kindness to others along the way. Grab an iced coffee and let’s do life together. I’m Brittany, and this is the Life With Loverly Podcast. Hi, friends. Welcome back to the Life with Loverly Podcast. I cannot wait to share today’s episode with you. There’s so many things about this episode that are incredibly exciting. The first one is that this is the season finale, which feels like we’ve had such a great season. We already have amazing guests lined up for next season, so we’re taking a little bit of a break, but we will be back. The second thing that is so exciting about today’s episode is that we are recording this in my house. We are in the keeping room, which is this lovely room I absolutely adore and wish I could spend more time in at the front of our house. And so we are recording today’s episode from here. And then the third thing, which is I’m sure what brought you to this episode based off of the title, but if you haven’t already noticed or observed from Instagram, we are pregnant, which I kind of still can’t believe that I am saying that out loud.

(02:00)
There’s so many times I look to myself and I’m like, oh my gosh, I am pregnant right now. It just feels so real and so crazy. So I thought we would dive into the whole story, give you guys the details on how we found out, how we told our family, the girls’ reactions, just all the details of upcoming plans that we have so far for this third baby. Plus you guys have been such an important part of my life and through many different seasons of previous pregnancy, previous loss, IVF. And so it only feels right to just bring you along in the weeds in this season too. So we’re going to get into it. You guys might want to grab a coffee or a mocktail and we can talk about this next season. So we found out we were pregnant or we were pregnant in May.

(02:58)
We were down at the beach. We went down to the beach for two weeks after the girls got out of school. And the first few days of this beach trip, we were going to be shooting our Hermosa swimsuit line while we were down there. And so it was kind of crazy leading up to this trip. We were going to be gone for a while. There were things I was worried about at home, worried about just. I felt like stress was on overload. And looking at a calendar, I was like, okay, I’m also supposed to be on my period during this photo shoot. Great. So we get down there, hadn’t started my period yet. Didn’t even really think anything of it because I am pretty regular, but sometimes the week it would come would shift. So I was like, maybe this is just stress. I mean, that’s never happened to me before, but I’m like, maybe this would be a great time for that to happen to me so I don’t have to be on my period during this bathing suit photo shoot.

(03:59)
I think I kept thinking like, oh my gosh, what if I’m wearing a tampon and the photographer sees a tampon string out of my bathing suit? I mean, these are the thoughts going through my head. So ended up completing the photo shoot. It was amazing. And my team left. I think they ended up leaving on a Tuesday. Did you guys leave Tuesday? Okay, so y’all left Tuesday and I get back home, the girls are there. It’s just the four of us. My parents are coming a few days later. We had a babysitter with us. She had gone home and it felt like I could breathe again, if that makes sense. I was like, okay, this giant project that’s been weighing on me is finally done and now we can just kind of chill. And I sort of re-remembered, oh yeah, I hadn’t started my period yet.

(04:59)
So I went back to the app and was like, when was I supposed to. How many days late would I be at this point if it was technically on time? And it was like four or five. And so I was like, I don’t feel pregnant, but I also didn’t feel like my period was anywhere in sight. You know how you could just feel your period’s about to start and that just was not there. So Chris was like, “Your parents are about to be here. You’re about to be drinking and celebrating and just having a good time like we would at the beach.” He was like, “Why don’t we just make sure before all of that happens?” And I was kind of like, “Yeah, right.” At this point, I also didn’t want to get my hopes up because prior to this, we’ve had two miscarriages. And so I was just kind of like, “I really, I don’t know.” And he was like, “If it’s not great, we’ll go grab a drink and move on.” So he went to the store and I remember he got a pregnancy test and he was like, “Okay, why don’t you just take this?” And then we were going to take the kids for a walk and go downtown Rosemary and get, they wanted some books or something like that.

(06:22)
And so I was like, okay. I walked upstairs. I was like, “Yeah, right. This is not even going to be anything.” And it was like the lines could not have been more confirmed and more pink. I don’t even think it took the full two minutes for the test to show pregnant because I remember I flipped it upside down, washed my hands, changed, and I was like, “Surely it’s not even ready yet.” Flipped it back over and it’s like, “Pregnant.” I was just like, “Oh my gosh, no way.” So I literally, there was nothing Instagramable about how I told Chris. I walked downstairs and I just had the test in my hands and the kids are just right there and they didn’t even know what we were talking about. And I just flipped the test and it said pregnant. And he was like, “Oh my gosh.” We just kind of were shocked because I think, so last year we did IVF and we got pregnant and we were pregnant for about six weeks.

(07:34)
And then the baby at the first ultrasound didn’t have a heartbeat. And so then they were kind of like, “It stopped forming after this amount of time.” And it was kind of traumatic because the previous miscarriage the year before we got to the eight-week appointment and there was no heartbeat. So we talked about after we went through IVF last summer is that we would take a break. We wouldn’t do IVF. If we happened to get pregnant on our own, great. And then we would just revisit potentially maybe going back for IVF another time or in January. And the reason we even ventured to IVF at all was because we did IVF to get pregnant with Collins. It took us about three years to get pregnant with her. And we went to the doctors, did all the things, and they just diagnosed us with unexplained infertility.

(08:35)
And so we started with IUI, unsuccessful, moved to IVF and had a successful transfer. So we had eggs or embryos left from that original transfer. So after our first miscarriage, when we realized, okay, we’re not getting pregnant, we’re not getting pregnant, maybe we go this route again, we pulled from those original embryos.

(09:04)
So that’s why we even went back to that route last summer. And after it didn’t work, we decided to just put the thoughts on hold and said maybe we would revisit IVF again in January. Let’s just give ourselves through the holiday and break. And January came and we were not really desiring to go back the IVF route. And I think, I mean, you guys, if you have a friend going through IVF, check in on them, pray for them. They are going through it. It is so taxing on your body. There are so many appointments you have to go to. If you live somewhere where there’s not an IVF clinic close by, you have to travel. I was going back and forth to Atlanta multiple times a week, sometimes several days in a row to do blood work, to do different things. And it was a lot.

(10:01)
So you have to definitely be in the right mindset for that. It’s such a beautiful process, but it can be a lot on your body, on your mental, on your family. So we sort of decided, you know what? Maybe we’re okay. Maybe we’re going to be a family of four. And we just started kind of like, that was not going to be the forefront of our mind all the time. Because as a mom who has two healthy, beautiful children, it’s hard. People would sometimes be like, “Well, you already have two. Maybe this is just your family is complete.” And there was just this desire in my heart or just this knowing that I don’t know, I love my girls beyond measure. And if our family is complete at four, that is the Lord’s plan for us and I’m happy to receive that. But it just felt like there was something else.

(10:59)
However, we just kind of were like, “Let’s just see what happens.” I had not started tracking anything. I had not started. When I would get my period every month, I would be like, “Okay.” But then something would happen. I’d be like, “Oh, great. We have X, Y, Z to do.” I just wasn’t really thinking about it. And I will say I had a major life event happen end of March, beginning of April, and my stress levels drastically changed. And I really do think a lot of that had aided in us getting pregnant when we did, because I really think there’s something to the fact that stress can truly take over your body. And so just looking back and being like, “Well, what was different? How did we get pregnant?” I mean, I think I’m just such a problem solver anyway, so I’m always looking at all the things.

(12:04)
But that was something, just this major change that took some stress off my plate really was like, “Wow, okay.” So we got pregnant and then we find out in May, we ended up telling my family, my parents came down to the beach and we were talking about some house renovations. We were at the time thinking about doing some renovations on our beach house. And so we kind of made a joke like, “Oh, well, I know we were talking about getting rid of the crib, but actually we’re going to need to keep it up for this baby that’s due in January.” And my parents were just like, “What? What?” Which is insane because my brother and his wife are also currently pregnant and she’s about three months ahead of me. And when they told us that she was pregnant, we did not know we were pregnant at the time.

(13:04)
And so it was just so wild. And so my parents went from no grand babies on the way to two within three weeks, just based off timing of when we told them. So it was kind of funny and then just very sweet because it’s been something that we’ve been so prayerful of for so long. But yeah, so they were overjoyed. And I think still throughout this time, I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, we’re having a baby.” But if you’ve ever been through loss or miscarriage, it feels like it’s not real for a little while. I really wanted to wait until we could do some blood work, could see the heartbeat. I have a great doctor here in Athens who has been unbelievable. She’s let me have several rounds of blood work to confirm HCG levels early on. She has let me have multiple ultrasounds. So I cannot even begin to thank her enough for just knowing what would comfort me in those times of just needing to see the heartbeat.

(14:16)
And so we saw the heartbeat. Our HCG levels were really high. She was at one point concerned we were having twins and she was like, “I actually really need you to come in.” And before we had done the initial ultrasound, she was like, “These HCG levels are kind of crazy. We really need to confirm what’s going on.” And there were not twins, which we were just like, “Oh my gosh, how wild would that be?” But we’ve been able to see the heartbeat at this point. I’m recording this. It’s going out I think two weeks from now, but I’m 17 weeks and just beyond thankful. It still just feels like, I feel like I find myself so many times just being like, “Oh my goodness, Lord, thank you so much for this baby.” I’ve started to feel the baby move, and it’s just such a wild feeling.

(15:14)
And it just brings me so much hope and joy and happiness and things that I really wanted to experience in those previous pregnancies, but didn’t get the chance to. So it was just kind of wild. And the kids, I’m surprised they didn’t pick up on it, that we were pregnant. We waited probably till it was about 12 weeks before we told them just because wanting to be careful just in case something were to happen. And if this wasn’t to be a fruitful pregnancy that they would. I don’t know. I mean, it’s really hard to mourn, but I feel like mourning and also explaining to them what this loss is if that were to have happened. So we just tried to play it safe and they were so excited to find out. I think telling Hazel, she was like, “Finally, I’ve been waiting to be a big sister.” I’m like, “Girl, I know.” But Colins, I think one thing with this, I didn’t even realize how sweet and special this would be for them.

(16:23)
They are constantly checking on the baby. If they say bye to me, they say bye to the baby. Goodnight to me, goodnight to the baby. They’re so intentional and they love finding out on the app what size the baby is this week or what the special fact about the baby is every day. So we always go over that. And because when I had Hazel, Collins was eight months old when I found out I was pregnant. So they’re very, very close in age. And Collins had no clue. I don’t even think she understood when we brought a baby home that this baby was her sister. And so this time around, they are just so aware and so excited and they have all these emotions. So I feel like that’s just giving me this whole other. It honestly makes me want to have more kids because I’m like, “This is so sweet.” However, I don’t know if that.

(17:18)
I think if you were to ask Chris, “Would you have any more kids?” He would be like, “Absolutely not.” But I mean, one of the questions we kind of talked about was any future snipping going on in Chris’s future. And honestly, I don’t know. It feels so insane that it was hard to get pregnant to then be like, “Okay, go get a vasectomy.” But I think we’ll cross those bridges when they get there or when they get here. I guess at this point, I’m just still blown away, so overwhelmed, so excited.

(17:58)
And I am hoping that by recording this now, we’ll get my butt in gear to post what the gender of the baby is. So I’m going to go ahead and tell my life of Loverly fam, and this is going to. Either you’ve heard it here first or you are quickly hearing it close thereafter when we announce this on Instagram. But baby Sjogren number three is another girl, which I am just truly overjoyed. I have always wanted a house full of girls. I think that’s kind of all I know. I always wanted sisters. And I have a wonderful brother and my parents were done at two kids. And I constantly begged for, “Can we please have another baby? Another baby?” I just wanted a sister. And so I’m so excited that my girls will have a sister. They get to be a big sister. They’re so excited.

(19:02)
And I can’t imagine. I’m sure if we would be pregnant with a boy, obviously we would figure that out too. But even Chris’s, when we found out we were having a girl, he was just like, “I knew it. We really only make girls. I’m a girl dad and he’s an amazing girl dad.” So I think it’s funny, the other night he was practicing a cheerleading routine with Collins and I got a video of them and he was so into it and she’s giving him all this direction. And I’m like, “He was made to be a girl dad.” So we are so thrilled. We have a name, but I’m going to keep that private until she is born, which is so crazy that I can say she without feeling like I’m slipping up. So another little girl, we are just beyond excited.

(19:55)
Okay, so things that I’m looking forward to with this new addition is just I really want to save her the time. I love the newborn stage. It’s so funny, my best friend lives next door and she had a baby two years ago, and the newborn stage is her least favorite. And I would just be like, “Give me the baby. Go run around in your house, do whatever other things you need to do. I will happily sit here and hold and change and bathe and anything you need for this baby.” And now she’s in a stage that she loves. So we always kind of joke that we’ll be that for each other in those stages. But I’m just so excited to experience life with another baby, to see my girls. The age difference will be seven. Collins will be seven. Hazel will be five and a half when this baby’s born.

(20:53)
And so I think they are so excited to be little helpers. I want to see their personality shine. There’s so many things that I just can’t wait for. And I think it will even be a time I really want to be intentional with my time being an entrepreneur and a business owner and the face of a company. In my previous pregnancies and times when the babies were born, it was always very hard for me to know, can I take a break? Can I step away? What happens if I do that? And I’m just excited to see what happens this time because we’re just in a completely different place. I have a team of support behind me. So I think I’ll be able to be really intentional with this time with the baby, and I am just truly so excited for that.

(21:48)
In comparison to my other pregnancies, this has so far felt very similar, which is one reason that led me to think that it was another girl before we found out, just because it felt identical, super tired. I have become a nap person, which is insane. I think if you were to ask my team at the beginning of this year, do you think Brittany would ever take naps? They would be like, “Absolutely not. That girl does not even know what rest is.” And all summer I have been so tired, so many naps. But one thing that’s forced me to do is going back to the word intentionality, is be intentional with the time that I’m spending creating for Loverly Grey. And I am so much more of a planner now, and it’s like I’ve got to get these three things done. And my nap almost feels like my reward, but then I’m able to rest and recharge before my kids get home and before.

(22:53)
So first trimester, lots of sleeping going on. It’s funny, there was a time I was recording a podcast and I joked with Elizabeth, who’s my podcast producer. The person I was interviewing was running late and I was like, “Oh man, maybe I can get in my afternoon nap.” And she was like, “What?” And then I was like, “Okay, now would probably be a good time to tell you that I’m pregnant and I’m so tired.” But there were just funny things that would come up and I’d be like, “It’s okay, I can go take a nap. Don’t worry about it.” So that was definitely interesting. But I think it’s been cool to just watch myself remove myself and just see how I’m appreciating this season. It goes so quickly. I cannot believe I’m already at 17 weeks. And my body is changing. If you’re watching this on YouTube, you could probably see my belly.

(23:56)
And there’s so much change, so much life. The fact that I could feel her moving now is so amazing. One thing I would just encourage is giving yourself grace. So many changes are happening. And I think it’s so important also for partners to just be open communication with your partner, letting them know what it is that you need, what you don’t need. Chris and I learned that early on when we were pregnant with Collins on just he can’t read my mind. Emotions are wild. Tears are happening. There’s so many hormones going on in your body and just being open and honest and remembering that you two have each other’s back no matter what has been such an important piece that we’ve had to implement even through the two pregnancies that we then lost and being together during that time of grief and then turning that around.

(24:57)
Here we are in another season of pregnancy and this time further along. And so there’s things that I need, things that he need that, but we wouldn’t know those things without open communication. And just really remembering that we are a team first. So it’s a just reminder of in those seasons of transition that that is super, super important. One thing that I thought would be kind of fun to go into, and I’m sure if you follow on Loverly Grey, you’re noticing a little bit of maternity appropriate content. Some things I just cannot wear right now, which makes me a little bit sad because I love fall fashion. I love introducing new textures and new patterns into this phase and season of life, like a literal outside season, not necessarily pregnancy season, but we’re going to learn how to do it. And so I’m really trying right now to have an outlook on things that if you are pregnant, you could wear some of these items, but I also will continue styling for those of you who aren’t pregnant.

(26:11)
My team and I have come up with some really amazing ideas on just how we’re going to make this work. But I’m also having a lot of fun playing with outfits and trying on pieces that I already have in my closet and being like, wow, I would’ve never thought this dress could be bump friendly or maternity, but it actually does work. So we’re doing a lot of transitional pieces, which is beautiful at this time of year anyway. So that’s definitely something that I will continue to do. I hope that my style doesn’t shift that much. I really pride myself on my style and think this is such a craft and such a gift that I’ve been giving. So I want to continue to style myself throughout this pregnancy. I will say I do wear a lot more sweats behind scenes. My work from home looks are really top-notch.

(27:10)
Chris is like, wow, another sweat set. And I’m like, listen, I can get down with a two-piece set like the b=est of them. But I think the main thing is finding pieces that you’re super comfortable in.

(27:27)
I also have found just layering, using accessories to enhance an outfit. You could have a black stretchy dress on and the way you add a jacket or boots or necklace or earrings or even the sunglasses you’re wearing or the purse you’re carrying can be the pieces that are elevating your outfit and your overall look, but you’re still in a piece that’s really comfortable for you. One thing I would say is that if you’re in the season and you care about what you’re wearing, there is going to be a little bit of planning that goes into this. And that might mean trying on a few outfits, getting some base layers down that are really comfortable and really great, and then figuring out what you can easily add to it, shift. I have personally been doing a ton of Pinteresting, looking on Pinterest, searching different maternity styles, and especially European maternity.

(28:38)
I’ve just really drawn to how chic women in Europe and other countries dress. And so then I’m kind of pulling some of those ideas and making them practical for those of us in the season right now. So that is go do some research on your own, see what kind of things you’re attracted to. And this will change wherever you might be located if it’s cold, if it gets really cold as we’re going through this almost winter season with being very pregnant, which could be a blessing though. I mean, comfortable maternity leggings and an oversized sweater is really going to be serving the looks in a few months when we get there. But I do think that you can still stay true to yourself with some of those accessories. And then just don’t be afraid to try new things. You might have to. So far, I’ve found ordering a size up in items to fit me comfortably is what I’ve done.

(29:41)
And I think that there is a lot of pieces that are not maternity that you can get that will work now and then even in early stages of postpartum. Also, if you don’t want to go buy a whole new wardrobe for your maternity, the months that you’re pregnant, which by all means, that is completely normal. I think there’s definitely a few basics that you could buy. In fact, we’ll round up some of what those are. And I’ll share some retailers that I think have some good maternity options, but there’s things like Rent the Runway or newly that have maternity clothing that you can sign up for a subscription service and just do it during those months that you’re pregnant. That way you’re able to feel chic, feel like you’re putting on new clothes, they fit you right, but then you don’t have to keep them.

(30:35)
You can return them. And I think those are also really great services that are perfect for people who aren’t wanting to make huge investments during this season.

(30:48)
It’s also kind of crazy to think that next time the podcast is back on, there could be a baby in my arms. I wonder if she’ll be able to sleep through a podcast. We’re kind of thinking about doing the podcast at my house next season, so we might be getting some more views like this, but that could be a fun little. We’ll have to see, but it is kind of wild. We did move into this house. It’s been about a year and a half, so we will be doing a nursery in here, which is so exciting. I’ve actually, all three girls will have been brought home to a different house. We lived in Alpharetta when we brought Collins home. We lived in Athens when Hazel came home, and then now we live in this house in Athens still, but just a different house for this next baby.

(31:45)
So that’s kind of exciting. I really only have one thing picked out for the nursery, and it is this super specific dresser from Anthropology that I saw and was like, “If this baby is a girl, I need to have this dresser.” So I’m hoping to build her nursery off of this one piece, which I feel confident about. I think it’s going to be beautiful. I’m going to incorporate wallpaper, color on the walls.

(32:16)
I have a vision, I just need to put it together. So I think that’s going to be really fun. And the girls are going to love helping get her room set up, which will be super sweet. Okay, so wrapping up, you guys will probably find out more information about this baby girl on our Instagram, on the Life with Loverly Instagram account and on Loverly Grey, considering this will be our last episode of this season. So as I get further along in pregnancy, there will definitely be things that we will be tailoring specifically to the season of life over there. A lot of that content, we’re hoping that it will be really shareable. So if you’re not in the season yet, or maybe you know somebody who is, you’ll be able to forward that over to them as a resource. So lots of stuff is coming that way, and it’s just amazing that I have this community of people who even care about what’s going on behind the scenes in our life.

(33:21)
So I am just beyond thankful that I’ve been able to have some open conversations, share things that are on my heart, share pieces of our story.

(33:32)
As we are wrapping up the season, we will still be very active on our website. We’ve got some amazing blog posts. One thing I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, I don’t know if we’ve really specifically talked about this on the podcast yet, but our website got a revamp earlier. Well, I guess it’s been the end of summer. It’s probably been about five weeks now. And we have a lot more content that is coming from some of my team members who work behind the scenes at Loverly Grey. And there’s just some topics that I think are really exciting. We have members of our team who are in all different stages of life. So it’s a really great opportunity to kind of be a true guide and resource for a lot of different women and different interests. And it’s been so much fun to put out additional content.

(34:28)
We’ve received such great feedback. So if you are wanting to continue to follow along with Life with Loverly, and you’re always welcome to go back and listen to previously recorded and posted podcasts, but we will continue to have fresh content on the blog. We have new blog posts that come out every week, and then we will continue to have fresh content on Life with Loverly on Instagram and in our stories. And that’s a really fun place to just quickly be able to interact. And then the blog is somewhere where you can go and grab a cup of coffee and sit down and read about whatever topic we might be discussing at the time. So I’m so excited for next season. We already have some amazing people booked to interview with, some that I am kind of freaking out and I’m like, “Can we go ahead and maybe we need to make this a bonus episode and share it sooner.” But I’m really looking forward to what this next season on the podcast brings, what this next season of life brings.

(35:30)
And I just truly appreciate all your love and continued support. So friends, I will see you in 2026 on the podcast until next time.

(35:45)
Hi friend. If you’re loving the show, will you go find that follow button on your podcast app? This will ensure that you won’t miss a single episode. I love having you in this community. Until next time. This season of Life with Loverly is produced by Elizabeth Evans Media Productions.