HIGHLIGHTS
- The fact that I'm pregnant at all. I recognize this is a great blessing that not everyone is able to enjoy on their own timelines and I'm thankful for it and all of the challenges/blessings that will come with it.
- Feeling the baby move! And watching my stomach move independent of me. Soooo weird and fun and cool. I'm addicted to watching it. Before it was pretty subtle and I'd have to pretty much hold my breath while I stared intently. Now it feels like breakdancing.
- My veiny hands. This is from the extra blood flow. Tyler calls them Old Lady hands. I call them Bodybuilder hands. Thus, highlight.
- Being pregnant is restoring my faith in humanity. I've gotten many comments from strangers about how great it is to have kids and raise a family. Even from the man at the campground with the devil-horn beanie.
- Our birth class. I'm planning to deliver at a birth center and we've had a 7-week course with other moms/couples. Super cool group and fun to trick myself into thinking I can prepare myself to deliver a baby. Although in the words of a wise old woman, it's as simple as "learning to crap out a pumpkin." Easy peasey!
LOWLIGHTS
- The acid reflux. :( It tends to wait to sneak up on me when I lay down to relax...meaning I have to then unrelax and sit up and wait for the lava guts to subside.
- Water retention issues. This results in waking up with my hands all puffy and tingley every morning, and sometimes they fall asleep in the middle of the day. Caused some slight concern when I went to do my ASL interpreting tests and couldn't actually move my fingers all that well. And sometimes they look like little sausages--which is weird.
- The vicious cycle of symptoms and attempts to alleviate them...Oh, you are retaining water? Just drink more water! But not right before bed or with a meal, because that exacerbates the acid reflux. To get rid of that, just drink some milk! But careful because that interferes with your absorption of iron and you're borderline anemic. What helps with the iron absorption? Orange juice. But gotcha! That causes acid reflux! And so on...
- When Tyler parks too close to the car next to us at Yogurt Express and my belly gets stuck in between the side view mirrors while I try desperately to inch closer to my precious frozen yogurt!
- The thought that as soon as I get used to all this pregnancy nonsense, this wiggly little bump will come out as a real, live human depending on me for life. No pressure.
Here's the belly pics requested. Watch me grow...!:
