Looking back on this pregnancy...

**WARNING: This post is extremely long! I just wanted to make sure I don't forget. :-)

I can't believe this pregnancy is almost over!!

We've still got a lot to do to prepare, but most of it is not really for me to do. We are sort of "remodeling" an extra room for the baby and we're missing some valuable parts. So, I'm praying that we can get that done before the big day comes. There is also the issue that we have been using this room as a storage (or a temporary storage until we can send it out to the shed). Normally I would have moved these things, but many of them are too large for me and the shed has gotten WAY too cluttered as my son has been throwing things in there this past year. So, it's really not safe for me in my pregnant state.

With all of this, surprisingly I've got a lot of peace. I wish we could get it all done, I am praying that baby's room will be totally ready for him, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm just not sure where to direct my nesting instincts. I have been trying to get through school, so that I can shut the books without guilt when baby comes. That's about the only thing that I feel like I can do right now. So, that's what I'm doing.

Yesterday the baby dropped. So, I know I'm getting closer and closer each day. I figure so long as we have some clothes for the baby to wear and diapers, we should be fine - right?

Anyway, I've been thinking back on this pregnancy and just wanted to touch on some of the highlights:

I had MEGA "morning" sickness the first few months. I was super picky and the best place for me to eat (if it would have been feasible to do for every meal!) was a buffet. Because I never knew from one minute to the next what would stay down. S L O W L Y my nausea decreased. And about that time, I cut out milk completely. With both of my other two children one thing that always seemed to go down was milk and cereal...not this baby!

So, admittedly I switched to waffles. Rarely did I make them by hand. This was actually one of the most quirky things about my pregnancy - for the longest time I was eating (immediately when I woke up!) a waffle with butter and syrup, then about an hour or so later I was craving (every day!) eggs & cheese. So, I usually would eat a quiche of some kind. Sometimes a breakfast burrito, or biscuit made by my super egg maker stud husband. :-) But, it was for MONTHS I ate the same old thing every single day. It worked. When I didn't eat it, I would vomit or at least be uncomfortably nauseous. One day I was at Trader Joes where we have been doing a lot of our shopping during this pregnancy, and right next to each other were the frozen waffles and frozen quiches that I was buying regularly and I seriously thought for that moment that I would never be back to normal again.

But, here within the last several weeks I haven't been having any waffles!! (those made me feel so guilty - I rarely eat FROZEN waffles!) I still like the eggs & cheese, but I can actually have other things for breakfast - usually fruit, yogurt or oatmeal. It's so nice to not have maple syrup as a dietary need now. I still can't drink milk or maybe I'm just afraid to. Sometimes I have a craving for it, but then the thought of it makes me cringe. Hopefully I can go back to that later on in life.

Oh, about the same time I cut out milk, I also cut out meat. That was a hard one! I just could not eat it. I would try, and it just wouldn't go down. Slowly I was able to eat red meat first, then chicken. That was a little strange. And, it was scary without milk and meat thinking I might not be getting the protein needed. But, with my daily eggs & cheese, plus nuts (including peanut butter), yogurt, etc. it all worked out.

(edited: to mention another strange eating habit I had- I could not eat wheat bread. For the VERY first time in my entire life - I wanted white bread. It was softer and sweeter and it had to be squished down in order to eat it too. I know, very strange. I am happy to report that wheat bread is my preferred choice again. In fact, white isn't even appealing anymore. But at one point, ugh, wheat made me gag - just the thought of it would make me feel yucky. YAY, that whole part of pregnancy is OVER!!!)

I have not been very hormonal (as when I had my little girl) I honestly think part of it is that I am carrying a boy. Call me strange if you'd like, but with both of my boys I have been very balanced. I think a lot more reasonably than when I did when I had my little girl. I was VERY emotional with her. With both of my boys I've noticed I am a lot more "kick-back" about things.

My house has seen much better days! The two things that seemed to suffer the most (I'm not sure why exactly) were my car - which still hasn't had a good scrub for months and months and my pantry which also went WAY too long - if it wasn't for my Superman coming to the rescue a week ago, it may just still be that way.

Speaking of my hunk of a husband, he has been dreamy and has spoiled me beyond necessary. I'm embarrassed because of the way he's helped and catered to me. Many, many many times he's made meals and done dishes. I actually have hated my kitchen during this pregnancy. I think there are just too many smells - good and bad, that just turned me off of being in there. It was too much for me to handle. So many times too, I'd unload the dishwasher and I couldn't load it. So, Superman came to my rescue.

I am overwhelmed with the blessing my husband has been to me.

I have to give credit to my son as well, who has made many trips to get my bible or tums whichever the need of the moment was. He also helped me during the beginning of my pregnancy when I couldn't step foot in the kitchen - to turn on the oven, sometimes got a snack of string cheese for me, etc. Not to mention all the help and sacrifice of eating unhealthy while I avoided cooking at all costs. Yeah, that was quite a sacrifice for him...I'm sure. No, but he stepped up to help with his sister as he was able to as well. He really has been very helpful to me in this time.

My daughter seemed to grow too, she can now dress herself. :-) When we started, she wasn't able to do that. I am going to have to take back that kitchen though, because she is a little young to take a chair in there in order to find out what we can have for lunch. I also switched to pull-ups, which I was dead set against, while she is potty training. She is about 85% potty trained and that other 15% is not fun to deal with. So, instead of constantly washing underoos, I decided to allow her to wear the pull-ups. Oh well.

We have watched way too many movies within this pregnancy. (when I say a lot, I mean more than one per month!) Considering we don't have a TV, we have vegged out a little too much for my comfort. My brain could only handle so much reading for some reason during this pregnancy, so we found other things to do together.

I also have to mention how tired I have been during this pregnancy. It has gone in waves, but most of the pregnancy I needed at least one nap. Occasionally (in the beginning especially) I needed one in the morning - where I'd just have my littlest sit on my bed and read while my older was reading on his own in his room. I just have to say I am thankful I only have two with that sort of tiredness...I could not imagine having a houseful and being so exhausted. My prayers are with those of you in that situation.

Another interesting thing is now that I'm at the end of this pregnancy I keep thinking about my weight. (I am really not the type to be overly obsessed about my weight just to let you know) I haven't gained a whole ton, but I have gained more than I'd like to have. Especially in my thighs & bottom. So, this past month I've been trying to tone myself a little by doing leg lifts. Walking is out of the question for me, as it always causes me to have contractions. But, I found that just laying in bed and doing some leg lifts has helped me to feel better about myself. :-)

As you can tell, this is a bit of a humbling post. But, I am being honest with you. Life has been hard and I have compromised a lot. That's just how I coped. I'm sure after the baby has been here for awhile we'll be back to normal, especially in our eating habits. We try to eat as naturally as possible, but that's more difficult when you are eating the prepackaged type stuff.

Anyway, if you've stuck with reading this long I'm amazed. I am trying to cram a whole pregnancy worth of topics into one post. I'm sure there are things I am missing here that I want to remember. Oh, like feeling the baby. Isn't that the most amazing thing!?! He's getting bigger and when he dropped yesterday somehow it made it so that his foot can stretch right under my ribs, ouch! But, I love being pregnant. (ok, I love the feeling the baby part of being pregnant, some of the other parts...)

Thanks for reading. :-)