For many of my teenage years, I kept a diary. Not long ago when my parents were painting their house, I unearthed those diaries while I was clearing out stuff that I had left behind in my closet. Reading them made me laugh at how young I was, cringe at the awkwardness and cry for that silly little girl who thought she was so grown up. I am also vividly reminded of how painful teenage girls can be!
Recently I unearthed some emails between myself and two friends from high school when we were all pregnant with our first at the same time. These emails were like reading an old diary and made me laugh so hard at my crazy pregnant self that I feared wetting my pants. I see now how full of bravado yet how naive I was about the one event in life that is nothing like what you expect!
Here are some snippets:
July 13 2005 – 5 weeks until D-day, someone asked how much longer I had in my pregnancy.
How much longer until baby? 5 blessed weeks of silence, peace and tranquility are left before 20 odd years of insanity…. Not that I’m keeping track or anything…
I am huge, hot, tired and my feet are killing me, but aside from that, things are good. Oh, and short-tempered – did I mention I am not nearly as good-natured and sweet as usual? 😉
July 26 2005- Written to Melissa who was about 14 weeks less pregnant than I.
Sore ribs eh? I haven’t had that one. And you are in the good trimester! I was feeling so good (until about 33 weeks) that I thought it would be this easy until the end. Let me tell you what else you have to look forward to:
• Sciatica, literally a pain in the ass
• Making ‘old man noises’ every time you get up or roll over or change positions because of the massive bulk.
• Not being able to sleep through the night because you have to pee so many times, being woken up in the middle of the night when you do manage to get soundly asleep because the kid decides this would be a good time to kick the crap out of you.
• Not being able to see your crotch to shave your bikini line, not being able to see or reach your feet to paint your toenails.
• Incessant peeing. They say this actually gets worse in the last month, but seeing as how I have been peeing every ½ hour since about 8 weeks, I cannot fathom how it could get worse!
That’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure I can find more things to whine about if I put some thought into it, but it gets depressing. 🙂
August 4 2005 – 2 weeks to go
Hey Folks,
The calls and emails are already starting and I still have two weeks to go until the due date. To answer the inevitable questions:
Yes I am “still” pregnant!
No there hasn’t been any false labour scares or ‘twinges’ or any of that crap. My doctor says I am her easiest pregnancy – very text book. Glad to be doing my part for saving Alberta Health Care some coin…
Anyway, for those who have been asking, I still feel fine, I’m not anxious or scared or apprehensive or any of that crap. If anything I am bored. I am looking forward to evicting the little tenant so that life can get back to normal – or whatever our “new” normal is going to be… If my feet weren’t killing me and I didn’t have to pee even MORE than usual, I would feel just perfect.
It’s also weird when I wake up and realize that baby has dropped a little more. It’s like Whoo hoo! I have a waist again, except now I stick out more and can’t reach anything. Yesterday at the doctors office they made me get on the scale backwards because the belly is so big it was putting the scale off balance…
I can look back now and laugh at myself, but truthfully, finding these notes has really unlocked some sweet memories of a really great time in our lives, of great anticipation, a tiny bit of trepidation and a whole lotta love.
How about you? What do you think of your pregnant self?