On My Mind

A few weeks ago I was speaking with an acquaintance who was pregnant with her fifth child. We were discussing how each of her pregnancies have been so different from each other. She said, "For example, during this pregnancy I've had this baby on my mind constantly. I never forget that I'm pregnant. That's never happened to me before." I just kind-of stared at her blankly. I can't comprehend being able to think about anything else. Ever since I found out I was pregnant, it seems like this has been the only thing I can take in.

That's my way of saying I'm sorry. I know there have been a lot of pregnancy blog posts lately. Maybe someday I'll write about something else, but I kind-of doubt it. I just have a lot of baby on my mind.

24 weeks (two weeks ago)

Here's what's on my mind this week:

1. I always assumed that pregnant women's tummies grew gradually, but I have definitely found the opposite to be true for me. It seems like I go for a few days, or even weeks, at about the same size, and then one day I wake up and I'm suddenly enormous. And then that lasts for a few days, until there's another huge growth spurt. People tell me that the baby's position changes the appearance of the tummy a lot, but it still surprises me every time it happens.

2. I read an article recently about devices that expecting parents buy to stimulate the baby in the womb. One of the interviewed couples talked about this $185 machine they bought that they put on the mother's tummy every day during pregnancy to stimulate the brain. They absolutely swore by it because the infant, now around one year of age, has reached every developmental milestone before the other children in her daycare. I think that is so sad. That poor child couldn't even grow in the womb before being bombarded with parental expectations to be better than all the other kids. I'm surprised and baffled by some of the things parents set priorities on. Children deserve to be loved and valued whether they're the smartest, prettiest, most popular, most talented kid in their group or not. If I raise a child that's happy, finds fulfillment, and turns into a good citizen, I think I'll be pretty satisfied with my work as a parent. (Maybe I'm letting myself off easy...)

3. I finally cut myself off from all pregnancy-related websites a few days ago because I was getting sucked into them so easily, and I suddenly realized that I always felt worse after reading them. The final straw was an article I read about healthy weight gain during pregnancy. The article itself was fine, but I got so upset reading the comments that women were making. It seemed like everyone was complaining about how much weight they were gaining and how they didn't want to be fat and blah blah blah. People, seriously? You made the decision to get pregnant without realizing that you were going to gain weight? Pregnant women gain weight. It's what they do. That should be obvious. It's like parents who complain that they don't get sleep when they have a newborn. How can that possibly be a surprise to you? That never crossed your mind before your baby was born? I don't understand that. People are stupid. It bothers me.

4. We had to get an additional ultrasound this week because some measurements were missed at the 20 week appointment. For the first time in this pregnancy, baby was so big that he/she couldn't fit on the screen all at once. The ultrasound tech printed about a million pictures off for us, but they're all of individual body parts, and I can't figure out what most of them are. It made things suddenly very, very real to me. This baby is getting big, and June seems to be approaching very quickly. I have a lot to do. But at the same time, I think this last week was the best I've felt so far in this entire pregnancy - not physically, but just feeling confident about my ability to do this. It was very liberating. Let's hope the good vibes keep on coming.

Yay, one body part I can identify! Probably the cutest foot I've ever seen.