https://www.youtube.com/c/kellydoesherthing

Kelly Does Her Thing, Quebec, QC (2026)

08/26/2022

My son got to experience a lot of firsts in the past week - his first international travel, his first ferry ride, and his first road trip ☺️ We visited beautiful Québec City with my mom and were treated with beautiful sights, an incredible vacation home built in the 1600s, and so many wonderful memories ❤️

08/11/2022

Me at 6ish months postpartum versus me 6ish months pregnant. It’s crazy how much can change over the course of one year! But one thing is constant - my love for the mountains. Just got home from what has become an annual hiking/camping trip with my friends, this time to colorful Colorado. I will always find it funny how a lot of people take vacation to relax by laying on a beach or something and I’m over here like “how bout we destroy ourselves by hiking to an alpine lake?” pregnant or not 😂 I’m sore and yet I feel completely rejuvenated. Can’t wait for our next trip!

Thanks for the post idea ☺️ and and for the photos!

06/26/2022

My morning coffee date 😍 I posted before about the road I took in choosing to become a mother. It was my choice to make. It’s the hardest (and most expensive) thing I’ve ever done. And I simply do not possess the ego it takes to think that I should make this decision for someone else.

05/16/2022

I’ve never been this big or this out of shape. I knew getting my fitness back when be an uphill battle but right now it feels like an impossible ascent up a cliff. I hate how I look. I hate how my clothes feel. I hate this photo.

But I try to remind myself that my body just did an incredible thing and this will take time. And I may never look like I did before I was pregnant, and that’s ok.

So I celebrate every milestone I hit just like I celebrate every milestone my baby hits.

Today, I ran my furthest distance without stopping since my second trimester - 3 miles. It wasn’t easy but I did it 😊 and I’m grateful for everything my body can do

03/27/2022

“We will only call if something is wrong,” the doctor said to me at my 20-week ultrasound appointment.

A few days later, my phone rang. The hospital’s number flashed on my screen. I had just landed in Washington with a friend for a week-long hiking/camping trip. I fumbled with the rental car’s bluetooth to answer while I was driving on the highway to our first hiking destination.

“Are you sure this is a good time to talk?” the doctor asked, sensing that I was stressed.

“Yeah, yeah. This is a good time.” It was not a good time, but I didn’t have the patience to wait any longer to hear why she was calling. The words “We will only call if something is wrong” pounded in my brain.

She proceeded to tell me that they detected some abnormalities during the ultrasound, and that these abnormalities are “soft markers” for Trisomy 18 and 21 (Edward’s syndrome and Down syndrome).

Immediately I remembered the bright spots I had seen on the computer screen during the ultrasound. I didn’t know what the bright spots were but I had an inexplicable feeling that something was off, especially when I noticed that the technician captured the image while they were on display.

She described the abnormalities as “reflections in the heart” and “water cysts in the brain”. She said that by themselves, these symptoms are unconcerning, but since they were both found together, she wanted me to get a level 2 ultrasound at a different hospital in order to confirm them and look for any other symptoms.

I felt like I was going to vomit. I held back my tears just long enough to get off the phone. I couldn’t even bring myself to ask any questions.

I pulled into a Walmart parking lot and my friend went in to buy us some water jugs while I called Misha to tell him the news. I was completely beside myself but he tried to assure me that everything was going to be fine. “I am confident that our boy is perfectly healthy,” he said. But I couldn’t stop myself from going down a dark spiral. I wanted to go back home but I also knew it wouldn’t help anything. The hospital wasn’t able to schedule me for the Level 2 ultrasound until I returned from my trip anyway, and the best thing for me in that moment was to be where I always want to be - the mountains.

Hours later, we backpacked to a nice camping spot along our hike in the Olympic National Park and settled into our sleeping bags, but sleeping was out of the question for me. I was freezing and I couldn’t stop thinking about my baby. Every time I felt him kick, I was overwhelmed with the desire to ask him if he was okay. There was absolutely no cell phone service for me to be able to doom scroll google results which was probably a blessing in all reality, so all I could do was keep reading Misha’s texts with his reassurances over and over and over.

That felt like the longest night of my life.

03/07/2022

Ig Post

I was someone who never wanted kids.

And I never understood why anyone did.

Why would you want to give up your sleep, your time, your energy, your money, your spontaneity, your body, and did I mention your sleep?

I even had to once end a relationship because he really wanted to have kids and that was something I wasn’t at all willing to compromise on.

But after years and years, I found myself recently gravitating more and more toward the desire to have kids. Then, in the beginning of 2020, I knew for sure that it was what I wanted.

Fortunately, Misha was on board. Unfortunately, Covid hit.

Misha was in Germany and I was in the US, and our countries put travel bans in place that made it difficult to travel to each other’s countries. We had to put off our plans to have a baby for an unknown amount of time.

Finally, after we accepted the fact that the travel bans weren’t going to be lifted anytime soon, we found a legal loophole and were able to get Misha into the US.

But then I got a new job, and I worried about how having a baby would impact my career.

After several months of being torn between wanting to start a family and my career, I realized there would just never be a perfect time to have a baby, and I couldn’t let my career dictate this for me any longer.

So it’s been a journey to get here but I’m so grateful. And while I once viewed having a baby as making a slew of sacrifices, I now can’t imagine life otherwise.

It’s only been two months and I’m so excited to experience the next two months, two years, two decades and more with him in my life ❤️

02/05/2022

This little guy is one month old today! It feels like we were in the hospital just yesterday! It’s crazy how fast time is flying by and how quickly he is growing! He definitely takes after his dad when it comes to height/length…and his mom when it comes to appetite 😅

And if you’re wondering, yes it kills me that it says “months” vs “month” but it’s really just enough of a miracle that I remembered to take this photo at all, let alone get the milestone blocks out for it 😂

01/26/2022

Three weeks ago, this little guy came into our lives 😍 I went into labor on a day when the entire region was struggling to cope with a snowstorm and so we got diverted by four different hospitals before finding one that could take us - thank you Sibley Memorial Hospital!! It was certainly quite the memorable birth story to share with him one day ☺️ we are now healthy and happy at home, and learning more and more together every day. This has been quite a journey already and I’m excited to be on it with him and Misha ❤️

Big thank you to for the awesome onesie which says “(Cries in German)” and to Mary Daily for knitting this super soft German flag play mat (and Marc for gifting it to us!)

01/03/2022

I have no idea how I would’ve fared on this hike had I not been pregnant but at 6 months pregnant, it nearly destroyed me 😅 I’m in love with the North Cascades because they’re chock full of gorgeous landscapes like this which makes the pain and exhaustion of hiking more than worth it, but I will admit that this trail tested me in ways I haven’t been tested before. It was as mentally grueling as it was physically, and I found myself having to repeat a mantra to get through it - “you can do hard things.” Simple, yet effective. I plan to use this same mantra to get me through labor 😂

By the way, the North Cascades National Park is one of the least visited National Parks in the United States which is absolutely bonkers to me given how incredible it is! If you ever get the chance to go hiking there, I highly recommend it!! Vesper Peak is gorgeous and I also highly recommend Maple Pass Loop 😍😍

12/30/2021

“You’re so strong,” a woman hiking down the trail I was headed up said to me. At about 6 months pregnant, I went on a much needed hiking adventure in my favorite state - Washington. I knew it would be physically challenging to hike with the extra weight I had gained but I hadn’t accounted for just how difficult it would be, mechanically, to climb up each incline with a giant belly getting in the way of my thighs. While I wasn’t nearly as fast (or nimble) as my normal, pre-pregnancy self, I’m proud of what I was able to make my body do and even though she was a perfect stranger, I found that woman’s comment to be so meaningful and encouraging ❤️

Special thanks to my friend Trey who was so patient with my slower pace on the trails and for taking this (and many other) photos.

12/01/2021

While many have started their December countdowns to Christmas, Misha and I are counting down to the arrival of our son 😍 Between pregnancy, Misha’s Green Card application/process, and a few other stressors, the past 8 months have been the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging months of my life but we are so looking forward to welcoming our baby to the world and taking on our new roles as parents.

11/25/2021

It’s been a rough year but I still have so much to be thankful for and appreciate. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate this holiday!

Kelly Does Her Thing

08/26/2022

08/11/2022

06/26/2022

05/16/2022

03/27/2022

03/07/2022

02/05/2022

01/26/2022

01/03/2022

12/30/2021

12/01/2021

11/25/2021

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