Ups and Downs

After breezing through the first trimester, pregnancy finally caught up with me.  Before this, the only thing holding me back was going to bed every night by 8:30.  This was of course was absolutely fine with the hubby since every night he would simply wait for me to pass out on our over sized bean bag chair and then he could play some video game until it was time for him to head to bed.  The only down side to that would be waking up the beast... Ha!  I know you will find it hard to believe but I'm not the friendliest person when woken from my slumber.  Hey, a girl needs her beauty sleep!  And since I was also housing another princess, we REALLY needed our beauty sleep!  Anyways, small price to pay for the free pass to play his game EVERY night without a peep from me.  I think he was enjoying my new bedtime.  So, being tired was beneficial to everyone, no biggie.  But, like I said before, pregnancy caught up to me.  If you've ever been pregnant, been married to a pregnant lady, or even known a pregnant woman, you know that pregnancy is NOT all sunshine and rainbows like it's cracked out to be.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED being pregnant, wouldn't trade it for the world and I can't wait until I can be pregnant again.  But, I will be the first to say that some pretty weird stuff happens to you.  Some REALLY weird stuff happens to you!  First off, I somehow got to skip morning sickness but in place of that I got this awful gag reflex.  I know, i know... Real attractive right?!?  It would not be unheard of for me to walk around the house making some awful noise like I was about to lose my lunch and in the other room I'd hear my hubby snickering and asking me if I was okay.  So, this was the new norm i guess.  Walk around gagging while I'm going about my day to day life.  Awesome.  This is so not cute!

I was lucky to have a pretty petite tummy and really never did get very big.  After learning how far along I was, everyone would say "You're so little!"  I took that as a compliment, thank you very much!  I didn't mind that I was carrying her "well" and didn't look like I was smuggling a basketball under my shrinking shirts.  I was even lucky enough to wear my regular jeans (with a hair tie holding the button closed, but hey it counts!!) up until 6 months along and then I wore my adorable spandex front maternity jeans.  Well, all good things must come to an end because around 7 months my hands and feet were swollen into nice plump sausages.  Who cares that I'm carrying small in my tummy when I can't wear my wedding ring and can't stuff my feet into tennis shoes??  I even outgrew some of my flip flops!!  Really now?? One time when I was "treating" myself to a pedicure, I got up to put my flats back on and the nail technician asked if I needed assistance.  I hurriedly try to stuff my foot back into MY own shoes and I guess this girl is not Cinderella because the slipper did NOT fit anymore!!  I hurried out of the salon with my cheeks pinker than my toe nail polish.  Yet another adorable pregnancy trait right there!  It would not be abnormal to get notified on a daily basis that my feet "are really getting swollen."  Why thank you!  I didn't notice that when I have one pair of flip flops that I can manage to waddle around in.  Let me give you a hint for the next time you see a pregnant woman suffering  experiencing the wonders of pregnancy, look away!  Even if her face is swollen to the size of a watermelon, fingers are sausages,and flush in the face with the pregnancy "glow".  Repeat after me, "You are so beautiful!  Absolutely glowing!  You look so fabulous pregnant!"  Any of these will do.  Trust me, we know that we are morphing into a less glorious version of ourselves but, we really do not need to be reminded of it, no matter how good your intentions are. /Rant

One thing I did love was eating!  I was always hungry!  I'm pretty sure the black hole took up temporary housing in my stomach because I could eat anytime and almost anything, except chili. That was the only thing that would trigger the previously mentioned gag reflex.  Yuck!  Other than that, if you put anything else in front of me, it could be gone in about 60 seconds.  Give or take.  I'm sure this contributed to my gaining 30 pounds at 8 months pregnant.  Nah..  More things that I loved about pregnancy was feeling my little girl moving around.  My favorite thing in the world actually.  How can such a little *bump* have the biggest impact in my life?  Lucky for me, I got to have a lot of my most favorite thing in the world.  This girl was a professional dancer, gymnast, acrobat, or something!  Brian affectionately called her our "kicky baby" (make sure to read "kicky baby" in the cutest little baby voice that you can).  Loved it!  Even if it was in the middle of the night and keeping me from sleeping.  She also had hiccups on a daily basis.  So cute!  I felt bed for her but later read that hiccups for babies in utero aren't uncomfortable to them like they are for us.  So, I just took joy in the reassurance that she's still doing okay.

I did suffer from pretty bad back pain to the point that I couldn't even walk or stand up sometimes.  Luckily I got a tip from a friend to go to her chiropractor who specialized in pregnant women.  Um, OK!  I would try anything at that point.  I ended up sticking with her and it was definitely worth it.  The back pain didn't totally disappear (which she warned me that it wouldn't) but it was sooo much better; it was definitely a lot more manageable. Especially since I was still working and my work entailed taking care of children.  I needed to be able to pick up the kiddos and be pretty active.  Let me tell you my friends, there is a reason God makes pregnancies 9 months long.  Pregnant women were not made to take care of infants.  I could barely push myself up off the floor, much less do it while holding a baby, but I managed.  But holding them was a different story.  Imagine trying to hold a baby to feed them their bottle or rock them to sleep with another one that's already in your lap.  We managed nonetheless.  It may not have been pretty but I figured it out.  Love to be with those kiddos.  I definitely got my practice in!

For me, pregnancy had its ups and downs but the ups far outweighed the downs.  I would and will do anything for my babies, and we're so blessed and thankful that Lillian was the first blessing, of what we hope to be, many.