Holy Moly – I have Kankles!

Despite my inability to maintain my blog, I’m sure that anyone who actually takes the time to read my posts already knows that I’m pregnant - 33 weeks and 3 days pregnant, give or take a day or so.

Although there are many many other interesting things about me, pregnancy seems to be the only thing I can think about, and quite frankly the only thing anyone is interested in talking to me about. (I should just put blind folds on everyone so they aren’t distracted by the giant basketball under my shirt when they talk to me...) So in the spirit of writing about what everyone wants to know, I’m going to give a whirlwind recap of my pregnancy.

I’ll start by saying, if you tell me that you “loved being pregnant” I may just have the urge to smack you. And don’t test me, I’m getting to the point where I honestly want to take a whack at people who look at me with longing eyes and tell me how great being pregnant was…. Did they forget about the vomiting, exhaustion, bloating, strange hunger patterns, moodiness, exhaustion, inability to sleep, constant trips to the restroom, exhaustion, waddling, swelling… I’ll stop now. Hat’s off to you if you “loved it”…I officially hate you.
Pregnancy hasn’t been to fabulous for me. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE what being pregnant means, and I couldn’t be happier or more excited that Matt and I will have a new addition to our family in just a few short weeks. However, the journey to this point has been tough.

 I found out I was pregnant the last week of June. That same week I discovered I had a cyst. From my understanding this isn’t too uncommon, but the pain I was having wasn’t typical. The horrendous pain (which lasted about 5 weeks off and on) finally subsided, just in time for morning sickness to start. I was sick until about week 17/18. Somehow I had this preconceived notion that once the first trimester ends, you feel fabulous again. They lie. Once morning sickness stopped I actually, felt good for a while. I was able to start exercising again, and was functioning normally (that’s relative when you’re pregnant).  Oh, and just to throw a wrench in all my happy-go-lucky not throwing up, we had a downs syndrome scare. Luckily after some testing it was confirmed that Baby B is perfectly healthy, but let me tell you, I have never been so anxious, scared, upset (keep naming stressed out adjectives) then I was during that three week stretch.

Around Thanksgiving, I finally got out of that “pregnant or fat” stage and was cute pregnant…for like 3 weeks. Luckily during that three week period, I got my pregnancy photos taken.  Kudos to Tasha Dooley, the photos came out amazing!

Once Christmas came and went it was all down hill. Up until that point, I was doing really well with weight. My doc was even monitoring me b/c I had barely gained enough. HA. I had a three week stretch between  “you may not be gaining enough” to, “wow, you’ve doubled your weight gain”.  To accompany the weight gain trauma appointment, I also started having Braxton Hicks contractions, and a lot of pressure. At that point I was scheduled to have non-stress testing done twice a week, so we just started them early. Not to worry, all the uncomfortableness I am having is normal…take some Tylenol and drink some water, it’s the solution to everything.

The next week I also pulled a muscle in my back. Now, this may seem like no big deal, but when you’re 31 weeks pregnant, and the muscle is right near your kidneys and appendix, it will land you at the hospital overnight. That was a disaster, but much too complicated to go into right now.

The muscle in my back is still really hurting, and it’s hard to walk around and sleep. Sitting is OK tho, phew - at least there is some position that does make me wince! That was the end of working out during pregnancy for me.

So I guess this brings me to where I am now…rockin’ the full out kankles.  It was like it happened overnight. I woke up a few days ago and none of my shoes fit. It hurts to squat down, since my legs are so swollen, and when I try and see what used to be ankles, I can’t differentiate between my calves and my feet.
There is a light at the end of the pregnancy tunnel tho – and I can barely contain myself I’m so excited! Because I am diabetic, I am going to have a planned induction to make sure Baby B stays as healthy as he is now, and doesn’t get too large.  As long as everything goes according to plan, Baby B is scheduled to be arriving on February 25, 2013!

All in all, I guess the only thing that really matters is that Baby B is healthy, and that he, Matt and I will be fine once the pregnancy is over  - so I guess I can’t really complain. (who am I kidding, I can complain, I look like a beached whale!) Let’s cross our fingers that its smooth sailing from here on out – come on February 25, hurry up and get here!