Pregnancy

I was lucky enough to have an easy pregnancy. I didn't get morning sickness or sick from the smell of any specific type of food. Below are some of the things I experienced during each trimester.

The First Trimester
You will be exhausted. Seriously, exhausted. Not tired, not a little sleepy but exhausted. (This is to prepare you as to how you'll feel the first few weeks after giving birth!) I remember driving home from work literally holding my eyelids open with one hand while driving with the other. I would get home and go right to bed, only to be gently roused by my awesome husband to tell me dinner was ready and I had to get up and eat something. After eating I'd climb back into bed until my alarm went off and I had to do it all over the next day.

You will also have to pee a lot. Seriously, a lot. I'm a high school art teacher and being able to pee whenever you want to is, well, not gonna happen. (Again I think this was to prepare me for once the baby was born!) I remember running in between classes to the ladies room, then running to class, only to feel like I had to pee 10 minutes into class time. At this point though, you're not going to pee your pants...that's what comes after the baby is born.

So I was feeling good, I didn't feel pregnant, aside from the tired and peeing, I didn't show yet and so it didn't seem real to me, not yet at least. Plus there was always that underlying feeling of possibly losing the baby at any moment that made you think that it wasn't real yet either, you know to protect yourself from feeling sad if and when you did lose the baby. Because of this though, you probably haven't told many people about being pregnant, only those on the 'need to know' list. Like co-workers that had to cover for you on occasion, possibly your parents for that excited moral support, but not too many people. (Make sure the people you do choose to tell can keep a secret, if that's what you want. I told my parents and well, my dad is not a secret keeper. He told all the neighbors within 2 days of us telling him...next time, he doesn't get let in on the secret.)

The Second Trimester
This is when you feel a little relieved because you made it past the point of possibly losing the baby, so it is starting to sink in that, "Yeah, I'm having a baby!" I still wasn't showing yet so it was kind of no big deal when I entered into the second trimester.

During this trimester I felt the baby kick for the first time, around 22 weeks and that was exciting! My husband also felt the baby move during this trimester, around 26 weeks. Once you feel the baby start kicking, you feel it all the time. Not every second of every day, but you feel it moving from now on. Right as you lay down at night, when you're sitting at work and its quiet or when you're in a meeting. It really starts to feel real, that you're growing a little person inside of you!


The Third Trimester
The beginning of the end of the pregnancy journey. You're showing now and people are commenting on your belly and asking you all kinds of questions about the baby. Random people will want to come up and touch your belly, also family will do this, like it is not your belly anymore, it becomes public property for any and all to have a feel. Its weird. People are super nice to you, they don't want you carrying heavy or light things, they want you to take the elevator and not the stairs, they hold the door for you. You feel like a celebrity with all the fuss and attention! It is great.

At this point my ankles began swelling up and my deodorant stopped working. I was retaining so much water, but all in my ankles. I had to wear compression stockings for the last 3 months just to keep the swelling down, it was really annoying and I felt like an old lady (no offense to old ladies.) I also tried several different deodorants and none of them ended up working for long periods of time.

I didn't ever get the feeling of 'get this thing out of me.' I wasn't that big in the end. They said the baby was deep and low in my belly, so it didn't show out in front as much I guess. Towards the end I was more anxious about giving birth than anything else. It seems to be this big secret also (see getting pregnant), that even though you take birthing class, well they don't really tell you EXACTLY what is going to happen, what it is going to feel like. And that is what scared me the most!