33 Weeks - Redundant?
33 Weeks. According to justmommies.com, I am officially 9 months pregnant. Scary, huh?! I tell people that at work, and they look at me like 'OMG. Your baby is going to come out soon!' The truth is that the human gestation period is actually closer to 10 months, so being at the beginning of Month 9 means I still have roughly 2 months left to be pregnant. And huge. And completely ambivalent about the process.
Please don't get me wrong here. I love that we're going to have a baby soon. We're going to have a little human, a new individual to love, to raise, to watch him grow, to guide, etc. *BUT* pregnancy is hard. It is tough on the body to grow a baby.
I know I've said all this before, but it is never more reiterated than in the 3rd trimester. Most days have one thing in common: I feel uncomfortable. My belly is huge. Standing and walking is becoming more difficult. My hips are constantly aching or making me flinch from sharp pains. I'm kicked in the gut repeatedly. There are permanent stretch marks (now in the pattern of short vertical red lines about an inch tall) that are almost evenly spaced around my protruding belly. I have what looks like bruising, but it's probably just more stretch marks, around my belly button. My entire hip bone feels like it might split in two if I sit up too quickly or move to fast (and Dave suggested I jump up and down and do jumping jacks or something like that. Hah!). I need to sleep a lot, and when I wake, I want to eat...only to feel the need to sleep again a couple hours later.
When I first became pregnant, it felt as though no one else was in the same boat as me. There was no one with whom I could commiserate the woes of 1st trimester. It was quite lonely. But in the midst of my 3rd trimester, several of my friends have announced their pregnancies. It's quite wonderful, but sometimes it's difficult to remember back 2 trimesters ago.
Anyway, I've been 'giving fair warning' to one friend, and I feel as though I have nothing wonderful to share about pregnancy. Poor thing. Sometimes, I reflect on how I may "switch sides" and be one of the women who only remember pregnancy vaguely after their child's birth. So in a way, I'm also kinda glad that I can help someone else with the realities of preggers without sugar-coating it. Perhaps some women want it toned down, but for me, it would have been nice to have all the gory details so I could have been better braced for the impending misery.
Hahaha! I really make myself laugh with my ambivalence. One moment it is truly awesome/amazing/wonderful/humbling to realize that I am growing another human being in my belly and how great a privilege that is. I am thankful that he moves and kicks and thumps me several times daily (absolutely no ambivalence there) and find the movement extremely comforting...as in it doesn't keep me from sleeping at all. But in other moments, when there is so much weight and pressure on my hips and pelvis and back from the added weight that is put on so quickly, I just sit still in whatever position happens to lessen the discomfort and wonder how something so awe-inspiring can also be so miserable. Maybe it's one of Life's great balances. I know....those of you, who have been thru labor & delivery, are probably thinking the same thing I am: "You ain't seen nothing yet."
A part of me hopes that L&D aren't as bad as I am expecting, but the other (smarter) part also doesn't want to underestimate the "labor" part of it. It's probably better to expect it to be worse than it really is.
Well, I don't have much new stuff to share, so I will sign off for now. There should be a new belly picture later today (at least, it'll be taken if it's not posted).
Please don't get me wrong here. I love that we're going to have a baby soon. We're going to have a little human, a new individual to love, to raise, to watch him grow, to guide, etc. *BUT* pregnancy is hard. It is tough on the body to grow a baby.
I know I've said all this before, but it is never more reiterated than in the 3rd trimester. Most days have one thing in common: I feel uncomfortable. My belly is huge. Standing and walking is becoming more difficult. My hips are constantly aching or making me flinch from sharp pains. I'm kicked in the gut repeatedly. There are permanent stretch marks (now in the pattern of short vertical red lines about an inch tall) that are almost evenly spaced around my protruding belly. I have what looks like bruising, but it's probably just more stretch marks, around my belly button. My entire hip bone feels like it might split in two if I sit up too quickly or move to fast (and Dave suggested I jump up and down and do jumping jacks or something like that. Hah!). I need to sleep a lot, and when I wake, I want to eat...only to feel the need to sleep again a couple hours later.
When I first became pregnant, it felt as though no one else was in the same boat as me. There was no one with whom I could commiserate the woes of 1st trimester. It was quite lonely. But in the midst of my 3rd trimester, several of my friends have announced their pregnancies. It's quite wonderful, but sometimes it's difficult to remember back 2 trimesters ago.
Anyway, I've been 'giving fair warning' to one friend, and I feel as though I have nothing wonderful to share about pregnancy. Poor thing. Sometimes, I reflect on how I may "switch sides" and be one of the women who only remember pregnancy vaguely after their child's birth. So in a way, I'm also kinda glad that I can help someone else with the realities of preggers without sugar-coating it. Perhaps some women want it toned down, but for me, it would have been nice to have all the gory details so I could have been better braced for the impending misery.
Hahaha! I really make myself laugh with my ambivalence. One moment it is truly awesome/amazing/wonderful/humbling to realize that I am growing another human being in my belly and how great a privilege that is. I am thankful that he moves and kicks and thumps me several times daily (absolutely no ambivalence there) and find the movement extremely comforting...as in it doesn't keep me from sleeping at all. But in other moments, when there is so much weight and pressure on my hips and pelvis and back from the added weight that is put on so quickly, I just sit still in whatever position happens to lessen the discomfort and wonder how something so awe-inspiring can also be so miserable. Maybe it's one of Life's great balances. I know....those of you, who have been thru labor & delivery, are probably thinking the same thing I am: "You ain't seen nothing yet."
A part of me hopes that L&D aren't as bad as I am expecting, but the other (smarter) part also doesn't want to underestimate the "labor" part of it. It's probably better to expect it to be worse than it really is.
Well, I don't have much new stuff to share, so I will sign off for now. There should be a new belly picture later today (at least, it'll be taken if it's not posted).
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