I am so ready to meet our baby. It’ll be plain dumb luck if I get to before my due date, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hope, right?
I must say, pregnancy has been pretty ‘easy’ on me, it being my first time at all. That doesn’t go without saying, I have most definitely had my own reasons to complain!
To start things off, I only had mild nausea, and that wasn’t until week 8. Those first few weeks beforehand were so tough mentally, because I was feeling zero symptoms, and of course wasn’t showing, so I was always afraid somehow I wasn’t pregnant all of a sudden (welcome to my crazy mind!).
David and I had already planned (almost a year in advance), for our first anniversary, to travel to Italy. When I found out I was pregnant, we hadn’t even booked our flights since we were flying standby. I didn’t want to cancel our trip though, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy all that Italy had to offer (wine & cheese, anyone?). I was able to meet with my midwife at 7 weeks, and spoke to her about some of my anxiety, and she ordered me an ultrasound so we could see that precious heart beating before our trip. It most definitely gave me some piece of mind, and also a cute picture to use to tell our family our news!
As soon as we landed in Rome, all I wanted was to throw up. For whatever reason, my body wouldn’t let me, and that is pretty much the extent of how my nausea went; felt sick, couldn’t be sick, ate and felt better.
Food aversions? Well being in Italy, I developed an aversion to tomatoes, and unprocessed tomato products. Still bothers me to this day. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy much of the food in Italy that we had at restaurants. Once we met up with family (week #2), I was eating home cooked meals and fresh fruit from the garden (!!), so I was enjoying myself much more.
I was very happy to be home after our trip. I enjoyed myself in Italy, but I can honestly say that I would not recommend overseas leisure travel to anyone in their first trimester — and I had it pretty easy.
Thankfully, because of all my vacation time, I only had to work one or two days during my first trimester. I didn’t return back to work until late October, around week 12, and I really did feel better being in trimester two.
Once I started gaining weight, I could feel some pain in my tailbone after sitting for awhile, and I remembered a little snowboarding accident from 6 years prior that left me with a chipped tailbone. Of course, I continued to gain weight, and with it the pain increased. A bit of a blessing in disguise, because I was able to get grounded earlier, and solidify an office position by early January. (*There are no known facts that say flying while pregnant is harmful to mother or baby — but since this was/is my first pregnancy, I didn’t feel as if I could do my job properly, since in the event of an emergency I would most likely not be very much help. Not to mention I wasn’t eating as well on the road, and I got pretty tired pretty quickly. Some women can do it, but I was happy not to.)
In trimester two, I was feeling pretty amazing with my growing bump! I was gaining sufficient weight, and was loving the way I looked while pregnant. In fact, I was feeling the most beautiful I have ever felt in my life (pretty big deal for someone who used to have an eating disorder). There was a downside though, my immune system seemed to have been failing me a little bit, and I was catching colds and viruses from everyone during the month of January (well, I’m pretty sure everyone in Canada was — considering it was the coldest and most wintery winter in 100 years!). My tummy was a little sensitive, and I developed a cough for about two weeks that wouldn’t let up. Heavy coughing while pregnant is not fun!! Felt so bad for my little bug inside me.
So bring on trimester three — started feeling much better, but also much bigger (*side note; for whatever reason, I popped really early, and my baby belly always looked at least a month further along than the average pregnant women my height/size. Strangers always asked if I was carrying twins whenever I told them how far along I was. Turns out I just carry very far forward, because I’ve always measured within two weeks — and at 31 weeks I was measuring smaller). The pregnancy weight started filling out in places other than my belly; my face, arms and legs to be exact! Trimester three for me became difficult, because I was no longer working, didn’t see people too often, and was having a harder time feeling beautiful.
I know what is happening to me is one of the most beautiful of God’s gifts and creations. But because I am only human, and a woman with normal insecurities, I pretty much just feel like a huge whale now :) Thankfully my feet have only been swollen for a day or two (and have since returned to normal). I don’t have a weigh scale at home, but according to my prenatal records, I am pretty sure I’ve gained around 45-50 lbs. That’s hard for anyone, regardless of the reason!
All in all, I am ready to meet this baby. I’m ready to hear my husband say if it’s a boy or a girl as they place baby on my chest. I’m ready to look into it’s eyes and call it by name.
Please come soon little bug!
Daughter, Mother, Mrs. 