Category: Pregnancy

This week has been brought to you by the Eisenhower Interstate System (and a “Future Interstate” or two).  We’ve only got one more long drive ahead of us before we meet Baby Girl (fingers crossed) as we head out from Virginia tomorrow morning.  I have learned a few things about myself traveling while massively pregnant:

1)  I will swell.  Period.  End of story.  Water intake doesn’t stop it.  Getting out of the car to walk every two hours doesn’t stop it.  It’s happening.  Get over it.

2)  My tailbone will feel like it’s breaking in two after several hours on the road.  The only thing that helps this is leaning forward and since this is very difficult to do while riding safely in a van, it’s just another thing to get over.

3)  Having a “wait and see” attitude about my next meal is no longer an option for me.  The result is a (literally) paralyzing hunger that leads to me spending four hours in a hotel room with a broken television remote and 2 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups while slowly developing the shakes and a massive headache and waiting for Matt to come home and save me.  This is not advisable (and necessitates two plates of food at the meal that follows).

4)  Never go anywhere without at least 3x the number of snacks and beverages you anticipate needing.  You may not need any of it, but if you don’t have it with you you’ll definitely need it and the result is Bad News Bears.

5)  Going to a wedding full of thin, good-looking people while 35 weeks pregnant means that blending into the scenery isn’t an option.  Most people are very nice, but those girls who were afraid to sit next to you because you were taking up more than your allotted share of seated space, those girls you could do without.  Move your chair over a foot and get over it:  they’ll be more comfortable and so will you.

6)  When someone offers to bring you water or food:  take them up on the offer.  Immediately.

On with the pictures!

Week 35 in my pregnancy with Liam (apparently we like to play it fast-and-loose with the 36 week deadline for travel — these shots were taken at Big Canoe on our last pre-parenthood vacation):

Week 35 in this pregnancy with Baby Girl (It’s still amazing to me how much bigger my belly is this time.  At the time I never thought it could possibly stick out farther than it did last time, but clearly I was wrong…):

Bonus Shots:

Here’s what I look like after an afternoon on the road (34 weeks, 5 days):

This was taken with my college roommate Courtney also at 34 weeks, 5 days (The contrast between the tininess that is Courtney and the pregnantness that is me is kind of incredible, I think.):

This was taken tonight (35 weeks, exactly) after getting back from Ben’s wedding (a good example of what spending 6 hours outside does to my hair and my face — between the frizz and the puff we had a great time, believe it or not…):

And now it’s time for some shut-eye before another 8.5 hour drive tomorrow.  Three cheers for earplugs!

Being on vacation this week has been lovely.  Baby Girl’s newfound love of sitting directly on a nerve on my right side in an extremely painful manner is not so lovely.  Let’s put it this way:  I found myself lying down on the floor of the Ann Taylor dressing room in a futile attempt at getting her to shift over to my left side.  The perspective was interesting (the footwear choices of others are not something I necessarily look at in so much detail), but it’s not something I ever wish to do again.  There was also the squatting down in the aisle of The Granary and the time I spent in the Baby Gap dressing room sitting on a bench covered in Liam’s fall clothes while my mom brought me options for Baby Girl.  I can’t believe I still have 6 weeks to go.  On with the pictures.

Week 34 in my pregnancy with Liam (Slippers…ahh…how I miss slippers.):

Week 34 in this pregnancy with Baby Girl (My belly is definitely bigger this time around and as I mentioned earlier, I’m feeling it.  Big time.  Also–the shirt that I wear in all these pictures is very close to not meeting the waistband of the pants I wear in all these pictures.  Apparently y’all are about to get some midriff shots (which is what I know you’ve been aching to see…).  Other than that, the pictures speak for themselves.):

Bonus 34 Week shots (from this pregnancy):

Here’s what happens when Baby Girl sits on my last nerve and I run for the bed desperately seeking some relief (pillows thrown asunder, bedclothes everywhere, massive amounts of kvetching, etc.):

Does this dress make my bump look big?

6 more weeks?  Really?  Seriously?

This week has been epic.  Too many things to do and not enough time in which to do them apparently results in frequent painful contractions and many, many tears.  I’m still planning things as if I have the ability to push through the wall and continue to be productive.  I can’t.  Now when I hit the wall I bounce off and end up on my hiney in a puddle on the floor.  The good news is that we made it to Siesta Key (YAY!).  The bad news is that it took about 9.5 hours and resulted in massive amounts of swelling (which you’ll no doubt see in the pictures).  I just hope I can drink enough water to get myself back on track so that the swelling doesn’t continue.  I’m thinking that floating in a pool day after day will help.  I wish that floating in the pool with a Corona in my hand was an option, but they keep telling me about this FAS business…anyway, on with the pictures.

Week 33 in my pregnancy with Liam (It looks like I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve surpassed my former self when I compare these pictures.  I’d like to think that that’s related to 9.5 hours in the car with a pent up toddler, but I’m guessing that that’s not entirely true…):

Week 33 in this pregnancy with Baby Girl (I feel like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man and it shows.  September can’t get here fast enough…):

Sweet dreams, y’all.

I don’t understand how I still have 8 more weeks to go.  There’s nothing more to say.

Week 32 in my pregnancy with Liam (I’m SO jealous of the me that got to wear a long-sleeved shirt and pants without sweating to death.):

Week 32 in this pregnancy with Baby Girl (I now wake up in the morning looking like I had a run-in with a syringe of collagen (or was punched in the face, whichever…), I can’t feel the left side of my left foot with any regularity, my fingers have made the transition from digit to sausage and my feet look like giant potatoes.  I can’t wait to meet this little girl and get to the business of reclaiming my body as my own.):

It ain’t over till it’s over.

This week has just been more of the same.  I truly don’t understand how I could get any bigger or more uncomfortable, although I am acutely aware that both of these things are bound to happen.  Here are the pictures.

Week 31 in my pregnancy with Liam (Again, someone needed desperately to alert me that horizontal stripes while this pregnant was just inviting people to whistle circus songs behind my back as I waddled through life.):

Week 31 in this pregnancy with Baby Girl (I never thought it would be possible for me to be as big as I was last time.  Apparently I was woefully mistaken and I’m in a race with my former pregnant self to see who can look the most deformed (I’m not sure if the winner is the most or least deformed — I’ll need time to work out the details).  I’m hoping that by the time I have to get into a bathing suit in a couple of weeks and some dresses for a wedding (for which I will be insanely under-dressed) I can still do so without being arrested for indecent exposure (or disturbing the peace as small children run shrieking from the sight of me).  I make no promises and I hope that no one kicks me out of the pool or the wedding for wearing a garbage bag, because by that time it could truly be my only option…):

I’m out (literally).