My Practically Perfect Pregnancy

WARNING: This is a very LONG post!

I don't know how I was chosen to be so blessed, but I must say that my pregnancy has been probably as perfect as a pregnancy can get... please don't be jealous (I know, it's hard)!

Since this is the only pregnancy post I have done/ will be doing, I thought it would be best split up...

FIRST Trimester:

This was the very first picture taken of my pregnancy! As you can see we were positive! This day was sooo exciting for me. I was so nervous to look because I didn't want to be disappointed ( like I had been the month before). So after the 3 minute wait time I actually had Robby go into the bathroom to check first! We were both pleased with the results.

I didn't take many pictures in the beginning of my pregnancy... it was honestly something that just slipped my mind. So, I will use this happy picture of me at 6 1/2 weeks to illustrate that I was NOT sick. Let me tell you, I KNOW that not being sick was probably the biggest blessing. I can't count how many people have told me how lucky I am, that I am a baby making machine, that I will have 10 kids, etc., etc. all because i have mentioned not being sick. I do claim a day or two, however: I was very nauseous on my trip home from St. George in the summer (but I attribute that more to a long week, a very hot day, and riding in the back seat, in combination with being 8 weeks pregnant than I do solely to pregnancy). I also had maybe 2 or 3 five minute nauseous spells, but NOTHING that ever resulted in throwing up!
This was the very fun way that we told my parents. Besides Robby and I, my sister was the first to know (not because I didn't want to tell our parents first, but because I needed her help in coming up with creative telling ideas)... she made this cute recipe for me to tell my mom. I gave it to her in her birthday card... it was called "Grandma's favorite recipe". After my mom opened her card, we told my dad with a joke(this is also how we told Robby's parents). Me: "Dad, have you ever heard of the Egyptian Flu?", Dad: "No...", Me: "... because I have it.", Dad: shocked look on his face, Me: "It is when you are sick for 9 months, then become a Mummy!"

During my first and second trimesters I was doing my Student Teaching. I cannot tell you how much of a blessing it was to have a great pregnancy where I had energy, wasn't sick, and wasn't growing too big too fast, during that time of high stress! I must say the timing was perfect!

SECOND Trimester:

Like I said previously, I didn't take a lot of pictures early on... but I do have the ultrasound pics!
... and I was able to scan them in, but I haven't been able to crop them properly and save them as pictures, so I can't post them... I will work on that and add them later! (I really want to get this post done!)

I will include explanations when they are added

This picture was taken at 27 week... this was the day after we arrived in North Dakota for Christmas vacation... apparently (according to everyone) I wasn't very big for being 6 months pregnant, but I was feeling like I was really showing by now and was excited about my cute little baby bump! At this point he was moving a lot and several people got to feel him kick! I guess this was my first official belly picture!

Something that I love that Robby started doing early on in my pregnancy was put his arms around me and make a heart over my belly! He did this every time we were in front of a mirror! It always makes me feel so loved! This is my favorite picture of that.

Next up... me and my sister are both pregnant! It was so exciting to find out that we were both going to be pregnant together (me with my first, her most likely last). So when we were together at Christmas, we compared bellies! This belly picture is at 28 1/2 weeks.

I made it through Christmas and my second trimester! The only trouble I really felt was a sore tail-bone, my rear end falling asleep when I sat too long, and a a few random pinches of the sciatic nerve... which always went away after a while.

THIRD Trimester:

The third trimester started in January and how lucky was I to be done, done, done with school for the last 3 months! All I had to worry about was getting some work in and preparing myself mentally and physically for the big day!

This picture is from 31 1/2 weeks. I have been told that this is such a cute picture and my belly bump is so small... I must admit that I like this picture too! mostly because I spent time on my hair. i think I have been lucky to carry this baby inside a lot, so there hasn't been a lot of projection, which hasn't made things like walking difficult. I haven't even had the pregnancy waddle!

Although this picture isn't as cute, it does show the growth of my belly! This is from 35 1/2 weeks. One thing that has helped so much in my third trimester is doing water aerobics! Since January I work 2 mornings a week at the pool and have been able to join the water aerobics class every time I work! It has been awesome to be able to exercise for free and keep myself in shape for the baby!

This is the only bare belly picture I will show, but I wanted to show it to tell about another awesome part of my pregnancy... up until a few weeks ago I didn't have ANY stretch marks! It would have been perfect if it could have lasted, but at around 37 1/2 weeks they started showing up just along the bottom of my belly... hopefully they won't be too bad and they will go away nicely! But speaking of my bare belly, I love my belly button! It has almost completely disappeared! I normally have an innie, and it has slowly grown outward into a flat round area with just the smallest wrinkle left in the middle! And that skin is sooo soft! It's fun!

Ok, here we are at 38 1/2 weeks! By this point I was in the "waiting game" mentality... he could come anytime! I have been getting really excited! It has been fun to have my progression shown. not only am I progressing in size, but my body is perfectly preparing for labor! At 36 weeks I was dilated to 1cm, 38 weeks I was at 2cm, and 39 weeks I was 2 1/2 cm, 75% effaced! So i was averaging a 1/2 cm progression every week... hopefully by 40 weeks my body will decide that 1/2 cm is too slow and it will progress quickly enough for me to have my baby on time!!!
Last few wonderful things about my pregnancy: I have not retained water and therefore have not had swollen ankles, feet, hands, face, etc! It is wonderful... the only thing that is a little annoying is the slight puffiness in my hands that sometimes makes my wedding ring too tight for comfort.
I have been surprisingly still quite limber and since my belly is all in front, I have still been able to do things that a lot of pregnant women find difficult... namely shaving my legs!! Yes, I shaved my legs all by myself at 39 weeks and 3 days! Robby said that he thinks the nurses at the hospital will be impressed!
I have also been able to SLEEP! I have had a lot of people ask me how I have been sleeping and at first I was confused that that would be a concern because I haven't had any trouble. It was an adjustment to sleep on only my side, but nothing that prevented me from sleeping... and even now, with one day left, the only uncomfortable part of sleeping is trying to roll over, but I have been able to manage!

Whether or not you want to call me blessed or curse me for having a practically perfect pregnancy, I hope you enjoyed my post about my pregnancy story!