last thoughts on my pregnancy

Now that I have gotten my maternity pictures back I wanted to capture some last memories of that period of my life. 


At the time it seemed so hard to sit here every day and look out my window at life passing me by. 

 But in reality i had life growing inside me....  yes i missed out on some things that I REALLY wish I could have done but now that Luke is here, it was so worth it.

One of my most precious memories of being pregnant are laying in bed with Richie and having him put his hands on my belly.  Everytime Luke moved or kicked his gave his little laugh - it was almost a giggle really.  His excitment was so sweet for me.  It made me feel that much closer to him.  Also, while we were driving, he would reach over and put his hand on my belly as if to protect me.  He would drive like this for a long time.   

 

 

Another precious memory for me was when Richie and I would lay in bed and read out loud to Luke.  I have a collection of old school Winnie-the-Pooh stories in a hard bound book.  My brother Nick gave it to me when I was in middle school (1996) and I've kept it all these years.  One of the sentences he wrote in the book was "Who knows, maybe one day you will pass this on to your children, and they may grow to love this story and appreciate it the way you and I both have."  I think i've kept it all these years for that purpose.  Richie and I would take turns reading a page out loud until we finished a short story.    

During this pregnancy I did:

- get morning sickness - the entire 1st trimest and a few weeks after

-get heartburn - every single day!  no wonder he had so much hair.  I was taking Tums on a daily basis and most days several times a day. 
 
-gain 35 pounds - not too bad considering my limited movement for the last 11 weeks

 

 

- get up to pee a million times a night... but luckily i would immediately fall back to sleep afterwards

 

-  feel the baby kick in the AM around 10ish and at night between 7pm-10pm.... other than that he was pretty chill... actually he didn't like to move very much when other people were touching my belly. 

 

-  The last trimester I had a TON of braxton hicks contractions. 



During this pregnancy I did NOT:
-get cravings

-get stretch marks - which is pretty amazing considering how much your skin stretches

 
- get swelling in my legs/feet/hands/face

- had my belly button pop out... or even flatten out all the way.

-  get tired very often - even in the first trimester.  In the last trimester when I was on bed rest I slept an average of 12 hours a night.  of course i got up to pee at night a lot but it didn't really affect my sleep. 

 

 

Despite all of the drama with my pregnancy and all of the issues I would definitely get pregnant again...  For the most part I felt great during my pregnancy and there were very few times where I felt uncomfortable.  Other than the emotional stress from all of the drama I feel like I had a good pregnancy.  Richie says that this pregnancy was too stressful and he can't handle a second one... So who knows if i'll have a second pregnancy.  That thought makes me sad.  I also really wish I had gotten some video of me pregnant.  I was planning on getting some the weekend before Luke was scheduled to come... but we all know how that turned out.  lol  O well at least I have these gorgeous pictures as a record of this amazing time in my life.