Week 32 and I feel great. We finished the second and final day of baby class yesterday. We feel informed and prepared on a lot more baby related subjects than we did just a few weeks ago. We both enjoyed the classes a lot more than we thought we would. There were many other much more clueless parents to be than us in the class which in a sad way, made us feel even better about what’s to come. One of my favorite examples was the dad-to-be asking about if their baby didn’t seem to be getting enough milk and wasn’t gaining much weight at first, would it be okay to give him “another milk like substance, like gravy.” Whew, we at least won’t be feeding our newborn gravy! At this point, we’re stellar parents!
We took a quick picture this morning – this is how I’m looking these days.
I realize I still have a month and a half to two months left of this pregnancy but I thought I’d comment on some of my expectations of pregnancy (or what people told me it would be like) vs. my reality. Overall, I feel pretty lucky that I haven’t had any of the more unpleasant side effects of pregnancy although I know that the next 8 weeks could bring on lots more of the “fun” stuff!
Nausea – I know that the level of nausea varies a lot from woman to woman and I certainly didn’t feel wonderful during my first trimester, but I was never super sick which I’m ultra grateful for!!
Emotions – I’m not saying that I haven’t been emotional at all, but I haven’t been as emotional as I expected to be. You can ask Mike, though. He may have a different opinion on this one. =)
Cravings – I was really looking forward to this one and unfortunately, no cravings for me. I did have some comfort foods that I turned to during the first trimester when I didn’t feel so great, but they weren’t really cravings. I thought it would be fun to send Mike out for late minute grocery store runs to pick up some random food combination for me. He lucked out on this one.
Getting Huge – Don’t get me wrong, my belly is definitely getting huge but I also had some expectations of a few other things a bit north of the belly getting bigger. Sadly, I have not had this experience. Argh!
Tiredness – So far, I haven’t felt overly tired. I did have days during the first trimester where I was pretty tired, but I was also serving as a juror on a murder trial during a lot of that time. I think getting up early every day, taking a train downtown, sitting on the jury, taking the train home and then catching up on work in the evening did more to make me tired than pregnancy actually did. I haven’t gotten the wave of tiredness during this last semester yet either. That’s a very good thing –I have way too much to get done over the next 8 weeks to allow myself nap time!
Heartburn – I had some heartburn before I was ever pregnant and it’s increased a bit over the last month or so but nothing terrible. I haven’t invested in Tums yet.
Sleep Issues – I’ve had moments of sleeplessness which have mostly coincided with other stresses going on with life or work so I don’t feel like I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights due to pregnancy. I certainly hope this continues!
Ladies room visit frequency – This is one where I absolutely have experienced what I expected. The bathroom is my new best friend and it’s getting annoying.
All in all, there are many things about pregnancy that haven’t gone like I thought they would or like everyone told me it would. In general, my personality is such that if anyone ever tells me how I’m going to feel or how something will be for me, my internal reaction is something along the lines of “you don’t know me, you don’t know this will be for me, please don’t tell me how I’m going to feel.” I guess I'm a bit defiant. My body must be keeping in line with how my mind typically works…
Here's to the last 8 weeks going as smoothly as the first 32!
