Thursday, December 16th, 2010
At our weekly girls night get together on this particular day, we all spent the evening at our house. In conversation, I mentioned that I had read that day on Facebook a pregnancy announcement of a mutual friend of Sarah and me. From there the question quickly switched to "my period update". With this group of ladies, there is no shame and anything is game when it comes to conversation! So Sarah asked about my timing and it was at that point that I realize that I was "supposed" to start the previous Monday. I was 4 days late. While she wanted me to take a pregnancy test right then and there, I dismissed such urgency because I was 2 days late in November and that was a bit devastating to Chris and I when I ended up getting my visit from Aunt Flo.
So I dismissed the idea with the girls, but of course it was the back of my mind the entire night and the next morning! So when I woke for school in the morning [this was the last day before Christmas break] I got into the hall closet and pulled out a pregnancy test. Quietly opening the package, careful not to wake Chris, I took the test... It wasn't but a few seconds and it read POSITIVE! I was the quietest giddy person that morning! As routine, I gave Chris a good-bye kiss and was out the door. [Note I hid the positive test in my underwear drawer and left the box/wrapper in the hall closest as if it had never been opened. :) ]
Luckily that day at school was an early release because it was
So that's how it all began. Well that's how I found out about everything in the beginning. I promise I won't describe every other day of my pregnancy in such detail! :)
Looking back over the last 7 months if there is one thing I can say about my pregnancy, I would say that it is nothing like I'd imagine it would be. I expected mornings full of sickness and days full of aches, pains, and cravings! Let's not forget swollen kankles and a miserable summer [that's pretty the first thing everyone "warned" me about after telling them of our August due date]. I have had none of it. Not a morning--or afternoon or evening--of sickness. Not any more aches or pains than an average person--usually if I did have any, it was due to spin or running! No cravings--although some assume that I have pickle cravings, but I just really like pickles even pre-pregnancy! I intentionally eat less pickles now that I am pregnant so that I don't have to hear the "Oh give the preggo lady a pickle" conversation! This summer hasn't been miserable, although we did "break down" and turn our air on on July 3rd! And I don't have any kankles! Oh, and I always have to pee so that is nothing new to me. I've known where every store's bathroom is and the best place to stop along the side of the road anywhere this side of the Mississippi! Commonly I tell people that if my pants weren't getting tighter, and recently if I didn't have to hold my breath to tie my shoes, I wouldn't even know I was pregnant!
Hormones are another thing that I was "warned" about, but I don't think they've been too bad. Maybe because I can be moody to begin with. :) If you throw out the Sunday morning that nothing fit right and my hair didn't do a thing I wanted it to so I sent Chris on to Sunday School without me and I started my morning over with a shower and yet a different set of clothes and if you throw out just the other night when I was a bit weepy over the possibility of having a boy because I don't know anything about teaching them not to play with themselves [just being honest], I haven't really noticed much out of the usual. Don't worry, I admitted last night that it's just fine if we have a boy, I just had to express my fear to Chris!
What I have had this pregnancy is an amazing experience. I am more regularly active than I was a year ago today and despite having a healthy weight gain, I'm only a few more pounds heavier than I was last summer. Additionally as amazing as it was for Chris to feel our lil' one for the first time the day before Easter and for my momma-cita to finally get a feel of her newest grandchild just a couple of weeks ago, getting to feel the baby move inside of me is one of the neatest, weirdest, most awesome-est feelings ever! Just the other night I mentioned to Mister how much I'm going to miss feeling the baby move about inside of me!
Furthermore I've been amazed at my body. Each week--or nearly each week when I'm on time-- I give Chris something that represents the current weight/length of our lil' one. This is how I initially told Chris the baby's size and I've continued it pretty much throughout. It's baffling when I hold a 14 inch cucumber or hold a 2.5 pound butternut squash next to my stomach and imagine a baby, a real life baby that size somehow inside of me growing longer and heavier every day. [At 31 weeks that baby is "supposed" to weigh 3.3 lbs., but ours weighed in at 4.1 or it's made it a bit difficult to have accurate coordinating visuals since knowing that!] Even more as I've read a few pregnancy/birth books, it is absolutely fascinating to learn what my body is truly doing and the gradual adjustments that are, in most cases, unknowingly occurring to prepare for the birth of this lil' one. I guess God knew what He was doing, eh?! :)
Overall I've made it my goal to not allow pregnancy to be an excuse. It's not an excuse to eat twice as much. It's not an excuse to be a hag. And it's not a handicap that necessitates everyone to be at my beckon call! It's a wonderful experience and this particular great pregnancy experience, I hope to have for many babies to come! ;)
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