I have always taken great pride in being healthy.
In knowing what my body was going to do at any given moment. I've known
for a long time what food it likes, doesn't like, how much it needs to
sleep, even when-sorry boys-THAT time will be, practically down to the
minute. But then along came a pregnancy, and low and behold, I no longer
knew a darn thing about this body of mine.
It started during the first trimester, with the mood swings. I know Josh remembers quite vividly, the night we saw a shopping cart abandoned in the parking lot at Walmart.
Me: Who would leave a shopping cart out like that?! All alone!
Josh: I'm sure someone will come out and put it away soon, don't worry!
Me: YOU DON'T KNOW! YOU DON'T KNOW!!!! ::hysterical sobbing::
Josh:...I....don't know what to do for you right now.
I suddenly became more of a crier than I'd ever been. Commercials made me cry. A guy friend teasing me about some nonsense, made me cry. I cried, and cried, and then after that, I cried some more. In all seriousness, I also was pretty down for about 3 weeks, which if you've ever had serious mood swings, is rough; you know you feel bad for no reason and intellectually you want to climb out of it but it's not always so simple. It passed quickly though, thank goodness, and the swings became more varied-a relief of sorts, because bouts of hysterical laughter over the smallest thing was one of the perks.
I. was. so. TIRED. I, who has always taken a staunch stance (say THAT three times fast!) against napping, started napping every day. It got to the point where if I didn't nap in the middle of the day, Charlie would become unsettled, and try his best to cajole me into the bedroom to lay down with him. It started when I fell asleep constantly in the middle of the living room out of which Josh was running the campaign he was working on at the time, and didn't let up until the mid-late part of the 3rd trimester, when I was just too darn big to really get comfortable. I never in my life took as much pleasure from sleeping as I did during the first two sleepmesters of the pregnancy.
Childbirth. So as you all probably know by now, we had one heck of a time having Penelope. They induced for days before the c-section, and during that time I took meds I swore I didn't want, cried in front of strangers, and was turkey-ed (think about it...) more times than I care to count. My body took some kind of beating that week, and waiting on the other end of it was almost 3 months now, of my brain and my body getting to know each other again. Much like a new couple, there were the unexpected and fun surprises my body gave itself.
"Oh, we lost 26 pounds in two weeks without even trying? Aw Body, you shouldn't have-it's really too generous!"
"Wow, we're actually creating food for the baby-that's pretty freaking cool."
"I honestly don't have as much of a desire for fried food? Well, good for me!"
The other side to this new-couple coin was however, the bad surprises. The "Oh his adult movie collection is more extensive than his book collection" kind. The "Oh she and her cat not only sleep together but they share a closet in which more clothes are for the cat than for her", kind.
"Ah, so the weight came back, did it? NEAT."
"Really, so we're having that for the third time this month? GREAT."
"Hypothyroidism? You shouldn't have! NO REALLY. You SHOULDN'T have."
"I love you so much SO WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME STOP CHEWING SO LOUDLY LET'S PLAY BANANAGRAMS!"
So yeah, my body and I are getting to know each other again. Taking things slow, as it were. I was blessed with good health and a very predictable body for the first 29 years of my life, and (gasp!), having a baby changes all that. It turns everything upside down, and it can take months for your body to get back to where it was. I do have hypothyroidism now, but I'm taking medicine for it. Penelope is sleeping for up to 6-7 hours at a time at night now, which is helping with being tired, and HOLY COW YOU GUYS I GET TO BE A MOMMY!
The biggest thing I've had to get used to, is the fact that we actually, really, truly made and had a baby. That she's really here and really ours. I look at her, and as cliche as it sounds, she is a little miracle. She and the way she makes me feel, is worth every second of unpredictability. Every ache I'd never had before, every downward than upward than downward again swoop of my desire to eat cake and dance around and also rest for 4 hours. After getting to the point where my brain was trying to talk itself into maybe never having babies at all, I have one, and she is glorious and the light of my life, and my treasure-I just have to get used to the idea that this body made her:)
It started during the first trimester, with the mood swings. I know Josh remembers quite vividly, the night we saw a shopping cart abandoned in the parking lot at Walmart.
Me: Who would leave a shopping cart out like that?! All alone!
Josh: I'm sure someone will come out and put it away soon, don't worry!
Me: YOU DON'T KNOW! YOU DON'T KNOW!!!! ::hysterical sobbing::
Josh:...I....don't know what to do for you right now.
I suddenly became more of a crier than I'd ever been. Commercials made me cry. A guy friend teasing me about some nonsense, made me cry. I cried, and cried, and then after that, I cried some more. In all seriousness, I also was pretty down for about 3 weeks, which if you've ever had serious mood swings, is rough; you know you feel bad for no reason and intellectually you want to climb out of it but it's not always so simple. It passed quickly though, thank goodness, and the swings became more varied-a relief of sorts, because bouts of hysterical laughter over the smallest thing was one of the perks.
I. was. so. TIRED. I, who has always taken a staunch stance (say THAT three times fast!) against napping, started napping every day. It got to the point where if I didn't nap in the middle of the day, Charlie would become unsettled, and try his best to cajole me into the bedroom to lay down with him. It started when I fell asleep constantly in the middle of the living room out of which Josh was running the campaign he was working on at the time, and didn't let up until the mid-late part of the 3rd trimester, when I was just too darn big to really get comfortable. I never in my life took as much pleasure from sleeping as I did during the first two sleepmesters of the pregnancy.
Childbirth. So as you all probably know by now, we had one heck of a time having Penelope. They induced for days before the c-section, and during that time I took meds I swore I didn't want, cried in front of strangers, and was turkey-ed (think about it...) more times than I care to count. My body took some kind of beating that week, and waiting on the other end of it was almost 3 months now, of my brain and my body getting to know each other again. Much like a new couple, there were the unexpected and fun surprises my body gave itself.
"Oh, we lost 26 pounds in two weeks without even trying? Aw Body, you shouldn't have-it's really too generous!"
"Wow, we're actually creating food for the baby-that's pretty freaking cool."
"I honestly don't have as much of a desire for fried food? Well, good for me!"
The other side to this new-couple coin was however, the bad surprises. The "Oh his adult movie collection is more extensive than his book collection" kind. The "Oh she and her cat not only sleep together but they share a closet in which more clothes are for the cat than for her", kind.
"Ah, so the weight came back, did it? NEAT."
"Really, so we're having that for the third time this month? GREAT."
"Hypothyroidism? You shouldn't have! NO REALLY. You SHOULDN'T have."
"I love you so much SO WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME STOP CHEWING SO LOUDLY LET'S PLAY BANANAGRAMS!"
So yeah, my body and I are getting to know each other again. Taking things slow, as it were. I was blessed with good health and a very predictable body for the first 29 years of my life, and (gasp!), having a baby changes all that. It turns everything upside down, and it can take months for your body to get back to where it was. I do have hypothyroidism now, but I'm taking medicine for it. Penelope is sleeping for up to 6-7 hours at a time at night now, which is helping with being tired, and HOLY COW YOU GUYS I GET TO BE A MOMMY!
The biggest thing I've had to get used to, is the fact that we actually, really, truly made and had a baby. That she's really here and really ours. I look at her, and as cliche as it sounds, she is a little miracle. She and the way she makes me feel, is worth every second of unpredictability. Every ache I'd never had before, every downward than upward than downward again swoop of my desire to eat cake and dance around and also rest for 4 hours. After getting to the point where my brain was trying to talk itself into maybe never having babies at all, I have one, and she is glorious and the light of my life, and my treasure-I just have to get used to the idea that this body made her:)
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