Pregnancy

So I am now almost 38 weeks pregnant and I just wanted to share my thoughts on the whole experience.

I have managed to stay fit by eating healthy and staying active. I took a private pilates class every week and did cardio a couple times a week throughout my pregnancy. My husband and I also maintained our usual active weekends by mall walking, Ikea walking, outlet mall walking. While I did prefer my maternity pants over my skinny jeans (for obvious reasons) I was still able to fit into said skinny jeans until I was 8 months pregnant. I also was able to wear non-maternity tops til the very end. I am not saying this to brag in any way! I am just putting it out there because I have met so many women who are scared of pregnancy because they are scared that they are doomed to gain a ton of weight and lose all sense of self. That is so not true!!!!
Hubby & I right before we found out I was pregnant
27 weeks pregnant in my skinny jeans!
37 weeks pregnant (bad pic, I know!)

I cannot tell you how many times I have had someone (who has gone through pregnancy) say to me "Just wait til..." As in:
*Just wait til morning sickness sets in. (Never happened, guess I got lucky.)
*Just wait til your 8 months pregnant and you can't sit on the floor anymore. (Uuumm...I can still sit on the floor to play with my poopies.)
*Just wait til the cravings kick in and you just have to have _______. (Still no big cravings, something I attribute to a balanced diet complete with indulgences- smores anyone?)
*Just wait til none of your clothes fit and you have to wear mumus. (Nothing wrong with mumus but I still wear almost all of my prepregnancy wardrobe.)
I could go on & on!!! The thing is is that pregnancy is unique to each woman. Yes, we can generalize but not everyone has the exact same experience.

Now that I am quite close to my due date I have been getting what I will call "labor lectures." I have had so many people try to gently influence my choices. (I say gently because they do not outright call me crazy...) Funny thing is is that my doctor is all for my choices...she has often said she wishes she had more patients like me. I believe that a huge part of having an easy birth is to be relaxed and to stay relaxed; I think that a lot of women do good until others start pressuring them and their adrenaline gets pumping and that "fight or flight" hormone tells their body that they can't have the baby right now and so their labor stalls. Here is my basic birth plan:
1. If I ask you for drugs give them to me.
2. Leave me alone until I need you.
3. Let me have my kid my way, thank you.
4. My baby doesn't go ANYWHERE w/o one of her parents or a friend of ours with her at all times. (Yes I am slightly neurotic when it comes to hospitals...)
5. You have 25 hours, once Madi arrives, to do whatever tests need to be done cause we ain't hanging around!

I have driven a lot of my mom friends crazy because I am not nervous about the impending arrival of my daughter. I am not freaking out about the readiness of my house and I am not panicking because I don't have this, that or the other... Seriously, I have diapers, some clothes, some blankets...my sis is sending me a co-sleeper, more clothes, a breast pump & bottles so what is there to worry about? Oh yeah, car seat...don't fret, we will be getting that this week (& worse comes to worse I send Andrew to get it while I am in the hospital.)

I guess what I want to say is that EVERYONE HANDLES PREGNANCY & PARENTHOOD DIFFERENTLY. This is not a bad thing!!!!

BTW- My sister got pregnant 3 months prior to me and had a very high risk pregnancy. She had all sorts of complications and eventually delivered early. So I know that I am lucky that I had such an easy pregnancy and that not all women are so lucky. I really just want to put my experience with the whole thing out there. I know I will be constantly blogging about my adventures in parenting and I will let you know how labor & delivery goes.