My Pregnant Observations

This is my fourth pregnancy. Basically I have spent 3/4 of my married life with Damien either growing babies or breastfeeding. Sounds like fun, right? While it has been difficult at times, it feels good to be doing what I feel I was called to do- which is being a Mommy. This last pregnancy has been challenging at times, but also in some ways a Dream Come True while avoiding bedrest and getting a little taste of what it might be like to have a semi-normal pregnancy. I love so much of pregnancy. I can remember all four times when I have found out I was pregnant. I remember that instant glow of knowing I had a baby in my tummy. I love feeling my belly start to get harder and poke out a little. I loved telling my kids we were pregnant and helping them to understand that soon they would have a new brother or sister. I love when you are finally able to justify wearing pregnancy clothes and how good the elastic waistband felt on my swollen tummy. I love feeling those first flickers of life and holding my tummy and just hoping the baby would kick again. I love seeing my babies flail around during an ultrasound and trying to comprehend the amazement of it all. I love when you can tell the baby is getting bigger by the different kinds of movements. I love when you are obviously pregnant enough for people to comment on it and sharing stories with other Moms. I love waiting for labor to come on and waiting to see who has been growing secretly in my tummy for so many months. I do really love pregnancy. Sometimes it is hard for me to enjoy it to the fullest because of all I have been through in the past. But make no mistake- I LOVE BEING PREGNANT!

It's funny. I don't ever forget why I love being pregnant but I absolutely forget the harder parts of pregnancy. It is that darn pregnancy amnesia that sets in and only lets you remember the good! It is same labor amnesia that let's you remember the more joyous pieces of your birthing memories rather than the painful ones! Well, I wanted to document the parts of pregnancy that I don't necessarily love so that when I look back I can actually remember them instead of letting them float off into oblivion! So here goes.

-Heartburn Oh man. I get hit with heartburn so bad. It doesn't really start until about 22 weeks or so but I get it so bad at night! It really isn't caused by the foods I eat during my earlier weeks but it creeps up at night when I lay down. I have to sit up and burp about seven times before I can do to bed so that I don't feel like my throat is burning off from the heartburn! Once I hit about 30 weeks, the foods I choose to eat at dinnertime and beyond totally have an effect. Tomato sauce, garlic bread, anything spicy will get me. And sometimes I will decide that the garlic bread is worth eating but I always end up regretting it later. Tums are my friend. My very good friend and I couldn't have made it through any of my pregnancies without them!!!

-Sciatic Nerve I always forget that I get this during a large chunk of my all of my pregnancies. And like I have never have had it before- I am always surprised when it shows up around weeks 15-28. This nerve pain which I feel in my lower back/tailbone area is horrible. If I am sitting down and then go to stand and walk- I get zapped with a terrible pain which makes it very hard to walk or move. I have tried to massage it but I can never find the exact spot where I have the pain because it just radiates over a large area. I always am so relieved when this goes away because it makes life so much easier!

-Seeing Spiders This is so weird but with every pregnancy- I think I see spiders on the wall only to investigate further and find out there is nothing there! It is usually peripheral but I will see black spots (which I interpret as spiders) and it drives me crazy. I am not afraid of spiders and am proud to say I am the spider extinguisher in our house but it gets old to constantly crane my neck to look at the wall where I thought I saw a 'spider'! I know that women with really high blood pressure see spots and these spots can actually be an indicator that you need to get help immediately. But I never have had the high blood pressure or hypertension associated with them- I just get the lucky side effect of seeing black spots on the walls. Damien knows to just laugh now when I ask him if he saw that spider on the wall. I know it is weird thing to comprehend but I also know that if I didn't write it here, I would forget and wouldn't be able to laugh at myself years from now!

-Rib Pain Okay. This kills me. The pain I have felt in all my pregnancies is always on the right side of my rib cage. As the baby grows and my uterus expands- it always puts pressure on my lowest rib and makes it feel like it is going to break! It is the worst when I am sitting straight up for an extended period of time but will go away when I lay down. Damien and the kids have been rubbing this spot and really digging in there to alleviate some of the pain. This might be one of the most nagging things in my pregnancy. It just hurts. Plain and simple.

-Brushing My Teeth I don't really get sick during my pregnancies. I don't even really have aversions to food. But man oh man. Brushing my teeth is rough! For some reason the visual of the sink or looking at my spit in the sink after I brush makes me so sick. The only times I have ever thrown up during pregnancy (once during Claire's pregnancy and four times during this one) have been after gagging during or after I brush my teeth! Sounds disgusting, but true. If I see anything around the sink- even on the vanity I will lose it. So I look in the mirror or brush my teeth in my room and then come and rinse my mouth out with my eyes closed. It sounds so silly but is a real problem for me!

-Contractions I try and make friends with my uterus and calm it down sometimes but it doesn't listen to me and contracts ALL DAY LONG! I know that these are Braxton Hicks contractions and I know that they are not changing my cervix but seriously . . . contracting all day and night is no fun. The contractions start about week 21 and obviously don't stop until the baby is out! The bigger the baby is- the more intense the contraction. And because I have a cerclage and because near the end of my pregnancy I have no cervix left- just the stitch holding it all together, the pressure on the stitch during these contractions is pretty incredible and painful. Contractions supposedly help your uterus get ready for your eventual birth. If this is indeed the case- my uterus has a black belt in labor preparedness!

-How Low Can You Go? Again, due to the fact that my cervix shrinks- the baby is so low during a large part of the pregnancy. When the baby is little and can flip around, sometimes I feel like it is sticking it's foot out down there. And when it tickles me with it's hand- it feels like it is right there ready to come out! It is a bizarre feeling. I laugh to myself when people tell me that it looks like I haven't dropped yet. It is because the baby was never up there to begin with!

-Veins When you are pregnant, your blood volume increases leaving you jam packed with baby and extra fluid. Because of this increase- every vein in my body takes a little hit. My veins are more prevalent and are working overtime. One thing that I always notice when I am pregnant are the little capillaries in my face. They seems to show up more and my kids think it is funny. Michael said to me, "Mom- why is your face so spotty?" I explained it to him but his observation just confirmed what I see in the mirror every morning. Perhaps it is what gives me and other pregnant women that 'pregnancy glow' but what I see is a lot of little tiny red lines. Luckily- all of this goes away after birth but the process is hard to get used to!

-My Poor Skin I do gain quite a bit of weight during my pregnancy and my body doesn't like it. I try not to worry too much about it because I go back to 'normal' within a year after birth but this whole weight gain process can be painful! At times I don't think my skin can stretch anymore over my belly. I lotion it as much as I can but I can definitely tell when the baby is growing because my skin hurts! It is stretched so thin that if I bump it with a corner or a box or something sharp it will cut it a little. And my belly button . . . is it still there? I have no idea!

-Carpel Tunnel Matthew's pregnancy was the first time I had ever had wrist pain. It wasn't so much during the pregnancy but once I have birth to him when it got so bad I had to wear wrist braces to bed. It hurt so bad. There was no way to make the pain go away and I was so relieved when it went away on it's own when he was about eight months old. Well this pregnancy- I have noticed wrist pain and can only hope it doesn't worsen once the baby comes. I know that when you are pregnant all of the ligaments loosen to allow some room for your ever growing body. But I hate waking up at night to pain in my wrists because they are bent the wrong way. Ouch!!!

-Drool You know, I wasn't going to write about this but I really have no humility left at this point! I am drooling like a crazy lady this pregnancy (while I sleep not during the day). I have never really noticed this when I was pregnant with my other three but this time it is crazy. Sometimes I wake up and think I haven't slept yet but then realized I was drooling and then I know I was sleeping. I felt kind of crazy to be experiencing this but then the other day I got an email about pregnancy from a website that talked about how women can drool more while pregnant. It said that pregnant women have an increase in saliva- especially when they have heartburn. The saliva coats your esophagus and neutralizes the acid of your gastric juices. Sounds fun, huh? At least my body is trying to counteract my terrible heartburn!

-Heat Stroke I have been so hot this pregnancy! Especially over the last three months or so. I have thought I was going to pass out during church a few times! If I am somewhere and it is hot- I have issues! The weather here has been amazing the past few months but I have had to have the air conditioner on at some point during the day to cool things off inside. I especially need it cool at night when I get ready for bed. I never sleep with a blanket and just wear shorts and a tank top to sleep. At times Damien will ask if he can close the door or turn off the AC and I look at him and ask, "Aren't you hot?" and he will tell me that he is actually a little cold. I know that this is normal but the heat is getting to me this pregnancy!

Pregnancy, although beautiful, comes with so many changes to your body. While I love and embrace so many of these changes, I also suffer through a lot to grow another little human in my body! Luckily- it is only nine months and then you start to piece yourself back together and hope that none of these nagging side effects persist in your non-pregnant life! I am just glad I took a minute to write these down so I don't forget when I look back on my pregnant life!