Monday, March 03, 2008

Pregnancy 411 list continued...


Thanks for all the comments to the Pregnancy 411 "Good" list! Today (fitting for a Monday? lol) I will list the things I will definitely be looking forward to doing again when little Audrey is here and I can go "back to normal" in some regards.

1. Drinking as much Diet Coke as I want!! I know, I know, its not healthy regardless of if you're pregnant or not, but come on.....a girl's gotta have ONE vice, huh?

2. Tanning! Okay, make that two vices (ducking the slaps from well-meaning friends, but seriously you guys, they used to call me Eggshell in high school because I was soooo pale. That doesn't just go away! Give me a few years of recovery time! LOL!)

3. Sleeping on my back. I never slept on my back before, but now that I can't/not supposed to, its, of course, the only position that feels comfortable. Sigh. I roll like a rotisserie chicken every night, left side, then right. Wake up, left side, then right. Hip goes numb. Switch sides. Uh-oh, Hubby breathing in my face. Roll him over...repeat. All....night.....long.....

4. Working out! I was a regular in my gym for about 1 1/2 years before getting pregnant, and I miss it. I miss being toned and in a small size jeans. I'm still going to the gym now but I'm limited in what I can do and of course, can't do any stomach exercises. The hardest part is keeping my heart rate down as my doctor instructed. On an ellipitical machine, forget it - impossible to stay at 140! So I'm stuck with the treadmill at a moderate pace, handweights, and - kudos to me - I recently took up swimming. Yep, in a maternity bathing suit. While super pale. Seriously, that deserves a cookie AND a Diet Coke. =) Yet, I know this is just temporary, and you can bet the day my doctor gives me permission, I'm back in the gym sweating!!

5. Energy! I'm actually having a slightly energetic second trimester - if I wasn't, there'd be no way I'd be able to do as much exercising and house cleaning and writing and shopping as I'm doing, nevermind working a full time job!! =) But its the little things that are a hard adjustment. For example, since I was in such good shape before, its a shocker to realize that now I climb 3 stairs (not flights of stairs, mind you, 3 stairs...) and am out of breath. I roll over in bed in my rotisserie state and get exhausted. I carry laundry to the washing machine and huff and puff. Its just weird to me because I'm not used to it. But once I get into my routine with Audrey and figure out what I'm doing and start losing weight, I'll be super glad to get that energy and stamina back. It's tiring being weak!

6. Intelligence. You guys, I'm an idiot right now. LOL. I mean that nicely but seriously - I mess things up. I feel stupid at work at least once a day. I'm not taking it seriously, since I know its temporary, but geez, this baby girl better be smart because my brain cells are going somewhere!! They've flown the coop. I hope she's getting them because wow - I'm like ditsy Malibu Barbie. Make that Pasty Preggo Barbie...

7. Clumsiness. Please, no one hand me anything important. Or breakable. My fingers don't seem to be connected to my brain anymore, I drop EVERYTHING. And I cut doorways short and bang into doorframes or counters or cabinets. It's pretty funny, once it stops throbbing...

8. ~ FOR GIRLS ONLY ~ =P

This is one the girls can relate to. Any male readers, might want to skip this one.... LOL!
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Cleavage! Never had this problem before, folks. Now its a problem. I didn't think I'd complain about it but I never realized before what a blessing being on the smaller side is. Now my sleep tanks don't fit, I've had to borrow a ton of bigger sized bras, and the cute, little, slightly-low cut dresses I used to be able to wear and look 100% modest in now resemble something more like a Las Vegas showgirl. (I had quite the incident with such in JCPenney last weekend! lol I managed to make the sweetest little pastel plaid dress EVER look something like Little-House-on-the-Prairie-hooker....it was quite disturbing!) So, I never thought I'd say this, but it might be nice to go back to my normal size when this is all said and done. (please, remind me of these words if you ever hear me complaining of the opposite!!! lol)

9. Emotions! Wow, I'm ready for those hormones to level out already, and I know its going to get worse before it gets better, maybe even for a short awhile after delivery. Sigh. This second trimester hasn't been as bad but geez, the first trimester was insane - crying one minute, laughing the next, sobbing hysterically as my life caves around me, hating my image in the mirror, then loving my growing belly and the journey ahead and thinking I look great and feeling pretty positive....whew. Roller coaster, anyone? I'm my own Six Flags!!!

10. Well-meaning people. Wow, this is a huge pet peeve of mine now. If you want to rub my belly, sure go ahead - BUT ASK FIRST. Don't sneak up behind me in church and latch on to my stomach like it's a separate entity. GRRRRR. Okay, had to get that out. Also, the advice. Before I discovered we were having a girl, I had so many people - friends, family, coworker, strangers, EVERYONE offer their opinon as to what I was having. This was an opinion only, mind you, but they presented it as fact, based on how I was carrying or how much I was glowing/not glowing, or other ridiculous notions. Sigh. Now its the advice on labor and delivery and breastfeeding and caffiene intake and nutrition and exercising vs. no exercising and on and on. I know this probably won't end after the baby is here, but rather, will switch to people telling me how to raise her. My solution? A really nice pair of earplugs.

11. LUNCHMEAT! Never thought I'd miss lunchmeat sandwiches, but gee whiz, I would LOVE a nice thick turkey lunchmeant sandwich on wheat bread with mustard and cheese right now. Preggos aren't supposed to eat packaged lunchmeat, at least not without heating it to steaming first (and really, how gross is that?) Supposedly there are more risks about the processed stuff while being pregnant. Maybe its over-exaggerated but I'm sticking to it since that warning is everywhere and my doctor agreed. When Audrey is in the hospital nursery, you'll probably find me in the hospital bed with a giant sandwich in both hands =)

12. My overly sensitive nose! I'm like a bloodhound, you guys. I can smell things a mile away and they don't necessarily make me sick, but I notice them. Especially colognes or ciggie smoke. What was once barely acknowledged is now enough to make me tuck my nose in my shirt and fan the air! Crazy.

And there you have it! Not so bad, huh! And it really wasn't a "Bad" list anyway, because nothing about this pregnancy is bad and I'm blessed to enjoy every minute of it - even the slightly uncomfortable or moderately painful or annoying parts! hehe =) Thanks for enjoying my rant with me!

5 comments:

Erica Vetsch said...

LOL The emotions and the cleavage got me laughing.

I knew I was pregnant when I burst into tears when someone made it to the top of the 10,000 Pyramid. How silly is that?

And you may never go all the way back to Itty Bitty Bra size...but your husband won't complain too much. ;)

Rachel Leigh Smith said...

A friend of mine that had a baby in January went up a bra size every 2 weeks for nearly 6 months. When Reiner finally decided to come out, she had gone from a 32C to a 36F! And she hadn't even started breastfeeding yet. I think she's down to a 34 D now. She was constantly complaining about her boobs falling out.

Catherine West said...

Okay so that's a LOT of stuff!!
And just exactly WHY can't you sleep on your back?
I have NEVER heard that one before!!
You know what, I think about my generation, yes the decade or two BEFORE yours...and I know what all our mothers were doing whilst pregnant, well, a lot of our mothers...lol...and we're still all alive and well and relatively normal. Go figure.
Relax. You'll be fine.

Delia said...

I come from a family of "well-meaning" advice givers. It's hard to do, but just ignore them. All parents are different and everyone has to find the way that works for their family.

And after your babygirl gets here and you're ignoring all of the "well-meaning" advice, reward yourself with a Diet Coke and a cookie!

Lori said...

Ooh!! Pasty Preggo Barbie! I want one! What a fabulous marketing idea- I can see it now. Maybe Mattel can add rotators in her legs so she waddles when she walks. Her little plastic hands could rest maternally on her giant belly, she could have a pleasantly filled-out face a swollen feet! And they could charge a fortune for her clothes, because after all, they are maternity clothes.

The real question though, would be whether or not the post-baby Barbie would have stretch marks... maybe they could also market some sort of cream?