The Burroughs It’s my birthday week! As such, I’m taking the week off from prepping a recipe and instead, here to chat a bit about my pregnancy!
I’ve not talked a lot about it, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because it’s such a big deal that it’s hard to know how to discuss in bite-sized pieces?
I’m now in the third trimester! As today, I’m about 29 weeks, or 6.5 months, due in mid-May. My pregnancy has been really pretty easy: no morning sickness to speak of, only minor aches and weirdnesses.
That said, I told Robby that I expected to be surprised by how intense pregnancy was, and I have been. Easy is a relative term when gestating a person. Over the past six months, I’ve stopped being able to bend over, I’m in the bathroom all the time, my torso is unrecognizable, there’s a tiny human kicking me at random, and recently, I’m starting to feel like I can’t take a deep breath, and I think sleep is becoming less effective again. It is intense.
And yet. It is intense, and it is also amazing. It’s a long haul, and it’s very fast-paced. Every week is different. Two weeks ago, I was convinced I was carrying a tiny breakdancer. I spent a lot of time being violently jabbed on opposite sides of the torso by tiny feet / elbows / a very round head. Now that she’s starting to rapidly fill up her available space, the movements have gone back to being less sharp. This week, I’m finding the odd bumps and pokes rather comforting. I keep getting out of bed late because she’s really active when I first wake up, and I like to lie there and just feel her roll around.
4 things I’m not doing
- Taking many pictures. We took a few sets of progression photos (I even wore the same dress every time!) but I think we accidentally deleted most of them D: The above is from the most recent set. We did have a friend take some couple’s maternity photos; I’ll put up one of those when we get them back.
- Decorating the nursery…yet. We have plans for a Harry Potter themed-nursery, but so far they’re just plans. We finally put a crib and matching furniture on the registry, and we’ve talked about paint colors, but the room still looks exactly like a guest room. Except for the 4-foot-tall stuffed bear that Robby’s dad gave us when we announced the pregnancy.
- Sleeping great. This is largely because I don’t go to bed early enough (#thestruggleisreal), but also I think I sleep more lightly than I used to. And for sure I’m running warmer than I used to–I’ve bumped our standard nighttime temperature setting down twice since I got pregnant. And naps don’t seem to have their usual rejuvenating effect, which is very sad.
- Quitting work. To be honest, I would if I could (and my boss knows that), but we’re a two-income family and right now, it needs to stay that way. We’re tentatively arranging a rotation of babysitters to include Robby as well as various family and friends. It’s going to be hard–far more so than I anticipate, I’m sure–but we’re going to have to feel it out as we go.
4 things I am doing
- Finding out the sex! I don’t think I told you–it’s a girl!
- Researching names, though so far without end result. We have a “short” list of about 30. I’m starting to have more sympathy for the parents whose kids end up with weird or weirdly spelled names–after a while, they all blend together and the unusual ones start to stick out. At this rate, we’re not going to decide on anything until she’s in our arms.
- Drowning in an ever-growing to-do list. Researching the million-plus items for the registry. Making a million-plus calls to doctors, family, diaper services. Setting a million-plus reminders. And that’s just the baby stuff–never mind the day job, the husband, and the two side gigs. Yes, I know I’m over-committed, but I’m having trouble figuring out if there’s anything I can let go of.
- Planning maternity leave for my day job and for here! I’m going to pre-plan some posts, and I’m also going to have some guest posts! I’m planning to be more or less out from mid-May to mid-August (about 14 weeks), although I may pop in if I’m feeling inspired. I’ll get less time from the day job, but you best believe I’ll be soaking in every minute of it.
Got any questions for me? Or advice for this first-time mom? I’ll take it all! And I’ll try to update a couple more times before the end 🙂
