The Lull (a-bye-bye)

Baby Perla and I have completed a major milestone – we have passed the ½ way mark of this pregnancy! I am 24 weeks along so far, which means only 16 weeks to go. While it feels great to be over ½ way finished with this phase, I feel this is just the calm before the storm.

I consider this time to be the ‘tweener stage. I am in between phases. I am in the second trimester right now and there isn’t much we can do in preparation for the baby. We will reach the start of the third trimester in a few weeks. For right now, things are pretty quiet. Once we hit the third trimester things will start moving along quickly.

I am guessing the third trimester is a busy one when it is your first baby. At first I thought that it is total crap that they make the third trimester the longest of the three – 14 weeks. But, there may be some logic to that because there is a lot to do. There are the usual and customary things like decorating the nursery and attending Baby Showers. Then there are the other things that life throws at us. We are coming up on the holidays in my third trimester so that will be interesting. I will have all my Christmas shopping done by the beginning of December (wishful thinking). Work related duties will need to be farmed out to my co-workers before I go on Maternity Leave. To add to the gamut, I have signed up for Pre-Natal Water Aerobics two times a week. Not only do I have to physically prepare for the baby to arrive, I need to mentally prepare. Maybe rookie moms are never completely mentally prepared for what is about to hit them once the baby is home. Experienced moms have gone to great lengths to warn me of the lack of sleep and lack of “me” time that I will endure. They tell me how frustrating and painful breast-feeding can be until we get the hang of it. They have advised me on how much our life is going to change. But, I can’t help but think that no matter how much I try to prepare myself for this arrival, as a new mom, I will never be completely mentally ready. No matter how many books I read I will not be ready. Me? Not ready for something that I know is coming? To top it off, there is nothing I can do it about it!

So here we are again, Baby Perla already reiterating one of life’s lessons. I am learning (again) that no matter how much I try to plan our way down life’s winding path that I should always remember to plan for surprises.

For now, I will enjoy this quiet time while Baby Perla continues to cook in my oven. I am looking forward to all the surprises that will come with the next trimester, no matter how busy and crazy it may be. I will read up on as much information as possible. I will continue to listen to the knowledgeable words of all the veteran moms that I know out there. And, somehow I will still be completely surprised at how much our life will change when this baby arrives.

Kick me baby one more time…

While I am not planning on following in any proverbial parenting footsteps that Britney Spears has laid (literally), I did think it was a good title for this new chapter in My Adventures in Pregnancy tale. As you may be able to guess from the title, I am (finally) feeling a lot of movement from this baby in my tummy.

I am now 21 weeks pregnant, which means we are halfway through this pregnancy! Kindly, Mother Nature helps pregnant women celebrate this milestone by giving them a good kick in the gut! All kidding aside, it is an amazing feeling to start feeling this strange little movement. Feeling the baby move around and kick calms me down by reaffirming that there is a live, growing baby inside me. Before now, we had to rely on Ultrasounds to show us the wiggles and jerks, but now I can actually feel them. I even can tell when it has the hiccups (I promise I am not drinking any wine)! My wise friends and family who have given birth before have let me in on the secret that in the beginning the kicking is great, but as the baby grows so does the intensity of the kicks. I can add middle of the night jabs to the ribs, bladder and stomach to my already restless nights of Brian snoring, trips to the bathroom and our dogs whining.

Some people say that this is Mother Nature’s way of preparing the mommy-to-be for middle of the night feedings, diaper changes and whatever else happens with infants in the middle of the night (I am unsure of what those things are yet). I say forget that….I need my sleep now! I know that once this baby is here, I will have a whole new set of worries to conjure up that will keep me up at night.

As for now, I love the little reminders through out the day that our baby offers of its life within me. Until these little reminders turn into some sort of Kung Fu Fighting match, I guess I roll with the punches (pun completely intended).

Love,
Linds