October 15, 2011
Dear little unborn princess,
You’re almost here! I can’t wait to finally meet you (and, I have to admit, to be done being pregnant!). We’re all set for you out here in the big world. Your big brother has been practicing for your arrival. He has a baby doll that he takes care of for practice, and if that baby doll is any indication, he’s going to love you very much!
Like your brother, you’ve been very good to me this pregnancy (although I’ve done my fair share of complaining). No morning sickness at all, but more exhaustion and hunger and hormones (aka unexplained snapping) than the first time around. Although I don’t know if I can blame the exhaustion exclusively on you; I think running around after your big brother while trying to grow you has effectively doubled the energy I’m using this time around. I’ve also been eating a LOT more desserts and especially chocolate than I did when I was pregnant with Nick. Again, I’m not sure if that’s necessarily your fault or if I’m using you as a convenient excuse to indulge a bit. I guess we’ll never know!
Whereas your brother was quick to turn head down at around 30 weeks and immediately started near constant kicking of my liver that left me with an internal bruise for the last two months, you’ve been much more laid back. It actually took quite a bit to convince you to turn head down at 34 weeks, so much so that I was having regular contractions for 4 hours while my body worked to get you to flip over. I hope that doesn’t indicate that you’re going to be stubborn! I ended up going to the hospital to monitor you and the contractions to make sure I wasn’t going into pre-term labor. But no, you were just taking your sweet time to do what we were hoping you would! If you had waited even one more week, the doctor was planning to try to flip you herself. Thank goodness you finally decided to wiggle into position on your own.
I keep wondering how tall you’re going to be when you pop out. You have a funny habit of kicking me in the most unexpected spots that I wouldn’t think you’d be able to reach. It’s probably just because it’s my second time around so you have a bit more room in there, but it always surprises me to get a kick way out on my side or up in my ribs. You sometimes do the alien dance that your brother loved so much, but a lot of times you’ll just casually reach out with a foot or elbow and press as hard as you can like you’re trying to break out through my skin. It’s almost like you think if you do it slowly enough I won’t notice and you might make it past my defenses. Sorry to tell you, but I don’t think it works that way so you’ll just have to wait until the time is right. You also seem to get far more hiccups than Nick did – does this mean that you’re practicing using your lungs more than he did? Does it mean that you’ll be more skilled at crying and/or more of a talker? We’ll see.
Easy as it’s been, this pregnancy definitely hasn’t been a walk in the park though and there are some things that I won’t miss about being pregnant. The first is that you’ve been sitting on my tail bone since the beginning of the second trimester and I’ve had a really bad back ache on and off (mostly on) ever since. It caused me to cut way back on working out early on, and towards the end of my pregnancy (i.e. the last three whole months) it’s been hard to even make it through a week of work sitting at my desk. I’ve tried so many things: first I tried the more ergonomic chair, then I tried sitting on an exercise ball, then I moved desks to one that cranks up so you can stand at it, but nothing has helped. Sometimes by the time I go to bed I’m so stiff that I can’t even lie in bed without being in pain. That I won’t miss. Also, I know this is petty, but another reason I’m looking forward to this pregnancy being over is that you have done a number on the skin on my face. I’ve had an allergic reaction type break out on my chin for 6 months now and I’m tired of looking like a pimply teenager!
But ultimately, I’m ready to be done being pregnant so that I can finally meet you! I can’t wait to see your precious face and hold you in my arms.
I love you already,
Mommy