(Week 31) Sunday, July 20, 2020
I have grown to really love being pregnant. Maybe it’s because I am having a beautiful, easy pregnancy, or maybe it is because the magic of growing a human inside my belly is so surreal. Either way, pregnancy is a journey and experience that is different for every woman. Some things which I feel are helping my pregnancy to be so easy are lifestyle choices. Even before I got pregnant I carried on a very healthy lifestyle, ate whole foods, and was active. This also added to how easy it was for me to become pregnant. When I did become pregnant, the OB handed me a bunch of information and tips for a healthy pregnancy. The sheet called “Top 20 Foods For Pregnancy” were things I already incorporated into my lifestyle on a regular basis.
One of my favorite times to feel baby kick is when I am lying in Shavasana at the very end of a yoga class. The dim lighting, the soft music, and the connection of body and mind create a very powerful experience with the kicks. In addition, it’s a time where there are no distractions. The baby is kicking many times through out the day. In fact, at this point in the pregnancy, if I don’t feel 10 movements per hour, that is a concern. The thing is, however, I don’t always take time to mindfully feel the movements of the baby. It’s important to carve time out to mindfully feel the movements of the baby and yoga is a perfect time to do that!
We went hiking and camping for a few days and it really tested out my tolerance for heat! I keep questioning how we tolerated this in summers past and Andy simply keeps saying it’s cause I wasn’t pregnant. I suppose that is the obvious answer! We brought a portable fan camping and it was very much appreciated!
I have started to have more intense heartburn due to the dehydrated food eaten while camping. At home, I don’t eat much processed or packaged food. The Mountain House lasagna and burrito bowls sure did get the heartburn going. I’ve had it on and off before this but these past few days have been the worse. I finally had to get tums to help ease the burn.
(Week 35) Friday, August 14, 2020
It’s no doubt that pregnancy brings many hormones on for women. In the 35 weeks I’ve been pregnant I can say I am very lucky. I haven’t felt extreme hormonal changes that have taken over. I feel like I’ve had a pretty stable grip on my emotions throughout this pregnancy.
This week, that changed. There’s been a few times where I simply just couldn’t hold back tears. It was tears of fear, anxiety, excitement, and probably some other emotions thrown in there too. It’s hard to pinpoint what exact emotions I’ve been feeling because lately the days and emotions seem to come and go like waves in the ocean. Some days I’m full of energy and joy. Other days I feel bad because I am not as excited as I feel I should be. Today was a real example of that. It was my third baby shower. It was a beautiful baby shower put on by Aunt Sue who is so creative and puts her whole heart into preparing for the showers. She threw us the most perfect wedding shower too. However, I did not feel like myself. I didn’t feel overjoyed and didn’t feel like “Sarah” 100 percent. After the shower, I came home and felt very tired and overwhelmed with it all. I laid down and hormones took over, I started crying. I don’t even know why exactly. I should be happy that I just had a baby shower and got beautiful baby items from people who love and support us, right? I have a very supportive family who is happy for us, supportive friends, extremely supportive parents so thrilled to be grandparents, and a loving supportive husband. So why are these hormones here?
The baby will be here in 5 weeks. Maybe that’s it. It’s all becoming so real so fast. There are so many emotions tied into this right now. The baby is growing ½ pound per week, my body is working hard. I need to remind myself of that in these times of hormonal overload. I need to sit back, rest, and take in this journey of pregnancy.
Thank goodness for my super logical husband who talked all that written above sense into me tonight. All at the same time he was very understanding. Oh so thankful for a supportive partner in life.
I also had bad diarrhea this week for a couple of days. This is completely normal but I dislike not being able to control my body. I am a healthy person and not being able to control my body right now is a strange thing! I feel I’ve had control of my body throughout this pregnancy up until this week. This is normal though! I am birthing a human in 5 weeks, of course I don’t have control of everything happening right now. But I trust my body. My body was made to do this. Women were made to give birth. I am a woman and my body knows what to do.
My stomach felt like it got punched really hard a few times this week too. Right now my stomach is so hard it feels like a rock. Pregnancy is a magical thing but right now I miss my old body. Tonight I am reminding myself of the gift at the end of all of this, a beautiful baby Kermode who will be so loved!
(Week 36) Tuesday, August 25, 2020
I remember being at early OB appointments like my 8, 12, and 20-week appointments and seeing other pregnant women in the waiting room. They often looked exhausted simply from sitting and waiting in a chair. It was obvious when you looked at these women that they were pregnant. I would always think to myself “I can’t wait until I look pregnant!” I want to look pregnant!” The second trimester was in full force and I still wasn’t looking extremely pregnant.
I asked my OB what was going on. I was reassured all women carry differently.
Pregnancy is different for every woman. I am at 36 weeks now and I finally physically look pregnant. It looks like I doubled in size overnight. It’s finally clear that a baby is growing in me! Strange (but normal) symptom that happened to me last night: I got blurred vision. I almost would describe it as dilated eyes, or wearing contacts and glasses at the same time. There was also a small twinkle coming from the left corner of my eye. It lasted about 10 minutes at its worse and then it started to go away. Andy googled it very calmly and it did look as if it was very normal. He needed to do the reading for me at the time because I was not able to read close up words either. I ended up calling the nurse’s line just to be sure. She ran through a list of questions and decided I was ok and no need to go in for a check-up. Better safe than not! This was definitely one of the strangest symptoms I’ve experienced.
