Snapshots & Sunshine: All About Pregnancy and Everything You Probably Never Wanted to Know About It

When I was pregnant with Rose, I did a decent job of taking consistent pictures of my baby bump and doing little updates. But this time around I haven't really taken many pictures at all and I thought it would be easier to just do one whole blog post about how this pregnancy went compared to my last one.

And if you don't care about pregnancy, then just skip right on past. I won't be offended. This is for my own record keeping.

I was trying to keep better track of what happened during this pregnancy because my memories of my pregnancy with Rose are a little foggy as to when different things started and I couldn't remember when to expect them during this pregnancy. For example, when I was pregnant with Rose I had about a month straight of painful headaches, and then it switched to really awful morning sickness that lasted for 4 or 5 months, but I couldn't remember exactly when it started and I wanted to know for this pregnancy when to expect the nausea and vomiting.

This time around the morning sickness wasn't nearly as bad as the last time. I still threw up more than anyone should ever have to and I still experienced nausea but it was so much better than the first time around. I'm not sure though if it was because I did a better job of taking care of myself or if my body had a better handle on this whole pregnancy thing this time.

I was super diligent about eating protein every morning (apparently that helps, it seems to have helped me), eating frequently even when I didn't want to, taking my prenatal vitamins RIGHT before going to bed so the iron in them wouldn't make me sick. I was also at home more this time. Last time I was going to school and almost all of my classes and my job were in basements without windows, so I couldn't snack as often as I needed to and I think the basements made me feel a little claustrophobic and didn't have enough air flow? I got REAL familiar with the bathrooms on campus and learned fast which bathrooms had automatic flushing toilets versus manual flushing. Because there is just nothing more unpleasant than throwing up in a toilet only for it to flush while you're still throwing up. (tmi? Sorry, but really, no one should have to experience that!)

This time, I threw up consistently on Tuesdays. Always always always on Tuesdays (and it was every Tuesday, once a week). I think in the 3 months of nausea/morning sickness, I only threw up 3 times NOT on a Tuesday. I don't know why it was always on Tuesday. I think it may have had something to do with that being my first shift of the week at work. (I worked the night shift Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) so, maybe my body was upset with me for staying up all night when it had just gotten used to sleeping the four nights before? I don't know. It wasn't pleasant, but I'd take once a week on the same day every week over the all day every day sickness I had with Rose. My supervisors at work were super kind and aware and once we realized that I started feeling sick around 4:30 or 5 am they let me leave early so that I could get home and sleep before I got sick.

Anyways, all that information to say, this time around my morning sickness was not as bad. And I think it's super weird that it was always on Tuesdays. Oh and it was tough dealing with morning sickness with a baby around because at first Rose couldn't figure out what was going on and it made her really sad when I ran into the bathroom to throw up. I think it scared her. (So, I'd be throwing up and ALSO trying to comfort Rose.) But once she got used to it, she would come into the bathroom and try to cheer me up by bringing me gifts like the tv remote (one of her favorite things).

After the morning sickness went away my immune system decided to fail me and I got regular people sick. I had a cold in the middle of December, then when that was almost gone, I got the stomach flu over Christmas break (I thought it was morning sickness but then Ryan and my Mom got it too, and morning sickness is NOT contagious.) Then I got another cold, then I got the stomach flu again at the end of January. And then after I got back from Florida I got another cold that lasted TWO weeks! and turned into a sinus infection. That last one lined up with the beginning of this Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States. So, I'm feeling better now, but I had a teeny tiny lingering cough from my cold and I wasn't allowed to go to one of my last OB/GYN appointments because of it. Even though it was clearly from a cold, not Coronavirus, if they had just asked me a FEW more questions, they would have come to that conclusion themselves.

I'm finally sickness free, but my body feels broken. I didn't experience much soreness when I was pregnant with Rose. My back hurt if I sat in a chair or on the couch for too long, and I had a hard time sleeping comfortably, but other than that I still felt pretty healthy and mobile by the end of my pregnancy, I honestly would have been fine if Rose had stayed inside me for another month.

This time, I feel like my body is falling to pieces. Everything hurts, all the time. Rolling over in bed is a horrible experience, but if I stay on my left side my arm falls asleep, and if I stay on my right side my leg feels like the blood circulation is being cut off. Getting out of bed is painful, and when I finally get out I can barely walk. Throughout the day it gets better, but all the bending down and standing up I do to keep up with or pick up Rose basically knocks me out. If I stand for too long my feet and back hurt. But if I sit for too long my tail bone and back and ribs hurt. I have to use the bathroom like a million times a day. And the baby is a very happy and active baby who likes to stretch out her arms and legs at the same time, and it feels like she hits every single one of my organs all at once. And literally every time I change Rose's diaper, she kicks my stomach and belly button, which is also incredibly uncomfortable. I have babies kicking me from both sides.

One thing that I experienced during both pregnancies was crazy weird dreams that I get when I do sleep. One night I had a dream that involved murder. Another had a T-Rex that was trying to hunt and kill me and my friends. On another night Ryan's boss threw him a giant birthday party at the church and it involved lots of exotic food. (Ryan doesn't celebrate his birthday.) And I've had several dreams where people have gotten really mad at me when they weren't upset in real life. I can't remember any of the other dreams, but they are WEIRD.

Anyways, I'm having this baby in 3 days and I'm a little nervous because I don't like pain, and I'm worried that Ryan or I will get Coronavirus and they won't let my doctor deliver my baby or they won't let Ryan into the hospital with me, which would just be horrible and scary. And I'm also nervous to become a mom of two. And I'm sad that I'm totally rocking Rose's world and she doesn't even know what's coming because she doesn't have a good understanding of what "Mommy is having a baby. You're going to have a baby sister!" means. I know that people have second kids and third kids all the time and the older kids turn out fine and Rose probably won't ever even remember not having a sister, but I'm pregnant and emotional, so I'm allowed to have irrational sad thoughts about losing my one on one time with Rose.

BUT, I'm also excited to get this baby out of me and for my body to stop hurting so much. And I'm SO excited to meet her and for Rose to get to be a big sister. I'm excited to build our family and see what the future brings for us.

Note: I had to take a break here to go throw up... so either my morning sickness decided to take one last stand, or I'm being smitten for complaining too much, or when I cleaned out Rose's old car seat today I caught some long lost stomach flu germ that was clinging for dear life to the inside of her seat. Or I am just an unlucky pregnant person. Who knows.

So, on that note, here are all the pictures I have that document this pregnancy. (Another note: I don't think it's stomach flu because I only threw up once and wasn't sick the next day, my body just hates me.)

Oh and a few other facts and extra bullet points:
- Her official due date is April 17 (My Birthday)
- I'm getting induced on April 14
- We don't have a name picked out for her yet. Ryan and I will have to fight it out in the hospital over the names we each like. (However, if she comes out with a head full of red hair, then the name I like will get picked... so for those of you who believe in the power of prayer, please pray that she has red hair!)