I’ve talked many times about how I’m not a huge fan of pregnancy. I often wonder what pregnancy and childbirth was to be like before the fall of man.  Was it going to be perfect and painless? Would people have had way more children because there was no pain? Would the world be extremely over populated because no one died and all women just wanted to have babies because it was such a blast? 

Genesis 3:16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.

I find myself a lot of times wondering what pregnancy and childbirth was like for Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Did she get a break? Did she have 9 months of morning sickness and all the wonderful “joys” that many women face in pregnancy? She didn’t get an epidural or any drugs, but did God feel for her and lessen the pain as she gave birth to the Savior of the world?

So many questions I will ask when I get to heaven.  I imagine there will be a long line of women waiting to meet Eve.  That poor women messed it up for all of us, and frankly she’s not my favorite person right now as I am very uncomfortable and dealing with all kinds of pains in my 35th week.

Well ladies….get in line.  I’ve got a bone to pick with Eve.

Just when I think my pregnancy will never end, here are a few things I try to keep in mind:

Elephants are pregnant for 2 years.
I’m only pregnant for 9 months.

A lot of species give birth to a dozen or so babies at one time.
There’s only one inside of me!

My baby will not have hooves.
At least until she turns 13.

So yeah. It COULD be worse.

Before getting pregnant with our little “oops” baby, I didn’t think much about all that goes into building a little life and how amazingly detailed and out of our hands it is.  I was in my little bubble of thinking I wanted to be a mom, and have lots of babies and pregnancy would be perfect and wonderful.  It never crossed my mind that some women can’t get pregnant. I never thought about all the women out there who have carried babies, and lost them.  And I had no idea how much you fall in love with a tiny little life when it can barely be seen with a microscope.  The second that pregnancy test says “pregnant” or shows a plus sign, you are forever changed.

From the beginning, I promised myself I would never let the fear overtake me, knowing that God is completely in control.  If he wanted me to have this baby, I knew I would.  He gives and He takes away. I just prayed that I would be the best mother I could be and the best influence on this little life, even if anything were to happen.

We have had no scares in this pregnancy.  We are immensely blessed.  Yesterday at our check up, the doctor said we have a “textbook baby” and she is absolutely perfect. I pray that she continues to grow for another 6 weeks, and is perfectly healthy.  And I pray that this continues to help me see how blessed we are, and do all I can to pray and love on those who have not had the easy ride we have.

My heart breaks now every time I hear of a sweet mother who has lost or miscarried a baby. If you have been on the joyous side of motherhood, or hit absolute rock bottom – know that God is in control.  He is the maker of all things, and the ultimate comforter.  For all you moms and soon to be moms, I am praying for you today and my heart is full for the blessings that God gives through the gift of children.

From the eyes of my hubby….I figured it was a much more entertaining perspective than mine! ENJOY!

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from Childbirth class.  Being that this is my first child, I have never been before.  So when Kara-Kae told me that we had to go and it would cost us $80 I wasn’t thrilled.  I am a product of the digital and internet age so I assume that almost anything we need to learn we can find on the internet.  But after some threatening convincing, I decided that it would be ok.  I guess we should be as prepared as possible for our first born.  Little did I know all the things that I would learn from this class.

For those of you that have never been before, be prepared to learn!  If you have been before, maybe this will just bring back some fond memories of lamaze or other child birthing class.  So, without further ado, here are the top 10 main things (+ two bonus) I learned from our child birthing class in the order in which I learned them.  The best part is that I did not make up ANY of this.

Everything was recorded exactly as it was said.

1. Pregnancy is normal. – I’m extremely glad we covered this.  I was a little worried that we were the only people that had sex to bring about a baby.  The rest must have been from the stork.
2. When in pain, vocalizing (moaning and groaning) may help. – Would you like some Tylenol Extra Strength or Advil Moan & Groan?
3. During early labor, you (mother) may get excited about having the baby. – I guess that’s a good thing.  If you aren’t excited you probably should have been a little more careful when having sex in the first place.  Plus, the pregnancy is almost over!
4. The baby may be stressed during labor for some reason. – Really?  For some reason?  I would think my skull squeezing through the birth canal or getting tangled in a random chord while trying to get out might stress me out a bit.  Oh, and the kid is about to take his/her first breath.  Possibly stressful?
5. Mom, don’t pay attention to the monitors.  Let your husband do that.  He needs a job.  You are there to relax or whatever. – Relax or whatever?  Yeah, you know.  Just sit back and relax or whatever.  After all, it’s just a day at the spa.
6. Husbands, during active labor she may not like you. – Here is where you insert phrases like “I hate you”, “this is all your fault”, “beep, beep, beeeeeeep” or “did I say you could leave your corner?”.  This will be interesting.  For the one dude asking all the ridiculous questions like whether or not it is appropriate to be spontaneously humorous in the middle of labor.
7. Don’t watch the epidural process. – If you have a weak stomach at all or don’t like needles, this especially applies to you.  Apparently some dude around Orange County recently died because he was watching and fainted and hit is head just right.  Hmmm…
8. Being tired is not a good medical reason to induce labor. – I guess this rule keeps us from having babies months too early.  Every female in the room will disagree with this assessment.
9. According to our instructor, when it comes to delivery units, Kaiser Permanente is the best place in Orange County. – I am not really sure how to take that considering we are NOT at Kaiser Permanente and she works for our hospital.
10. Since it is birthing class, they will show you videos of actual birth.  You will see more than you wanted to. – Hi!  Would you like to put your entire birthing process on video so that we can show it to the world?  Oh, no.  You won’t be covered up.
11. Birthing class costs money and meets in the basement of the hospital.  If you haven’t paid yet, they are not going to be able to break a $100.  Sorry. – Who brings a $100 and asks for change?  The instructor is not a cashier.  There is no cash register.  Could you not follow the rules and pay before you show up?
12. At the end of the class, if the instructor asks you what they forgot, it is OK to not have an answer. – Really it’s ok.  Don’t worry.  That is why you are paying to take the class in the first place.

All in all it was a pretty good class.  I had my doubts, but we did learn a lot of the things we need to know.  Now we will just see if we can remember in all in the heat of the moment.  Are the “he he he who” breaths during active labor or transition?  Can’t forget the deep cleansing breaths.  Most of all though, ask her before doing anything.  Keep the chapstick to yourself unless she wants it.  When she feels like the gown is choking her, it might be a good time to listen and move it.  So now we are ready for the birth of our baby.

A couple weeks ago I blogged about going on a strict all water diet.  Well…it worked!!  I weighed in at the doctor yesterday and only gained 2 pounds in two weeks!! I had been retaining water which was making my weight sky rocket.  Not a fun thing to see on the scale.

I listened to way too many people during my first & second trimester of “you’re pregnant…you can eat whatever you want”.  Ummmmm NO YOU CAN’T PEOPLE! You can eat whatever you want if you’re willing to gain 5 thousand pounds.  I however, was not interested in doing that! So I’m working a lot harder in the third trimester to keep my weight down, blood pressure down, and water retention down.  So far so good.

Now I need to go get some ice cream to reward myself

I’ve written before about how ridiculous my dreams have been during pregnancy.  I had another one this weekend that I just felt the need to share.

I have a tiny little girl crush on a certain professional quarterback.

I had a dream that the baby had just been born and Brook & I were taking a walk in downtown Huntington Beach.  Peyton was there!! I asked him if he would take a picture with me & my baby girl so she would know who her baby daddy is.

Ummmm…OK?

Well, he took the picture with us & I framed it and put it in her nursery.  That’s totally normal right? Strange thing was, hubby didn’t think anything about it and all seemed completely normal.

Have you ever had any really strange dreams during pregnancy?

Well I think I’m officially all belly and it’s taking over my body! I’ve grown sooo much in the last few weeks, but a growing mama means a growing baby! I’m to the point that people look at me with that “awww poor thing” face, but it’s nice that people help me open doors, carry stuff to my car, etc.  Can’t beat that!

It was a rough first week in my third trimester.  Still been pretty sick, but it could be worse! It could always be worse…I’m so thankful to have a healthy growing baby girl.

28 Weeks!

Went to the doctor yesterday to check up on the baby girl. Everything is great with her!! She’s kicking away, growing and doing all the little baby things she’s supposed to be doing. So, really I have NOTHING to complain about.  

But I left VERY discouraged. I’m in my 28th week and still sick. Sunday I couldn’t keep anything down.  I’ve got miserable back pain.

Pregnancy just SUCKS for me for lack of a better word.

To top it all off, I stepped on the scale at my appointment and about had a heart attack.  I’ve gained HOW MUCH WEIGHT?!!?!? Apparently, to go along with all the other wonderful things happening to me during this pregnancy, I’m now retaining water. FUN! Luckily, my blood pressure is perfect so no real worries.  More just a really freaked out mommy-to-be.

So for the next two weeks I’m putting myself on a strict water only diet (for what I drink, of course I will still be eating food). Ok…maybe the occasional chocolate milk, afterall I AM PREGNANT! I will be trying to cut a lot of sodium out of my diet.  The only problem is, I’m no nutritionist and I have no idea what has a lot of sodium in it.  What are some good low sodium type things I can eat?

No Starbucks. No fast food. No hot pockets.

Ouch. I need to step up the exercise and push through all the pain. All for this tiny little girl. Because I know she’s worth it. More than worth it.

I’ve always had crazy dreams. But then I got pregnant, and my hormones made my dreaming even more out of control.  I’ve started having dreams about the baby a lot.  The most common, reoccurring dream I’ve had is that the baby is born and can talk.  It seems to be a pretty normal thing in my dream and no one seems concerned by the fact that I have a newborn genius.  I guess people expect that from me & my husband. Right.

In a recent dream, not only did my sweet little girl talk…but she had the entire bible memorized by the time she was born.  Yikes.  It’s pretty sad when a 2 day old baby is smarter than you. In my dream we were at my parents house and our baby corrected something her Mimi said by reciting Numbers 1:7.   I thought wow this must be a sign from God or something and this verse must mean something really great! So we went and looked it up.

Numbers 1:7 Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

Yup that’s it.  Be impressed, it’s very deep. I guess I better not put my bible (aka iPhone…YouVersion) next to my belly when I’m reading just in case she’s studying up.  Can’t have my infant be smarter than me.

What crazy dreams did you or your wife have during pregnancy?