Thoughts on Pregnancy

My sister recently asked me what my favorite part of being pregnant was.  Even though I’ve had a very uneventful pregnancy and don’t have much to complain about regarding it, I really couldn’t think of any benefits!  With the help of others I was reminded that I like the comfy pants!  And the lack of a period.  I have also come to realize that I haven't had a single pimple since the first trimester!  I can’t complain that while at work, others are more likely to help me out with things.  I have to deal with cooler boxes of ice bricks and samples and boxes of supplies for the lab; many of them are not light.  The guys in shipping and my own coworkers are usually right there to lift boxes for me or ask me exactly where I want them.  Sometimes it’s a bit annoying because they won’t let me lift even the lighter boxes and I feel helpless, but I guess I should enjoy the help while I can.  I’m sure I’ll miss it when I come back from maternity leave!

Though I’ve had a good pregnancy I cannot say that I enjoy being pregnant.  The tiredness that came with the first trimester was not fun.  I think I felt most not like myself during that period (and my messy house showed it!).  The second trimester wasn’t so bad, but by that point my workout routine was cut back a lot.  The nice spring weather teased me since I was no longer comfortable or very capable of going running anymore.  I never thought I would actually say that I missed working out, but I do!  At the same time, I’m happy to use my pregnancy as an excuse to not work out even if it’s just walking on the treadmill!  The third trimester has brought some challenges; a pulled back muscle that was tough to mend and some nagging hip pain in a muscle I didn’t even know existed!  I’m a lot less flexible and moving around doing everyday tasks is more of a challenge.  I find that to be frustrating.  (Recently a guy I work with commented that I’m still getting around really well; I guess that’s a compliment!)  Considering that I was in good shape before I know that there are women who probably struggle with this stuff even more than I do and I can’t even imagine their struggles!

Because I’m ‘big pregnant’ during the hottest months of the year (my trimesters matched up almost exactly with the change of seasons…third trimester started at the start of summer) people always ask how I’m doing in the heat.  Honestly, I have AC at home and at work so it’s a non-issue.  I haven’t spent much time outside gardening though but I don’t think that has anything to do with the temperature…I just don’t want to bend over and weed!  Luckily, it's been a cool-ish summer too.

My doctor and nurses do seemed surprised at my lack of foot and ankle swelling; especially considering it’s summer (my nurse said, “Wow, you’re ankles are distinguishable!”  I guess that’s a compliment?!).  It wasn’t until the last few weeks or so that my wedding ring and shoes became tight.  But, it’s nothing extreme by any means and worse at the end of the day and end of the work week.  I just hope it doesn’t get any worse because I already have chubby looking feet and ankles to begin with!

Sleeping has become increasingly challenging.  I'm not really friends with my bed these days.  Now I know why my friend Becky often played her turn of Words with Friends in the middle of the night while she was pregnant with twins!  I was once someone who could sleep until at least 10am.  Now I wake up at 7am and just want to get out of bed because I'm so uncomfortable.  I'm beginning to think I won't get a good nights sleep for months now!

Some people have to worry about their blood pressure at the end of pregnancy.  I still have a blood pressure most ‘normal’ people would die to have!  My weight is in the normal range even though I feel like I eat all the time and don’t work out much (I’ll miss that!!).  I haven’t had to worry at all about gaining/not gaining weight; though I’m still conscious of it (I don't treat pregnancy as an excuse to pig out!).  At my last doctor’s appointment I moved up to the next ‘decade’ on the scale; a ‘decade’ I have never seen before.  Heck, I only spent a short amount of time in the previous ‘decade’ about 10 years ago so this is all uncharted, sort of scary, territory for me.  At the same appointment my doctor referred to me as skinny and just recently some stranger stopped me in the mall and said I looked terrific.  I guess I can’t complain!  Maybe those compliments are my favorite things about pregnancy!