By the time I was 30 weeks pregnant I had already packed on 38 pounds. This was a disturbing realization and I feared that I was headed for the frightening 60-pound finish line. (They give you a dozen donuts when you cross through that ribbon.) My initial goal when I found I was pregnant was to keep the weight gain to a (somewhat) respectable 40 pounds. So, imagine the fear the coursed through my chubby veins when I was a mere two pounds from the goal with at least 10 more weeks to go. Thankfully, the summer heat arrived in full force and with it came a lack of appetite and I am pleased to say that my weight has held steady for almost six weeks. Seems the baby is living off of the reserves my body created during the second trimester. This is nice and reassuring and it lets me trust my body a little more; maybe it has a plan after all. It’s actually doing exactly what it did during my first pregnancy, almost to the pound, but this weight gain plateau is welcome indeed. I hesitate to even write about this since whenever a person blogs about how something is going well in her life, the next day that thing goes terribly wrong. Like, I am going to arrogantly stride up to the scale at the doctor’s office this week only to discover I have gained 13 pounds. Don’t put it past me.
Really, I have great pregnancies: minimal morning sickness, no varicose veins, and I usually feel decent. But this time around all the “little things” feel bigger, and more annoying, and harder on my body. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have the luxury of sitting on my butt in an air-conditioned office at work all day, or coming home to a quiet house where I can drape myself over the couch and sip slurpees all night long. This time around I am up at dawn, sprinting after a crazy monkey of a child, lifting her 30-pound body in and out of the truck and hauling it, as it’s writhing ferociously, from the playground when she’s having a fit about the notion of going home. Then there’s always stuff on the floor: books, discarded toys, cracker crumbs, sippy cups. And in order to pick any of it up I need to stand like a sumo wrestler and bend at the knees as my belly dangles an inch above the floor. And then there’s the peeing. I am up, religiously, at 2 am and 4:30 am ever night. It’s getting old.
I know I shouldn’t complain about being pregnant. It really is a miracle and one that I feel so happy to experience. It’s just a really fat, swollen miracle, that’s all.
13 Comments
It’s going to get better! You’re almost done! I’m looking so forward to seeing baby pictures :)
I’m glad the weight gain is holding steady! I had a friend over yesterday with her toddler and her 38 week belly and I felt so bad for her carting her daughter around. It is suprisingly easier with a baby strapped to me in a sling and D hanging on for dear life…
It brings me much pleasure to have someone to compare notes to. Even though we don’t know each other. I actually know 8 different women at different stages of pregnancy. Good luck with the rest of your countdown. I am not sure I will be posting my weight gain anymore.
how’s Avelyn with the idea of sharing her parents with another sibling? whenever i ask Hudson if he wants a baby brother or sister…he ALWAYS says “no”!
You are exactly right. Subsequent pregnancies are harder because there is no down time, compounded by a spirited toddler who, when angry, is like wrestling a greased pig.
You’re alomst there! (Even though the final weeks, for me, feel like forever.)
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now. So long that I feel a small bit of guilt about having not commented sooner. Today is a new day, however, and all I can say is:
Me too. ME TOO!
The second (and third) pregnancies are always a little harder on your body and your psyche plus there are the little monsters around to contend with. But, you can take heart in this fact, labor and recovery the second (and third) time is much, much easier and quicker.
Hey I hit the 60lb mark with Bethany and I didn’t get a box of donuts, what gives? (Does saying that age me?) :)
So glad that this pregnancy is going well for you and I know you’ve been told before but hang it there, you’re almost finished. From what we can see you look fabulous and at least you know this time, no matter what you gain, you have the will power and the knowledge to lose 3lbs or 30lbs!
I wanted nothing more than to be pregnant. But now that I’m pregnant, I realize I wanted nothing more than to have a baby. Because pregnancy? Isn’t all glowy complexions and rainbows. It’s THROWING UP ON YOURSELF in the car (how I wish I were kidding). It’s just…hard. And I’m not ungrateful! I’m not! I thank everyone I can thank on a daily basis. But the desire to speed up February’s arrival is there. Fiercely.
I get up at least twice to pee every night, and I’m NOT pregnant :(
You’re almost there, and you’re doing something right, if you haven’t gone past your goal weight :)
When I got pregnant last July I knew NO ONE else who was pregnant or had been pregnant (I know, weird eh?) who wasn’t my sister. It has been great to read about other pregnancies but I knew that mine was an easy one and it makes me shake at even thinking about having another baby with Miss Moira who is 16 weeks old, teething and scootching all over the floor. I can’t imagine what it would be like if she could walk right now. Still, millions of women have done it and I probably will too.
I loved your last line – yes it is a miracle, but not always a pretty one.
It’s funny – I’ve had 3 pregnancies and the first and last were by far the most difficult. Yet I look back and miss the being pregnant. Strange.
You’re right though – it is more exhausting chasing and lifting and cleaning and just being a mommy while pregnant. Yet would you trade it for anything? Probably not :)
I hit the 75 lb mark with my 2nd pregnancy and no donuts – what’s up with that?
I totally echo what Mama Bear said, I recovered so much better the second and third time around, I was at church the sunday after Brooklyn was born on a thursday, which I wouldn’t have dreamed of after Bella. But the pregnancies did seem much harder physically. I hope the last bit flies by for you!
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