Pregnancy...so far

I’ve been trying to figure out what to say about my first 20 weeks of pregnancy and just kept getting stuck.  I was planning on writing about each trimester, but man am I just tired. After working all day, coaching soccer, and going to worship rehearsal, I just haven’t found the time for much lately! With only 4 days of school left in the year I will hopefully have more time to plan and write consistently, although I will be working basically the whole summer, I’m hoping I can plan out posts ahead of time and really stick to it.  I’d love to continue sharing more about this journey, especially so I can go back and reflect on it.

Instead of laying out a long blog post for you, I figured it would be better to list 5 things I’ve learned in my pregnancy so far.

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5. When it’s over 100 degrees and you’re on your feet all day, man do your ankles and feet get swollen!  It really didn’t start until 16 weeks, but I’ve never had cankles before and it’s not something I want to get used to.  Nightly elevation for my feet definitely helped but I’m so not looking forward to the summer heat!

4. Pregnancy pants/shorts are a must.  I can get away with a lot of my dresses and tops, but I’m loving all the stretch in these bad boys!  I’ll be really honest with you though, I’ve only bought a few pairs myself. I’m all about hand-me-downs, and I love that I have friends and a sister who saved all their maternity clothes and are letting me borrow them!  I was shocked when I saw the prices for a piece of clothing that I won’t wear very long!  Thank goodness for the clearance sections because I’m loving my $11 jeans with all the stretch for my expanding belly.

3. Body changes can be incredibly difficult.  Some days it’s so hard to not be my normal size.  I’ve always had a smaller frame, so gaining 20 lbs is hard for me to think about when I know it’s not from gaining muscle mass, it’s just adding padding for the baby. The random pregnancy zits, losing muscle, and feeling your abs pulling apart are all strange things to get used to.  Pregnancy in itself is amazing, the fact that my body is creating a little human is so insane to think about, but some days is harder than others. I have to remind myself that it’s okay, it’s normal, and my body will continue to change after I have the baby as well

2. Not finding out the gender is either really cool, or makes you the most annoying person.  We decided that we do not want to find out the gender and I’ve gotten both responses, which is so funny to me!  I have highly involved friends that hate that they don’t know what clothing/shoes/bows/etc to buy yet (jokes on you, that's the point!) and others that think it’s a really cool idea.  Honestly, I like the idea that it will be a surprise. Of course I am hoping for one gender more so than the other, but either way I will love this babe. I also really just want the essentials, especially because this is our first baby so I will prefer diapers over onesies any day!

1. People can be unintentionally insensitive.  It’s funny how comments are said such as “you really look pregnant now”, “are you sure it’s just one?”, and “it’s because it’s just your first pregnancy”.  I think the last one is the worst because if I’m being honest, I’ve already been pregnant and it was one of the most difficult, painful experiences of my life.  Miscarriages are so common, yet hardly talked about. That comment is always difficult because it’s so hard to not think about how awful an experience it is to lose your pregnancy.  I really haven’t talked about it a ton, but the people that knew helped me get through from my family, to my closest friends, and to my amazing co-workers who knew what was going on and supported me.  I still have the card they gave me, it just means so much and it’s hard to let something like that go, I still get anxious even though I’ve heard our heartbeat multiple times and seen our baby. It’s something I wish more people thought about because words are so hard to forget sometimes.

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