Approaching the finish line - I can do this, I can do this...

Here I am, 38 weeks pregnant and ready to pop:

As my pregnancy comes to a close (Yay!!), I find myself reflecting on the good, the bad and the ugly of being pregnant. I have thoroughly enjoyed the miracle of this pregnancy, but am ready for it to be over and to start the next chapter - meeting our new little one face to face.

Anyway, so here are my favorites and not-so-favorites of the journey that is pregnancy:

Likes:

• The way that people smile at you wherever you go, open doors for you, offer you their seat, etc. I don't know why, but people just LOVE a pregnant lady
• Sonograms - I love getting little peeks of the baby inside of me, moving around in his/her own little world. It just makes you feel so connected to him/her.
• Feeling the baby move for the first time (and in the months that follow) is just so magical. It's like this little secret that the two of you share. For example, you will be in the middle of a conversation or a class and the baby starts doing somersaults and no one knows but the two of you, like your own private connection that is just for your baby and you.
• How food tastes so GOOD! (well, the foods that don't turn you OFF, anyway). I don't know why, but for me, it seems like the flavor of lots of foods is amplified when I am pregnant, like my taste buds are exponentially more powerful, making lots of things even more yummy than usual!
• NOT finding out the gender ahead of time. I know, I know, you don't get to shop for blue or pink ahead of time, but I love having that anticipation the whole nine months. To me, finding out the sex ahead of time is like peeking at my Christmas presents early. And after the hell that labor is, it's really nice to have a fun little surprise waiting for me as a reward for all my hard work!
• When you pop - I love the cute little pregnant belly, when it's obvious that you are not just letting yourself go, but you are not yet so huge that you feel like a beached whale.
• Feeling like a rock star - When it comes right down to it, there is something really empowering about knowing that you are growing another person inside of you - it makes me really proud to be a woman and of all that my body can do!

Dislikes:

• Morning sickness - puking multiple times a day (stomach bile is the worst kind), feeling half dead, finding food abs0lutely repulsive (when even the sight of it is nauseating)...need I go on?
• The "fat" stage - when none of your "skinny" clothes fit right, and you don't look pregnant, just down right fat. You are bloated up like a whale and just feel so gross all the time - yuck.
• Gasiness - not much explanation needed here - nothing makes you feel less glamorous than letting one rip, over and over and over and over...
• Swelling - FAT FEET - EWWWW!!!
• Rude people - Why is it that when you are pregnant, it is suddenly okay for others to tell you that you are "huge", "enormous", "about to explode", etc. I have had people tell me these things with all three pregnancies (along with the ever-so-precious "are you sure you aren't having twins?" joke) and I still find it as annoying as ever. There have been many a time when someone overweight has said to me "you look about ready to deliver" (when I was months away), and I have been sooo tempted to retort - "Wow, so do you!" Of course, being the good christian woman that I am, I don't. :)
• Being handicapped - I take very good care of my body and am a very independent person, so the last stage of pregnancy (the stage in which I am currently) is really hard on my ego. All of the aches and pains (of which I have MANY this time around - much more so than the with my previous pregnancies), the huge belly that is so cumbersome, the grunting whenever I bend over, the inability to do the things I normally could (like lift really heavy things, be able to fit my kids on my lap...) and the general feeling of being exhausted ALL the time is very difficult for me emotionally and psychologically.
• Sleep issues - The part of pregnancy when you are now waking up EVERY hour to go pee, deal with back pain/pelvic pain (or in my current case hands going numb from carpal tunnel) and the general pregnancy insomnia.

Of course, you have to take the bad with the good in any situation. So, as uncomfortable and exhausted as I am now, and as much as I am so ready for this part to be over, I also feel extremely blessed that I have had this opportunity, for the third time, to grow one of Heavenly Father's precious spirits inside of me and welcome him/her into our family. What an amazing experience it is, and how lucky I am to have had it... :)