When I found out I was pregnant, I experienced an enormous range of emotions. Overwhelmed, I cried a bit, smiled a bit, and was super nervous for what the future held. Surprisingly, my dashingly handsome husband was ecstatic! The only one calm about Aiden’s future arrival was Lady. (Lady is our happy little Yorkie… Click this to see pics of her) She is our rock--Really holds the family together.
We gave our family a photo album for Christmas, the album had picture after picture of Lady doing funny things. We thought this might throw them off the trail. The penultimate picture was lady with a sign that read “Soon to be Big Sister.” No one in either of our families caught on initially. I am convinced Dan’s mom thought we were adopting a new dog! The final picture was of the ultrasound, just in case there was any doubt whether this was another puppy or a little human!
The most beautiful experience of the whole pregnancy was the first moment I heard him cry and it hit me that my little tummy buddy was now here, and that I was his mom! Pretty much every week I had an experience that competed for the most unpleasant of the pregnancy. But the one that toped them all was probably my birthday week.
Normally, I love my birthday! Birthdays are like a holiday just for you! I love my birthday week, in fact normally, I love the entire birthday month. But, this time around was terribly different. We had the best trip planned. We were going to Florida to visit some of my childhood friends, my old dance studio and most important to visit Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
If you keep up with my blog you know I love dance. But sadly, I had to retire from performing due to an injury. Just days before the trip, my hip injury ganged up with the pregnancy to make walking unbearable for me.
Not only was I not allowed to ride all of the fun rides I normally love, but also I had to be pushed around in a wheel chair as standing or walking were out of the question for a couple weeks.
Most pregnancies carry numerous uncomfortable surprises. It’s different for every mom-to-be, so one person’s reality might not be the same for everyone. This is probably the reason some of those unpleasant things don’t appear in the glossy books! For me the fun surprises included random nose bleeds early in the pregnancy, joint loosening, pain from all that loosening, and other random aches. This last on is for new mom’s… not much can prepare you for the lack of sleep the first few months. After being pregnant for months on months, being exhausted , giving birth, you get the surprise that for the new several hundred/thousand hours of your life, you now get to sleep in 1 to 3 hour long segments and hopefully if you are lucky they will add up to some normal amount every 24 hours. (Check out this super funny video about the difference between couples before and after they have kids!)
For the final month I was so done! I was tired of being huge and ready to be finished. I tried everything! I ate pineapple. I walked as much as I could. I even tried a few of the weird old-wive’s tales like ankle massages and such.
Finally, a few days before the due date, we went for a walk around the neighborhood then to the store to stock up for after the delivery. Mid-shopping trip, I began feeling terrible. I wasn’t sure if it was contractions, but it didn’t seem to be going away. At about 2AM we went to the hospital just to check to see if everything was ok. Well my water broke right after they got me on the table and did the examination, so you could say we made it there just in time. That is just in time to wait another 12 hours for the little guy to finally make his grand entrance into the world!
I want him to be as driven as I am, and never give up on his hopes and dreams. (Sometimes being a little stubborn can be a tough thing, but it has really helped me push past obstacles).
I hope he learns to be true to himself. I want him to have the courage to be strong and confident in his own decisions. I wish for him to never allow others to manipulate him into being someone he’s not.
I hope he learns to see the silver-lining in everything. Dan is always so optimistic and sees the best in people. I hope he can learn from that to be a hopeful person too.
