Baby Bricker Update: How Are Sarah & Megatron Doing?
It’s been almost two months since we shared our news that we’re having a baby. In the last few weeks, more and more people have been reaching out to ask how things are going with Sarah and Megatron, so we’re back with an update on the pregnancy to answer those questions, share new maternity photos, and our plans to welcome Baby Bricker into the world.
First, we want to start out by reiterating our previous thank you. We are incredibly appreciative for the outpouring of love and support that you all have expressed in response to our exciting news. So many of you shared sincere messages of congratulations, and your own deeply personal stories and struggles.
We are truly humbled by the joy and happiness you’ve shared for and with us, and thankful for all of you wonderful readers. You all exceeded our expectations–and we do not have low expectations for you–reminding us yet again how fortunate we are to have such a great community here. Your kind words meant more to us than you’ll ever realize.
We’ll start with an update on mom, and to answer a lot of reader questions, Sarah is doing well! We’ve had several doctor’s appointments since the last post, and all has been good at each of them. Mom-to-be is healthy and there are no issues with baby. Megatron continues to be very active, moving so much that the sonogram technician continues to be “impressed” (probably not really) and/or challenged with each visit. We’d expect no less from a baby with the namesake of Megatron!
Speaking of which, Sarah also continues to be active. Our last update mentioned that she’d be sitting out Early Entry and other park strategy sessions in the future, which turned out to be untrue. We actually did A/B testing on Early Entry at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure just a couple weeks ago and it went flawlessly! Early Entry remains a fantastic way to do both parks because of the extremely limited eligible guest pool. (I’m sure most of you actually clicked on this post expecting an indirect update on Early Entry at Disneyland.)
Sarah does get tired after walking around the parks for extended periods of time. Her ankles sometimes get slightly swollen after standing hours on end, at which point we head to the Star View Station Lounge or the back porch at Flo’s and sit for a bit. (The timing of that lounge’s opening couldn’t have been any more perfect for us!) We have had a few marathon days in the parks, though, and they’ve gone well.
It has helped that the second trimester went much better than the first. Sarah had far more energy and there was far less unpleasantness, etc., during the second trimester. It sounds like that’s all about par for the course, so I’ll spare you the details or over-explaining of things many/most of you already know!
Sarah is now entering the third trimester, and is starting to experience more hip and back pain. We’ll see how long we’re able to keep up the extended park days. For now, she still feels good and energetic, and has bounced back in a big way after that first trimester. That energy definitely does fizzle out in the evening hours (although we managed to stay for the “Celebrate the Spirit of America” Independence Day tag on the 4th of July) and our bed time has moved forward a bit to accommodate.
We continue to get an above-average amount of exercise. Even prior to the pregnancy, we went on daily multi-mile walks. This is something we’ve done for a long time as a way to disconnect (no phones) and spend time with one another. That practice is pretty much unchanged. We do these in our neighborhood, up the hill, to the beach, at the parks, and in town. Sarah continues to close those rings on a regular basis!
In addition to exercise, as you might’ve known or surmised, Sarah was already an incredibly healthy eater and she’s somehow kicked that up a notch during the pregnancy. Frankly, I don’t know how anyone, anywhere, ever is that diligent about diet. That’s doubly true when dealing with pregnancy cravings and food aversions, which she has somehow managed to “beat.”
I’ve been eating mostly healthy in solidarity, but even I can’t keep up with her. I don’t have that level of willpower. And of course, I am forced eat unhealthy from time-to-time in the parks…for the sake of research. I have no say in the matter.
The bottom line is that Sarah is crushing it on this front; her determination and dedication are truly impressive. Maybe she’ll be a little embarrassed that I’m sharing some of this, but I’m really proud of her and I think this is praiseworthy.
I’m not really sure how thorough of a response was desired when people asked, “how are Sarah and Megatron doing?” Perhaps a simple “they’re doing well” was all you were after and would’ve sufficed. So let’s move on…
On a disappointing (to me) note, my Dwight Schrute stroller testing trials have been a massive failure. I’ll admit that I never fully worked out the logistics of this one. I just watched that episode of The Office several times and thought, “I can’t wait to do that, but in a serious way, and with different types of strollers at Walt Disney World.” Despite never thinking it through, I had built this up in my head for years and was sincerely excited for it.
Starting actual research into strollers resulted in my (sorry to mix pop-culture references) “it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?” moment. Except in reverse. I don’t know how much I expected strollers to cost…but definitely not how much they actually cost. My half-baked thinking was that we’d buy a half-dozen different strollers, I’d field test them all, and we’d draw some definitive conclusions.
With reality setting in, we headed to a local BuyBuy Baby that was going out of business. On the downside, the store already looked like the aftermath of Walmart on Black Friday and we bought next to nothing. On the plus side, the ransacked shelves and complete chaos made me comfortable doing some in-store stroller test-driving through aisles and past obstacles.
From that, I quickly learned two things. Strollers are shockingly nice! Mind you, this is coming from someone with practically zero stroller knowledge. The extent of my past stroller usage was literally just pushing around stray strollers at Walt Disney World from time to time to get them out of my empty park photos at night. The strollers at BuyBuy Baby handled far better, have a ton of features, and were just generally nicer.
The other thing I realized is that not only do I have zero stroller knowledge, but I am not currently equipped to evaluate strollers…or any baby products, for that matter. What makes any of these things good or bad? I have no idea. I was really impressed with one particular stroller model for its handling and responsiveness…until Sarah said, “you cannot possibly think you’re going to whip that thing around like that with Megatron in it…right?” Right.
So sorry to disappoint all of you who have been in a holding pattern, putting your pregnancy plans on pause until my definitive stroller research was published. As it turns out, Sarah already knew exactly which stroller we wanted and was just humoring my “research” anyway. But hey, at least I got to do some test drives around the store…it kept me amused for one afternoon!
Switching gears, one reason for the delay in sharing a Megatron update is the ongoing difficulty in figuring out what we’re comfortable sharing. There are a few layers to this, and it’s something we ourselves have struggled with over the years in determining how much to put ourselves out there.
I don’t want to make this a treatise about the ills of social media, but as people who have intimate involvement with and have read countless studies about that, we probably have a more heightened sensitivity than most. Suffice to say, there are reasons why we’re minimally active on social media, and we’re even more apprehensive about overexposing Megatron to and on the internet.
There’s also the practical reality of baby updates taking a lot longer to write and leading to analysis paralysis as we try to figure out what to say…and what not to say. A normal post here is written in pretty free-flowing fashion as ideas come to me and I quickly jot them down before forgetting, and then try to edit that into something nominally coherent.
I certainly overthink all things Disney, but it’s relatively fast and easy. We’ve been doing this stuff long enough that we have a lot of learned experience and accumulated knowledge. That paired with a passion for the subject matter makes for an efficient and painless process. If others think I’m “wrong” about something, I take no personal offense. To the contrary, having people disagree is downright beneficial in broadening my perspective, and not the least bit damaging to my confidence.
This is the opposite of that. Although we’re reading and doing everything we can to learn and properly prepare, we’re still overwhelmed. We know that’s completely normal and there’s no substitute for doing. That you figure a lot out as you go.
Nevertheless, we have seen firsthand how new parents can get torn down and judged on the internet. People have very strong opinions about this stuff, and there’s an obvious knowledge and experience imbalance between seasoned parents and ones to be. It’s daunting and we don’t have the same self-assuredness to brush off critiques, criticism, or even well-intentioned unsolicited advice.
The other side of that is the natural desire to share. Some of the misadventures in becoming parents we’ve had thus far have been interesting and amusing (to us), like the stroller saga. Maybe current parents will think I should be embarrassed by that, but I’m not. Why would I have any prior stroller knowledge? It’s not like it’s common sense.
I can already imagine that the pull to share baby photos and experiences will be even stronger. That there will be a lot of fun stories and moments we want to capture and convey. There’s a tension between that and all of the above, and it’ll be a tough needle to thread. In the past, one of my guiding principles has been to never write anything I wouldn’t be comfortable with my grandma reading.
Going forward, we’re going to be careful not to write anything that teenage Megatron would be uncomfortable to read. (Well, stories about themself. All teenagers are embarrassed by their parents, so dumb dad struggling with strollers is fair game!)
Ultimately, we just wanted to stop and share an update on Sarah and Megatron since some of you have been asking. A simple response might’ve been sufficient, or perhaps you appreciate the detail. I don’t exactly have as much experience writing this type of post as I do a step-by-step Genie+ day run-through, so I’m trying to figure this out as I go.
Once again, thank you all so much for your kind words and well wishes during our pregnancy. We truly are fortunate to have the best and most thoughtful readers. That may seem like a trite platitude, but we really mean it. This is something that we’ve noticed and have been proud of over the years, but we still didn’t expect such a strong an unequivocally positive and joyous response to our baby news. That alone has already made us some degree of more comfortable in sharing our family with you all.
Our next steps involve getting home ready for Megatron, putting together things we’ve purchased, and continuing to get ourselves prepared. Up until now, that has mostly involved voraciously reading everything we can about pregnancy, newborns, and parenting. I have learned a lot…of things Sarah already knew. (Again, I’ll spare you the details of things you already know, but some of this stuff is truly amazing and remarkable. It’s like Planet Earth, but with people!) Our next step in the preparedness process involves taking actual classes that the hospital hosts for childbirth, newborn care, and parenting.
We’ll be back with more updates as pregnancy continues and Megatron (or Baby Bricker, Disney Tourist Baby, etc.) comes into the world. In the meantime, we’ll return to your regularly scheduled programming about Disney IT problems, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the best food you’re not eating, and so forth. Again, thank you all so, so much for your support and opening your arms and hearts to us. It really means a lot to us–more than you can probably imagine!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Any additional thoughts you have in response to our update on how Sarah and Megatron are doing as they start the third trimester? Disney planning & pregnancy, or Baby Bricker posts you’d be interested in reading? (Again, we don’t know how much we’re going to feel comfortable putting ourselves and our child out there, so we’d greatly appreciate you granting us grace and patience as we find our footing and prepare to be parents!) Hearing your feedback is always appreciated, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Tom and Sarah.
Congratulations on your exciting pregnancy news! Yet another reason to see Disney through the eyes of your new addition! There’s nothing like seeing it through the wonder of a child.
While we are annual pass holders, this past June we experienced the Disney magic through the eyes of our 2.5 year old grandson. It was so much fun to experience the magic through his eyes. (His 6 year old brother has been there many times and never gets tired of it.) Our daughter and son-in-law were married in Disney 10 years ago.
While Casey (our daughter) is a Disney crazed expert girl, I find myself saying to her, “Well, Tom Bricker says…”
I’ve been meaning to tell you this. There’s a picture you posted of a crowd walking in front of Epcot’s France. As soon as I looked at it, I saw my husband! I excitedly said to my kids, “Look! Dad made Tom Bricker’s blog!” 🙂 How did I not see you or Sarah near us when you took the pic? Darn!
Congrats again on your baby news. Always enjoy your humor and insight.
Jackie Crowell
THANK YOU for keeping us posted and sharing. Much appreciated. So happy it’s going well for all!! Stroller tryouts story is fun :). When I was pregnant with my first child my husband was in charge of 180+ volunteers at a museum and they all wanted updates so he did a monthly update e-mail newsletter (this was over 20 years ago) so I understand your dilemma. You just put in what you all are comfortable with and that will have to be good for all of us :). Personally, I think you hit a great balance.
Thanks again!
So glad you did an update. I remember reading the original news & all i could think of was, “but when is Megatron due for arrival?” lol
And here is unsolicited advise #384….. tell Sarah that no matter how hungry she is while waiting for the baby to be discharged (after Momma was already technically discharged & therefor missed the lunch meal)….do not, under ANY circumstances, scarf down the hospital meatloaf with green peppers & onions. If she is breastfeeding, the baby will NOT let her forget that she did that, and mommy will end up half crying on the nursery floor laying on the couch cushions, trying to calm uncomfortable baby, while ALSO questioning every decision that got her there. (not that i’m speaking from experience or anything 🙂 Thank you for sharing & I look forward to whatever you choose to share.
Yay! I somehow missed the other announcements, so this is my first time hearing your news. So happy for you. Welcome to the wild (disney) world of parenting.
It really is challenging deciding what to keep and what to share to both be authentic and provide your child a future with some Internet privacy. I’m confident you will find the right balance for your family.
Strollers ARE kind of awesome at Disney. Now that our son has grown out of his I miss having a stuff carrier. I admit to being tempted to rent one anyway, just to have a place for cups and park bags etc.
As for parenting … you got this. I mean, you’ll never really FEEL like you got this—none of us do. Ha! But once Megatron makes their entrance into the world, they will have all their own quirks and individual needs you never could have studied for. You’ll think you know exactly what kind of this or that is the “best” and they will have STRONG feelings about it, too. So don’t worry about it too much beforehand. Just use your best intuition/research and move forward. Your kid will teach you everything you actually need to know about parenting them.
Again, congrats! Looking forward to seeing how the addition of factoring in baby stuff impacts touring plans! (Even if I’m well out of that phase.)
And really. Y’all got this.
Wishing you all the best. Such brilliant news! Along with some others, we couldn’t recommend getting into a routine with Baby more. Routine. Routine. Routine. Haven’t read Baby Wise but here in the UK we used “The Contented Little Baby” by Gina Ford. Amazing, easily readable (EG – Its small) and it works! Both our girls are “Gina Ford” babies and they were sleeping through in days.
But you know, having said that; You’re about to strap yourselves into nature’s rollercoaster and it is one incredible ride!
So sit back. Buckle up and don’t forget to smile for the camera!
Congratulations surely Baby Megatron have amazing Disney future!!! Sending my best wishes!!!
I enjoyed reading this update. It felt like I was hearing from a friend. You have such a talent for connecting with your audience. There’s so much empathy, thoughtfulness and humor in your posts. So happy for you and Sarah! Enjoy this special time!
I’m extremely happy for you guys! I also want you to know how much you are appreciated. Some people might think that writing a blog about Disney is not that important, but the joy and information you bring to Disney Adults like me is absolutely a blessing!
Congratulations and best wishes on a continued healthy pregnancy and happy family!
My best wishes for you from Argentina .
Love the photos and appreciate the update. Rest up and continue to enjoy the journey!
I’m so glad you’re all doing well and Sarah, that you and Megs are both doing so well and active!! On that note, after my daughter was born, in the hospital the nurses kept saying, “we see a lot of babies and this one is really really a cute one.” In the moment, I believed (and I swear, thought she was so cute), years later, looking at the pictures……well, she is as cute a newborn as any ;). Thank you, nurses (for so many many many things). Thank you for sharing – it’s joyful to read whatever you’re comfortable sharing. Best of luck with all the prep. This whole parenting thing is such a wild ride. We just celebrated a 3 year pirate party with a couple friends — and we’re discussing our first trip to go into the parks. Note — she’s already stayed at Shades of Green twice, seen fireworks from the Polynesian, had breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and Boma, enjoyed the Christmas trees at Disney Springs, saw “Cinderella’s castle in the distance” (her words) from the monorail, boated to and from resorts to MK, and cruised the Fantasy…. She affectionately talks about “her characters” seeing pictures of Mickey, Pluto, Daisy, and the gang. It’s all been so much fun to introduce her to this world. With this parent life…it’s great big beautiful tomorrow (not to downplay the tough stuff… Lots of embracing the suck too, but I’d never go back).
Absolutely support your inclination to share carefully and even sparingly. But I was definitely wondering and I’m just so very happy you’re all doing well. Thanks for the update. Sending all the positive vibes.
You two have got this.
Baby Megatron clearly has an amazing Mom and Dad waiting for the big day. As the only real experts on Tron-to-come, you already know the most important things parents can share with their children. Love, security, and the knowledge of which way to go at rope drop!
It is a bit scary right now. I mean, what if teenage Megatron’s choice to rebel against you as parents is to refuse to be a Disney teen. Our Disney daughter is 5 now, and is in her happy place whenever she touches the magical world of Disney Parks and DCL. We just wrapped up a week long Disney World adventure. Her only disappointment was that we did not hop on a 7 day Disney Cruise right after the parks like we have in the past.
You got this. Believe it. Everything from strollers to car seats to bedtime stories will work out. With you two as parents, how could it not??
Warmest and best wishes.
Adorable photos!!!! Congrats again!!!
I am tickled punk for both of you! Sarah looks adorable in her pink flowery dress and sun hat. The joy on her face tells it all!
All my best wishes! You got this! Gayle
I’ve never commented on here (prefer to “lurk” ) but I really just wanted to say “much love to you both and I’m so glad things are going well!”
You guys look so cute!!!
Thanks for the update! Congratulations again! I’m so thrilled that things are going well!
Happy for you three
Tom & Sarah, I really enjoy reading your blog and hearing all about the baby news & things! First and foremost, do what works for you! Some of that you won’t know or figure out until the baby gets here. My one piece of advice is this (oldest of four is 29 and youngest is about to be 21); I thought putting a baby on a schedule was a dumb idea so with the the first two (17 months apart) no schedule and they didn’t sleep all night until they were two years old. With the third one someone suggested I read a small book called Baby Wise; it was a life changer! Both of our younger two slept all night by 12 weeks! That was a great accomplishment! Like I began though, find what works for y’all! Exciting times for sure!
Another vote for Baby Wise! We read it before our daughter was born 8 years ago to great success. We had an app on our phones that helped with scheduling the feedings and it was definitely worth it!
Another book I suggest reading before kids start eating solids is “French Kids Eat Everything”. It helps with picky eating. But I know Sarah is such a healthy eater, that you guys may not have that problem.
But definitely whatever works for you and your baby!