Okay, I have to take a minute to address what is one of the great mysteries of my life. Why is each pregnancy so vastly different than the last one? My pregnancy with Maria was SOOOO easy, and except for the horrible morning sickness (which only lasted 8 weeks) and the carpal tunnel (which was only the last five weeks of my pregnancy), it was a breeze! I mean, yeah, I had some back pain and a little bit of swelling at the end, but nothing major enough to really complain about. I had a cute little basketball belly, gained weight almost nowhere else, no heartburn, no major swelling, no stretch marks, no cramping, etc. I remember thinking at the time "This is not so bad - why do so many women complain about this?"
Then with Josephine it was not quite so glamorous. I had the same awful puking phase for the same amount of time, but I seemed to gain more weight in my love handles than in my front for a LONG time into the pregnancy (the spare tire look was so not cute) - no cute basketball look that time. I had bad skin, and I got the round ligament pain BIG time in the third trimester. Nothing seemed quite so tight the second time around, and I had to wear one of those pregnancy girdles while I worked out to keep everything feeling like it was going to stay in place. I got restless leg syndrome at the end, and my nose totally spread (I had read about this, but didn't think it could really happen until it happened to me!).
This time - sigh - oh, it just seems like each pregnancy gets more "interesting" for me. Lest I sound ungrateful, I did get to skip the whole barfing 3X a day thing. I was nauseated all the time, but nowhere near the intensity of the first two. But, my skin is totally out of control - totally dried out, and yet breaking out EVERYWHERE!! Seriously, I find at least two new zits everyday. I look like a 13-year-old's nightmare the day of the big dance. I am only 15 weeks along, and I already have feet and ankles that are swollen enough to make my shoes feel too tight (and by the way, fat ankles on a short person is very unattractive)! My weight gain is OUT OF CONTROL!! I have already gained 10 lbs (for the record, I was 24 weeks along with my first two when I weighed this much), and I swear I am not eating fried chicken and hot fudge sundaes every night! I am working out just as much as I did with the first two, and not eating much more than I usually do (I do have an extra snack a day, as I am hungry more often, but it's usually fruit or crackers and cheese). Now, understand, I am admittedly a very vain person, and this weight thing is scaring the heck out of me. Not only am I not interested in looking like an oompa-loompa this pregnancy, I know (from experience, obviously) that everything I gain, I have to get back off afterwards. Oh, I have also developed a pinched nerve in my back, my hair is limp and lifeless, and don't even get me started on my gastric issues...
I just can't help but wonder what the next six months will hold if my body is already going through so much drama now...
I hate to complain, especially because we waited so long for this pregnancy, and this baby really is so special to us, but it's just hard to watch your body spin out of control in so many ways and feel like there's nothing you can do about it (especially for an anal-retentive control freak like me!). I just keep trying to remind myself that this is temporary, and also remember why it's happening - because we get to have a baby!! I am very much looking forward to the next few weeks when I will start to feel the baby move - maybe that will help with my perspective a bit.
But what about you guys? Have you experienced huge differences from one pregnancy to the next? Stories, please!! :)
10 comments:
OMG I know exactly what you mean! Both my pregnancies have been really difficult. With Jakob, I gained an absolutely ridiculous 70lbs in my third trimester after losing 30 the first two trimesters. With Jericho I was the same, weight loss the first two trimesters, then a massive gain the last one.
With Jakob though, I felt a lot the way you did, like everything was tighter. Even though I gained so much I still had the basketball belly thing going on.
Jericho though, around 20 weeks I started to get this horrible pain in my pelvis. As he got bigger, it got worse and would shoot pains down my inner thighs. Apparently the ligaments in my pelvis started to soften too much, too quickly. It's a condition called SPD/DSP. To this day I have a LOT of pain from it.
Here it is a year later and I'm actually going for an xray to see if we can get it fixed. It's not as bad now as when I was pregnant with Jericho, but when I was, I couldn't do ANYTHING where I had to stand on one leg (like climbing stairs or putting pants on) without feeling like I was being stabbed to death.
From what I've read/been told, it gets worse with each additional pregnancy, so I'm not really looking forward to going through it again.
It's a boy!! All of my pregnancies were horrible, but the third seem the worst. I thinks its because I had two other kids to take care of. I hope it gets better soon, at least it won't last forever. The baby does eventually come out, thank goodness!
The only reason Brandon suggested baby number three was because my pregnancy with Hyrum was so easy. No puking, no back pain, some heartburn, but easily controllable, no out of whack hormones... But now, yeah. Well, you've heard about my hospital visit, my fear of the scale, and the other day my toes were the size of sausages and I had no ankle bones!! Not to mention the round ligament pain. Oh the joys of pregnancy.
When I was prego with Sterling I pulled my sacral ligaments down around my tailbone and that was excruciating. But, I was in the temple one day in agony and I really felt so strongly that we make sacrifices to bring our children into the world. Not that I want to have pain and weight gain and waddle but that's how it works and if we want them, we have to take the good with the bad.
At least we can blame it all on Eve!
Oh Robyn, I am sorry that this a hard time for you! Although I too am thankful for this pregnancy I am ready to be done. I cannot complain because I have 6 weeks, not months but I am here if you need a sympathetic/empathetic ear. Oh and I will be bringing you some fried southern goodies every week til I leave. ;)
I agree with you, Sarah, and that exact thought has crossed my mind - this is the price we pay to bring children into the world - it's our job as women to bear this burden, I guess. God knows we are tough enough to take it! And I must say, despite my achy back, bulging waistline and fat ankles, everytime I think of my baby, I smile. :)
Oh Robyn, I feel your pain. The third pregnancy was by far my hardest. Maybe it was compunded by two other children to take care of and all the messes and toys to pick up. So the constant bending over ALL day long really wore on me. Or was it being revulted by EVERY smell in the books. Or the thought of going through child birth again and not having the excitment of the first or the "yes this is sweet - I remember this!" Just the " I can't belive I have another 2 months, sigh" But nothing makes up for all of that when you hold that little baby in your arms for the first time and go home from the hospital. For some reason the 9 months of pain seem to fade away and it all seems worth it. I think it would have to be that way or else we would all just stick with 1 baby! You are a good woman! Hang in there! Love you!
Yay for all of the potentially exciting things to look forward to. Thank goodness for Jana and her comforting words;)
All three of my pregnancies were exactly the same, sickness-wise--18 weeks of throwing up all day (though I managed to gain weight nonetheless). Luckily I got all of my stretch marks the first time around, though. Ha! Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I gained 40 pounds with Sam, 30 with Clara, and 35 with Jonathan--and although I was not in my pre-pregnancy jeans two weeks later (yes, I'm talking to you, Jana!) it has all come off eventually... (This time, with Jonathan, I've lost most of the weight but have yet to regain any muscle tone. I must be getting old. You can feel me on this, right? Class of '98 rocks!)
Robyn.. I have only had two kids and they were both pretty easy pregnancies. I did have more nauseating spells with Josh than with Gavin. I had the same thing you did with Gavin: nice round basketball belly, looking from the back like you weren't pregnant. I was running with Gavin. Things were great. I don't think I had any form of morning sickness with him.
Josh on the other hand, I had weeks of nausea, love handles that never, ever existed before, not so much a basketball belly as a watermelon belly. It was a lot harder with a child running around.
We are not planning on having another child until Josh is 3 so we have another year and then I will be 31 or 32. It does get harder as you get older so come back in 2 years and I will tell you how it went.
I am thinking of you and can't wait to see you in a month or so.
Robyn,
I thought that having six kids I would eventually know what to expect but every pregnancy (and every birth for that matter) was different. One of the reasons we stopped at 6 (besides the fact that 6 kids in and of itself is makes life crazy) is the number each pregnancy did on my body. It was totally worth it but every once in a while I wish I could go back to having a flat stomach without stretch marks or loose skin, a tighter butt, less wide hips and boobs that didn't sag down to my waist. Especially when you meet a new person and you want to say "oh by the way, I didn't always look like this." Oh well, it keeps us humble right? The good thing is that who knows, maybe this will be the pregnancy where the last trimester is wonderful and the labor a breeze.
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