Ah yes, the joys of pregnancy. I have to admit, I had it pretty easy from what I hear from others. But when I look back on it it's not something I was thoroughly enjoying at the time. I remember people saying I was glowing and that I must be enjoying being pregnant. I may not have pretty feet, but I did like to see them on occasion. Getting out of bed without having to rock myself just right was also nice. There was a lot I did NOT enjoy about being pregnant! :)
I always felt I would adopt children someday. It's just something I wanted to do. My husband and I were looking into it and decided to let God have the ultimate say in the matter. We stopped trying NOT to try to have kids. In other words, I went off birth control.
Now, I'm a very regular sort of person. I HATE being late. If I tell you I'm going to meet you at noon, chances are I'll be there at 11:45. Being late just makes me nervous. So when I was 4 days late for my monthly visitor, I was pretty sure. But I got the home pregnancy test and took it in the guest bathroom upstairs in our house. Why I went to the guest bathroom, I'm not sure, but I did. I stood over the thing waiting the 2 minutes wondering if I'd be able to tell. The blue plus sign was very faint at first but it became more and more clear. I wasn't sure if I was more shocked that I could clearly read it or that I had just gone off birth control 3 weeks ago and was already pregnant. I guess we had our answer, we were meant to have a child biologically.
I text messaged my husband to hurry home. I often got lonely in the hour between when I got home and when he arrived so that was nothing new. He wasn't suspicious. He didn't keep track of my monthly visitor so he probably had no idea I was on edge from being late! When he got home I showed him the test along with a shirt I'd need to start wearing that said "Baby on board".
This was early in August 2008. We decided to tell our families labor day weekend because they would all be over that weekend. Not because the weekend was so appropriately named LABOR day. :)
The beginning of pregnancy was charming. I had a little secret that was going to grow into a huge part of my life. I smiled continuously and was shocked no one could figure it out just from seeing the look on my face.
Two weeks later...the thing they call morning sickness hit. I still don't think it's nearly as bad as what some people experience but I did a lot of laying around on the couch. I would get up at 4 or 5 in the morning sometimes and feel SO sick. I never got sick, so that was nice. But I couldn't move from the couch. I watched movies and after a few hours ventured into the kitchen for some crackers or a muffin if I was having a really good day. And what they say is true, morning sickness is a weird phrase because it can last all day. I remember sipping sprite at work and attempting crackers for the first time at 3pm because I felt so green. But it would pass, everything I read said so! And it did.
At the beginning of the second trimester I felt great. I was tired more than usual, but I got back into running. I used to run (via elliptical machine) 5 miles a day and it was really bugging me laying on the couch all morning long. But I simply couldn't move! SO when I woke up and felt good enough to elliptical I knew I was back in business. Granted, my so-called running was more of a slow gimpy job and I only went about 3 miles in 45 minutes, but I was moving, so there!
The tiredness pretty much started with the "morning" sickness and lasted till, well, I'm still not over it and my daughter is 6 months old now! I would often sneak out of work for lunch and go somewhere fast so I'd have time to take a nap...in my car! Many people in my work parking lot got dirty looks from me. How dare they slam their car door when I was trying to nap in the backseat of my car? On a nice day, one guy even dared smoke in his car RIGHT next to mine as I was trying to nap with the window cracked a bit. Boy did he get a look! Don't these people know there's a pregnant lady trying to nap here? I guess they didn't. But in my clouded pregnant brain they SHOULD have! :)
I also napped often when I got home before supper. If I wasn't too starving and could wait to eat a bit longer.
I never had any weird cravings. I never really craved anything out of the ordinary. Things sounded good on occasion but I never felt like 'oh my goodness I HAVE to have such and such RIGHT now.' I'm always up for a bowl of ice cream but that isn't any different!
When the third trimester hit I continued to elliptical but it was definitely more of a slow walk than a run. I napped any second I got the chance. I didn't sleep much at night anymore because I had heart burn SO bad I had to prop up in a chair to sleep at all some nights. My dad has always had heart burn. I never understood what it was like. I do now. It's exactly what it sounds. Someone had the nerve to light your insides on FIRE and then expect you to lay down and sleep at night. Yeah, not gonna happen. I heard chewing peppermint gum helped so I went through several packs. And I bought some generic versions of tums. Nothing made it go away completely so I just dealt with it. What do you do!
Oh yes, and as you get bigger in pregnancy, your bladder gets smaller. So when I WAS able to sleep I had to get up about every hour to go to the bathroom. No exaggeration. I've always been a frequent bathroom go-er. Especially after a mighty glass of tea. But this was ridiculous!
The tiredness reached an extreme level towards the end and I could no longer elliptical. I was pretty proud to say that I exercised probably at least 7 of the 9 months I was pregnant. I had to take one week off in the middle because I broke the elliptical machine (too much exra weight, perhaps?) and I didn't exercise at all for a few weeks at the beginning and end. But I wanted to keep in the best shape I could because I heard that labor was hard work and you needed to be prepared for it! Plus I like watching movies and I do that while running in the morning. :)
I think pregnancy really prepares you for a lot about being a parent. How to get up 50 times a night. How to sleep ANYWHERE whenever you get the chance. How to deal with discomfort. How to keep trucking when you have no other option but to do so. THough I still think it's not really fair to go through all that and then have to take care of a little creature so fragile and needy that you have to stay up so many nights while trying to recover from the trauma your body has already been through. Though who ever said being a parent had anything fair about it. IT's no longer about fairness, it's all about the baby! And once you meet that child, you don't ever care. It's all about the baby and always will be from here on out!
I always felt I would adopt children someday. It's just something I wanted to do. My husband and I were looking into it and decided to let God have the ultimate say in the matter. We stopped trying NOT to try to have kids. In other words, I went off birth control.
Now, I'm a very regular sort of person. I HATE being late. If I tell you I'm going to meet you at noon, chances are I'll be there at 11:45. Being late just makes me nervous. So when I was 4 days late for my monthly visitor, I was pretty sure. But I got the home pregnancy test and took it in the guest bathroom upstairs in our house. Why I went to the guest bathroom, I'm not sure, but I did. I stood over the thing waiting the 2 minutes wondering if I'd be able to tell. The blue plus sign was very faint at first but it became more and more clear. I wasn't sure if I was more shocked that I could clearly read it or that I had just gone off birth control 3 weeks ago and was already pregnant. I guess we had our answer, we were meant to have a child biologically.
I text messaged my husband to hurry home. I often got lonely in the hour between when I got home and when he arrived so that was nothing new. He wasn't suspicious. He didn't keep track of my monthly visitor so he probably had no idea I was on edge from being late! When he got home I showed him the test along with a shirt I'd need to start wearing that said "Baby on board".
This was early in August 2008. We decided to tell our families labor day weekend because they would all be over that weekend. Not because the weekend was so appropriately named LABOR day. :)
The beginning of pregnancy was charming. I had a little secret that was going to grow into a huge part of my life. I smiled continuously and was shocked no one could figure it out just from seeing the look on my face.
Two weeks later...the thing they call morning sickness hit. I still don't think it's nearly as bad as what some people experience but I did a lot of laying around on the couch. I would get up at 4 or 5 in the morning sometimes and feel SO sick. I never got sick, so that was nice. But I couldn't move from the couch. I watched movies and after a few hours ventured into the kitchen for some crackers or a muffin if I was having a really good day. And what they say is true, morning sickness is a weird phrase because it can last all day. I remember sipping sprite at work and attempting crackers for the first time at 3pm because I felt so green. But it would pass, everything I read said so! And it did.
At the beginning of the second trimester I felt great. I was tired more than usual, but I got back into running. I used to run (via elliptical machine) 5 miles a day and it was really bugging me laying on the couch all morning long. But I simply couldn't move! SO when I woke up and felt good enough to elliptical I knew I was back in business. Granted, my so-called running was more of a slow gimpy job and I only went about 3 miles in 45 minutes, but I was moving, so there!
The tiredness pretty much started with the "morning" sickness and lasted till, well, I'm still not over it and my daughter is 6 months old now! I would often sneak out of work for lunch and go somewhere fast so I'd have time to take a nap...in my car! Many people in my work parking lot got dirty looks from me. How dare they slam their car door when I was trying to nap in the backseat of my car? On a nice day, one guy even dared smoke in his car RIGHT next to mine as I was trying to nap with the window cracked a bit. Boy did he get a look! Don't these people know there's a pregnant lady trying to nap here? I guess they didn't. But in my clouded pregnant brain they SHOULD have! :)
I also napped often when I got home before supper. If I wasn't too starving and could wait to eat a bit longer.
I never had any weird cravings. I never really craved anything out of the ordinary. Things sounded good on occasion but I never felt like 'oh my goodness I HAVE to have such and such RIGHT now.' I'm always up for a bowl of ice cream but that isn't any different!
When the third trimester hit I continued to elliptical but it was definitely more of a slow walk than a run. I napped any second I got the chance. I didn't sleep much at night anymore because I had heart burn SO bad I had to prop up in a chair to sleep at all some nights. My dad has always had heart burn. I never understood what it was like. I do now. It's exactly what it sounds. Someone had the nerve to light your insides on FIRE and then expect you to lay down and sleep at night. Yeah, not gonna happen. I heard chewing peppermint gum helped so I went through several packs. And I bought some generic versions of tums. Nothing made it go away completely so I just dealt with it. What do you do!
Oh yes, and as you get bigger in pregnancy, your bladder gets smaller. So when I WAS able to sleep I had to get up about every hour to go to the bathroom. No exaggeration. I've always been a frequent bathroom go-er. Especially after a mighty glass of tea. But this was ridiculous!
The tiredness reached an extreme level towards the end and I could no longer elliptical. I was pretty proud to say that I exercised probably at least 7 of the 9 months I was pregnant. I had to take one week off in the middle because I broke the elliptical machine (too much exra weight, perhaps?) and I didn't exercise at all for a few weeks at the beginning and end. But I wanted to keep in the best shape I could because I heard that labor was hard work and you needed to be prepared for it! Plus I like watching movies and I do that while running in the morning. :)
I think pregnancy really prepares you for a lot about being a parent. How to get up 50 times a night. How to sleep ANYWHERE whenever you get the chance. How to deal with discomfort. How to keep trucking when you have no other option but to do so. THough I still think it's not really fair to go through all that and then have to take care of a little creature so fragile and needy that you have to stay up so many nights while trying to recover from the trauma your body has already been through. Though who ever said being a parent had anything fair about it. IT's no longer about fairness, it's all about the baby! And once you meet that child, you don't ever care. It's all about the baby and always will be from here on out!
No comments:
Post a Comment