Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Counting Down to the Second Good Day

There are some women who love being pregnant. I am not one of them.

To me, there are only two good days of any normal, healthy pregnancy. The first good day is the day you find out and the next 9 months are suddenly and wonderfully turned upside down and inside out by the impending and exciting prospect of your new son or daughter (or in the case of this pregnancy sons and daughter!)

The second good day is the day your child enters the world and the pregnancy is mercifully and finally brought to an end. Everything in between is varying degrees of discomfort, denial of some of your favorite things and a roller coaster of physical and emotional highs and lows and more lows.

This has not been an easy pregnancy, and while I've tried to only document the relatively good things on this blog the time has come to to vent! After all, we only have 9 weeks left until the second good day. :-)

Things I hate about being pregnant
  1. Not being able to pick up my son or run around with him in the backyard on the first spring like day after a very long winter - enough said.
  2. The lack of drinking options. I LOVE Diet Coke. Yet, nary a Diet Coke has crossed my lips in lo these 26 weeks. (I will admit to occasional caffeine intake this time around, though. You would too if you were growing 3 people and you were helping take care of an almost 3 year old!)
  3. Sleeping, at most, 4-5 hours at a time.
  4. The clothes. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to accent a pregnant woman's growing belly with a bow above her stomach??
  5. The stock I've been forced to purchase in Zantac - although I have to say the Zantac stock is doing better than some of my other investments!
  6. Having to drink virgin Bloody Mary's during the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament.
  7. The constant low back ache.
  8. The constant fatigue.
  9. The constant knowledge that I have no idea what true fatigue is at this point.
  10. Leg cramps. I cannot eat any more bananas.
  11. Knowing I need to eat but having nothing sound or taste good (with the exception of those extra few scoops of ice cream).
  12. Seeing the inside of my doctor's office more than than the inside of any of my favorite restaurants. See No. 11
  13. To work or not to work?
  14. Day care or nanny?
  15. Not being able to take anything to get rid of this stuffy nose.
  16. Having to plan out trips up and down the stairs lest I become too winded. Remind me why we decided on a two story home instead of nice ranch?
  17. The prospect of having to lose all of the pregnancy pounds - again.
  18. Will we make it to 35 weeks?
  19. Will Joshua be able to adjust?
  20. Will the babies be OK?

The things I love about being pregnant

  1. It gave us Joshua.
  2. It will give us three new people just as precious.

Yes, I would say the good far outweighs the bad.

8 comments:

Heather Worthington said...

Shannon, I am so sorry this has been tough. I can totally sympathize with you (except for the fact that I only had one at a time) but like you said...the benefits definitely outweigh the tough stuff:). Hang in there. You'll be holding Joshua again soon and three cute little munchkins:).

The Gausman Six said...

Thank you, Heather. I really appreciate your comments. You are right, it will be over soon!! :)

Sandy McKenzie said...

Shannon- as for the clothes, do they still sell those maternity tops with the big arrow pointing to your belly emblazoned with the word Baby ? I skipped the pregnancy stage, but bringing home a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 year old with four days notice was
an interesting experience. I gained a new appreciation for the meaning of fatigue! It sounds like you are holding up well!

Marcy said...

What about caffeine-free Diet Coke?? I'm like you...got have my DC! Congrats and hang in there! Pretty soon you'll be wishing you could have them back in your tummy where they are all quiet all the time. :)

The Gausman Six said...

Prof McKenzie - Yes they still have those awful shirts! Luckily no one has been silly enough to buy one for me. :-)

Marcy - I tried caffeine free DC - it didn't tast the same. :-) You are right though, I was thinking the other day that the hard part is SO yet to come!

Wendy said...

Shannon, I am with you on # 11 - that is the hardest part of pregnancy, in my experience. But you are getting so close, concentrate on the fact that soon that symptom will be gone and you can eat whatever you want, because it will all sound good again, and drink Diet Coke every day! And I don't think you have to worry about losing the preg. pounds - I have a feeling that you are going to be very active for quite some time! :) Which of course goes back to being able to eat whatever you want - yeah! In the meantime, hang in there. You, of all people, can do it!

Anandi said...

hehe, i'm sorry to hear it's been so bad for you. I'm startin to get the recurring low back ache and i am *really* hoping it's not going to stick around for the next 5 whole months. otherwise i'm gonna get my heating pad surgically attached.

And re: diet Coke, I just couldn't give it up. It's my only caffeine and I drink 12oz or less a handful of times per week, and I'm not going to worry too much. Yay for you for being strong about it. I just feel like there are days when I *need* it.

The Gausman Six said...

Hey Anandi -

I should have put a caveat on the post that first time pregnant people probably shouldn't read it. :-)

And I hope that your back ache does not last the next 5 months either...you'll have to let me know. And good for you in NOT giving up the Diet Coke! Lots of advice out there...have to do what works for you!