last updated on 11/11/14 (my due date)
we took these in our home and on the property when i was 37 weeks:
this was jon's idea! to include out little monkey, the first gift we bought our baby and the same one he held in our pregnancy announcement.
being pregnant has been an amazing experience. i have loved [almost] all of it.
first trimmester:
sick, sick, sick. no throwing up, but constant nausea.
not feeling like myself at all. spending way more time indoors laying down and watching tv than any other time in my life.
zero energy.
but, the excitement of having a baby growing in my belly kept me in check. every time i complained or thought of complaining, i felt guilty because i knew how blessed i was to be experiencing it all.
second trimester:
nausea and back pain from the first trimester carried on into the second. by this time my doctor had prescribed me medication that helped me function like a normal human being and i started going to physical therapy for my back. he put my ribs back in place (seriously. one on each side) and worked on my posture and strength. wow, it helped SO MUCH.
i got my energy back! the first time i did laundry and cleaned up our room i felt so accomplished! i found myself vacuuming and organizing and it felt so good. i also started running again. i swam as often as possible at my SIL's pool and at the neighbors pool. this helped us beat the summer heat and was really good for my back. stretching and swimming around felt amazing.
third trimester:
i stopped being able to run and eventually stopped walking like i had been. i'm still active with jon (we went to six flags with his parents and walked around for a few hours and it was fine), but "working out" hasn't been a priority! it was enough to stay working until 38 weeks. my energy has still been okay, some days are better than others and the same goes for how well i'm feeling overall. the last few days i was working were actually quite tough and i feel like i quit at just the right time. i think my stretch marks on my belly started around 33/34 weeks and have since spread. my belly button popped out at like 20 weeks so i should have known that my belly could only stretch so far before leaving marks, haha! they are just around my belly button and moving outward and outward. sometimes throughout the day they are purple/reddish, but most of the time they are pretty light, just shiny. i have gotten sad about them, but try to think of them as a sort of 'battle wound', or proof that i did this. carried a baby through all the ups and downs for 9 whole months. (plus, they could be worse)
my dad has been calling every week to check up on me. he used to start the conversation with "so, how are you feeling?" and lately its been "so, where's this baby?" he is so sweet. my in laws went to a grandparents class at the hospital and came home very excited about this little one! a little too excited as they started stressing me out with questions like, is the car seat installed correctly? have you been letting the baby listen to classical music? what kind of mattress does the baby have? i can't even complain because i know they're just trying to help and that they can't wait to have this little baby hanging around the house. kathy is a pediatric nurse practitioner, so she will be an amazing help when our baby has an ear infection or something in the middle of the night. and john is just good with kids, they'll be great grandparents.
this whole experience has been truly amazing. it feels like i've been pregnant forever and i think part of that is because i've consciously made sure to enjoy every twist and turn we've encountered. i appreciated feeling nauseous most when i stopped feeling so sick and was amazed at how good i felt! i loved having energy and being able to run and walk with a little baby in tow. as weird as it is, i've liked to see my thighs and legs get bigger as they've had to accommodate for this increasingly large belly. (i'll like it even more if they go back to normal) i can't imagine not being pregnant now and not having a constant companion kicking, turning, moving, hiccuping with me all day and night. i am obsessed with holding my belly and guessing which body part is sticking out of where. i've even really liked having people touch my belly! working with 25 women and having mostly women clientele was so much fun, clients and coworkers just loved to feel my belly and feel the baby kicking. i loved seeing my coworkers faces light up as they felt him or her push up against their hands. the clients were mostly encouraging about not finding out the gender, staying home with the baby once its born and some talked personally and openly about breastfeeding. so many of them complimented me on how i looked, which was so, so welcome on some days. one of beth's clients (a man around 55 or so) gave me a $20 bill to 'help offset something, or for the baby fund' and said that i 'looked great'. (this was my 2nd to last day) i put it in our diaper bag for emergency money!
it is officially our due date today, Veteran's Day 2014! katie got here on friday and we have gone to six flags, eating HOT jalepeno poppers, walked around downtown ish (the pearl brewery), and gone to wurstfest-lots of walking, dancing and eating. now that the due date has arrived i am very ready!
