Looking Back...My Pregnancy

Since I am just now starting this blog, I want to go back and post on many things that I don't want to forget about.

One of those things....pregnancy.

I loved being pregnant.  LOVED.  I know many of you are thinking that I am exaggerating, or being sarcastic, but I'm not.  It was a time in my life that I truly enjoyed.

Since I had wanted to be pregnant for so long, I told myself that if I was ever given the opportunity to carry a child, that I would not complain about the things that go along with it.  I had heard horror stories from my friends (and from the internet) on morning sickness and other random yucky symptoms that happen when you are pregnant.  I kept waiting for those things to happen to me...but they never did!  I never once got sick.

Don't hate me.  I know some of you are sick all day, every day, etc.  I sympathize for you.

While I was not sick, I had other things going on.....

I was tired!  But who isn't, right?  I was also teaching kindergarten.  And every kindergarten teacher I know is tired after a day with 22 five year olds.

Another thing that I dealt with was extreme hunger!  I was so hungry!  All.  The.  Time.  I remember waking up at 2 a.m. and needing to eat, really eat.  I would be exhausted, but would make the trip downstairs to have a "snack" (which was really a full meal!)  Cereal was always good in the middle of the night, as well as cheese sticks, apples, and peanut butter.

I also kept snacks in my nightstand, in the bathroom, and in every other room of the house!  If you came to my house, you would likely find protein bars, a box of Cheez-Its, and bottles of water everywhere.

You might think that it was fun to get to/have to eat all the time, but it became a chore!  I felt like I couldn't stay full for more than an hour at a time, no matter how much I ate.  I really started focusing on my diet and increased my protein.  This helped some.

I did not have any food cravings or food aversions, really, but I ate a ton of those soft pretzels from the Target snack bar.....you know the ones I'm talking about?  The ones covered in butter and salt.  Mmmmm....

A few weeks into my pregnancy (after we knew we were having twins) my doctor wanted me to start gaining more weight.  I was eating 6-8 times a day, and wasn't really sure how I could gain more weight or eat any more than I already was.  My doctor suggested that I add a daily (BIG) bowl of ice cream to my diet.  I had never been a big ice cream fan, but I thought I would give it a try.  And Blue Bell became my best friend!  I think I gained half of my pregnancy weight from Cookies and Cream and Tin Roof ice cream.  :)

I could tell my stomach was growing around 8 weeks.  We decided to take pictures every week or two to document the change.  Here is the first picture I took to document the baby belly!

 8 weeks

9 weeks

11 weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks

 16 weeks

 18 weeks

 20 weeks

22 weeks

 24 weeks

 26 weeks

 28 weeks

 30 weeks

32 weeks

34 weeks

36 weeks

37.5 weeks (pic taken the morning the twins were born!)

 Looking through those pictures sure brings back a lot of memories!  Some of the other things I don't want to forget about being pregnant:

*My sweet mom and sister coming monthly to help clean and cook.....I am so thankful!

*Finding out we were having twins.  I was in shock for a couple of weeks!

*All the dr appointments!  I had to see my regular OB every other week and the Maternal Fetal Specialist every other week.....and then every week for most of the pregnancy.  Lots of dr appointments means lots of sonograms!  Yay!

*Reading about and praying for the development of our babies with Tim week by week

*Feeling the babies move for the first time

*When the babies would get the hiccups every evening around 10 pm from about 30 weeks and on

*Finding out that we were having a boy and a girl!  Tim was so nervous he was sweating!  I remember the sonogram tech told us immediately that one of the babies was a girl.  She couldn't get the other baby to move in order to find out the gender. After about 45 minutes, she told us we were also having a boy.  Tim was pacing in the dr office the whole time!

*Shopping for maternity clothes....I had a hard time finding clothes I liked and that fit.  I had the most luck at Gap and Old Navy.  Towards the end, I just wore Tim's t-shirts.

*Having my sweet kindergarten students ask me if the babies had been born yet...they asked every morning when I got to school!  I guess they didn't notice my BIG belly was still around!

*Letting Tim pick the date for our c-section...Our dr told us that we could choose any day between March 14-18.  I wanted the 14th, of course, but Tim chose the 17th.  He wanted this date because he was in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M in Squadron 17.  And that is why we have St. Patty's Day babies!

*Coming home to the recliner and falling asleep....but then not being able to get out by myself!  Tim would have to help me up and would laugh and laugh.

I am truly lucky blessed.  There are so many things that can and do go wrong with pregnancies.  The doctors told us from the beginning that we were a high risk pregnancy.  They warned us of the many dangers we might face and told us to prepare to become the parents of preemies.  We were scared.  But we also knew that we were not in control.  We prayed, and took it one day at a time.

I feel like God taught me a lot during my pregnancy, and I feel that my marriage was strengthened.  It was an honor to carry Rhett and Rhys, and I am so thankful for this time in my life.