Preggers…

As I often say here, I realize that most of my readers are people who actually know me in real life. And while I dream of someday being an internationally-renowned writer who has a blog that attracts huge numbers of strangers fans, I’m good for now with my core group. :)

So, I’m pregnant. If you know me this isn’t a shock. I’ve been pregnant for a while – seven months almost! I have to say it’s gone by really fast, but I fear these next 10 weeks will slow to a creep. I only have a few more weeks of work until I’m on “maternity leave” (read: sitting by the pool as often as I can so I have a beautiful tan for the pictures). I know that once I’m home more, I’ll be thankful for the break, but folding and re-folding Cooper’s tiny clothes over and over to pass the time.

Being pregnant has been good for the most part. I feel lucky to be expecting a child when there is so much information that prepares you for the ups and downs of pregnancy – everything from medical information on how much weight-gain is healthy to anecdotes about cankles. Friends and family have been extremely supportive as well, of course, so I’ve had a really good experience. I haven’t had too many “extreme” symptoms other than being really exhausted the first trimester. All in all, I’ve been able to just sort of let nature take its course and – as Matthew McConaughey would say – just keep livin’.

I haven’t written anything up to this point about being pregnant, because I feel like my perception of it will really change after I see the finished product. Right now, I can’t imagine doing this ever again. Not that it’s been terrible, because it really, really hasn’t, and I know I’m very fortunate in that way. But it’s just such an interruption. And it takes so long. It has changed the dynamic of my relationship with my husband (preparation in some way, I’m sure, for what it will be like when there’s another person to consider in this family besides ourselves!) and it takes over your body in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

But people do it over and over. Geez, Michelle Duggar has done it eighteen times now! So, I feel like there’s something about seeing your child on the other side of this whole deal that makes you look back and go, “Meh, that wasn’t so bad.”

I haven’t hated being pregnant like some people do, but I also haven’t had that “Wow, I just love it, I feel so womanly, I am mother, hear me roar” experience either. It’s just kind of happening. The one thing I absolutely do love, though, is feeling Cooper move. It’s indescribably emotional and bonding and crazy. I have to try harder than I expected not to get freaked out by the thought that there’s another person living inside me, but when I feel him moving around or see my belly jump from him pushing off to do a cartwheel (that’s what it feels like sometimes!), I just love it. It’s not freaky in a scary way, it’s just beautiful and overwhelming and lovely.

So the countdown begins. I know I’m in the homestretch, and that’s very exciting, and I’m starting to actually “feel” pregnant, which is not quite as exciting. My fingers are swelling a bit which is giving me a touch of carpal tunnel syndrome. I make involuntary “oof” noises when standing up or sitting down or moving in general. Sleeping is becoming more difficult.

But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. My little boy will be here in a matter of weeks and boom, just like that, I’ll become a mother. I can’t wait to meet him and see what he looks like and what his personality is like. Will he get the hiccups when he laughs really hard like his dad? Will he love movies and 80’s music like his mom? Will he be athletic (doubtful based on his genes!) or musically-inclined (probably)? I really just can’t wait to know him.

Peace. Out.