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The bump

Anyone who knows me knows I am equal parts highly organized and totally scatter brained.  It seems like an oxymoron, but trust me that it's possible to be both, depending on the situation.  For example, I have a spreadsheet in which I track all my expenses.  I can tell you where every dime I have spent since 2004 has gone.  And yet, I still managed to pay the umbrella insurance bill late this month. Oopsie!

I had no idea how I would be pregnant - would I turn into one of those women who faithfully takes a cute photo of her growing bump while holding a perfectly painted sign indicating what week she was?  Would I be really clever and manage to wear the same outfit each time for maximum comparison purposes?

No.  The answer is a resounding no.  This gives me hope that I also won't be one of those moms who completely drives her Facebook friends crazy with a kid update every 5 seconds (but no promises friends!).

What I have done is taken completely random selfies, which is sort of odd because I do so hate selfies.  But I needed the photos - partly because a lot of people told me I'll want them later, and partly because I share them with the ladies on the message boards I am on.  In fact, I actually "host" the weekly thread to solicit bump photos.  I never miss a week of hosting (there's the organized part), but I often miss actually participating myself (and the scatter brain part).  

In any case, there has been a ton of weeks where I have participated, and this post is now my attempt to go back and dig up all those photos and put them in order (scatter brain turns organized!).  If for nothing else, then for myself to look back on so I can laugh at how huge I thought I was at week 20, and to also laugh about how huge I actually was at week 40.  

So here we go:

18 weeks:

20 weeks:

21 weeks:

23 weeks:

 26 weeks:

 27 weeks:

 28 weeks:

29 weeks:

30 weeks:

31 weeks:

32 weeks:

33 weeks:

35 weeks:

38 weeks:

40 weeks:

Is this real life?

I'm in third trimester.  THIRD TRIMESTER.  I never, ever thought I would get here.

My cute little bump is a little less "cute", a little less "little", and a lot more getting in the way of me bending over.  Tying my shoes has turned into quite the feat, and I side-eye anything I drop with a look of hatred before begrudgingly bending to pick it up.

A few days ago, I had this wonderful moment when my mother in law and both sisters in law all put their hands on my bump to feel kicks and hiccups.  The moment was only made sweeter when my 2 year old niece followed suite because she saw everyone else doing it.  It was awesome.

I'm secretly terrified.  I know a woman, an awesome lady, who recently went in to deliver at a very normal 38 weeks and 4 days, only to discover there was no heart beat.  Her sweet little girl was stillborn.  I have thought of this woman and her daughter every day since.  It's shaken me, both in my deep feelings of empathy for her pain, but also because it shows you that nothing in this life is guaranteed.  No mother should ever have to carry that weight.  Yet it happens, even to the nicest of people.

Ignorance would certainly be bliss, but ignorance is no longer an option.

Seeing my Facebook memories from a year ago has  not been helpful.  I see the posts I made when I was in so much pain, and it's hard not to relive it.  Sure, it's a reminder of how much (wonderful) difference a year can make, but it's also a reminder of some pretty dark days. My post from a year ago:

If you can't fly then run,
if you can't run then walk,
if you can't walk then crawl,
but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

― Martin Luther King Jr.

At the time I felt I was barely moving through life.  I suppose I fell into the crawling category - crawling up hill is what it felt like.  But crawl I did.

It feels more like a run now (albeit a slow, waddling run).  I only hope it feels like flying come 11 weeks from now.