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37 Weeks

September 21, 2011
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Me

Well, I can’t believe it. I’m full term with our first baby boy.

It seems like I have been pregnant forever (and really, I have been. Basically all of 2011 I have been pregnant) and yet, I can’t believe it’s time to have a baby! Eeek!

I have learned and grown (no pun intended ;) so much from being pregnant. I first learned how selfish I was. Then I learned how strong I was. I have also learned. …no, scratch that…been reminded DAILY of how giving and devoted my husband is. He has been so encouraging and selfless for the past 9 months, even more so than before. We have learned an even deeper love and I know that love will just continue to grow. This last trimester of pregnancy has been marked with reflection. Reflection of how deeply I am blessed and how faithful God is. I know he will continue to be faithful in the next few weeks as we embark on the next stage of this journey. As for when our little dude will make his appearance, only time will tell. Last week we had a bit of a shocker. At my 36 week apt. I was checked and apparently was ready to go at anytime. This was a little difficult for me to get my head around because I was still editing my last wedding, in the process of multiple print orders and the house was chaotic. I thought I still had 4 or 5 weeks left. I went into ultra baby prep mode (I technically was suppose to be on bed rest, but I interpreted that quite liberally). I made it to 37 and am no longer on any restrictions since he is fully cooked and we are getting closer and closer to being “ready”. And by “ready” I mean, not ready at all. How can you really be ready? But…. at least the car seat is properly installed (or will be by the end of today, it’s on THE list!), his room is almost finished, the guest bedroom is ready for visitors and all of my sessions and weddings are edited. It’s hard for me to officially say I’m on maternity leave because I still check my email and return phone calls everyday. I’m not going to completely ignore my clients and potential clients, but as for shooting and editing I am done for at least 6 weeks. Hip hip, hooray!

And now for a list of funny things I have discovered about pregnancy. The things no one tells you… (I’ll try to keep this PG)

Pregnancy brain. It’s for real. I have done so many crazy things while pregnant that I NEVER would have done before. These things include:

  • Booking a flight for not only the wrong day and date, but the wrong month all together.
  • Leaving my car door open while shooting a wedding. I happened to look out a window during the wedding and noticed, oh look, I left my car door open. and some of my equipment in the car. great.
  • I have driven on auto-pilot back to my house. As in, I started out going somewhere and about 10 minutes later pulled back in my driveway, got out of the car, started going inside and then realized that I never went anywhere. I just drove in a circle. Best part, I took me about 20 minutes to figure out where I was even going in the first place.
  • Forgotten why I was calling someone as soon as they answered the phone and countless other silly things that aren’t quite as funny, but trust me, I could make a long long list.
I haven’t been hungry for 9 months. I realize everyone is different and each pregnancy is different, but honestly, I haven’t been hungry in 9 months. The first 17 weeks of pregnancy I could barely keep anything down. NOTHING sounded appetizing and I wished I could be hooked up to an IV to get my nutrients. After that things got better but my appetite never “kicked in” as so many people said it would. I especially have no appetite now, there is no room. My intestines are squeezed so tight, I feel super full all the time. One of the things I am looking forward to doing after having this little one is eating a BIG meal and actually enjoying it. I use to love food, I can’t wait to enjoy it again.
Make the leaking stop. I told you I would keep it PG, but this part is just really funny to me. I had no idea start to leak out of so many different places. For basically all of pregnancy I’ve felt like I could go ahead and start pumping milk, but I have read in multiple books that you can’t/shouldn’t do that. I thought it would be a great way to go ahead and store up! But…apparently not. So, I haven’t tried it.
What? I can’t sleep on my back?? So I totally thought that the only way to sleep while pregnant was on your back which is great, I love sleeping on my back. But alas, it’s not allowed. Not only is it not “allowed” it’s terribly uncomfortable. Unfortunately, sleeping on my side or stomach has always made me feel a little queazy, so I have been sleeping slightly elevated and tilted to the side for the past 9 months. I require approximately 6 pillows (including my boppy pregnancy pillow) to be “comfortable” and it’s not even comfortable.
On average I pee 7 times during the night. SEVEN TIMES. Isn’t that insane????? I have even tried cutting water off an hour or two before bed, and that usually cuts it down to 2 or 3 times. It’s not that your bladder shrinks, it’s that someone is pressing on it constantly so sometimes you don’t even have anything in there to empty out but  you are so uncomfortable that’s the only thing you can think of to relieve the pressure.
If I have any male blog followers after this post I will be sincerely surprised! Also, so sorry for those of you stopping by to look for a wedding photographer :) I definitely thought about starting a personal blog, but I had quite a few people email me and ask for my personal blog link so I figured I might as well just keep everything here since you seem to be interested in my crazy personal life. I am an open book, so I’ll just keep on sharing!
I can’t wait to post pictures of the nursery! I am going to submit it to Apartment Therapy in hopes that they think it is as cool as I do and I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post about it before they do. I’m getting anxious so I”ll probably post it on here as soon as we put the last finishing touches up.
I think I have written enough for today. Adios! I’ll keep you posted!