Today was a strange emotional roller coaster! I woke up like, "man I've never felt this good 7 months along in a pregnancy before! I am full of gratitude and life is awesome!" And went to bed like "I am so sick of having little kids. I can't wait til they are all grown. This better be our last baby. What have I done to my life!?" Wow... Needless to say, I am MOODY. And tired. And I don't handle things well when I am tired.
The past few months have been amazing. Yes, I do have rough days like today, all too often, but it has still been a wonderful year and a wonderful pregnancy. The first half of the year was consumed with the following special things: Caleb learning how to read and finishing up kindergarten; me and my dad training for the Ironman and competing in the Texas Ironman in May; and finding out I did the Ironman 1 month pregnant! In the summer, Everli turned two (equivalent to "became slightly demonic"), we visited Utah for a month, I attended Girls Camp, and Caleb started First Grade while Anndi started her second year of preschool. I immediately quit running and biking when I found out I was pregnant (I was 6 weeks along). Since then, I have been doing lots of walking, weight lifting, stationary biking, and a little bit of swimming and boxing. I have been surrounded by so many beautiful, positive people! I have successfully avoided desserts and processed sugar (except for a few weakness days), and watched my sodium intake. I eat intuitively and am not obsessed with calories. It has been quite a healing experience, eating and exercising for this baby.
For the first half of this pregnancy, I got bad acidic stomach aches right before dinner quite often. I tried going gluten free for a month, which helped the stomach aches go away. However, I still got a couple stomach aches, so I gave that up. I think not eating wheat for that long made me slightly anemic, too. I became deeply fatigued and got fainty, nauseous, and lightheaded often. I also began to crave chewing ice like my life depended on it. I go through 4 Sonic route-44 cups full of ice every day and a half. I get headaches if I don't have ice! This whole pregnancy I have battled slight nausea. But if I eat small meals all day I am fine.
At 5 1/2 months along, I wore heels to church. The next day my right big toe was terribly swollen where I have a bunion. After a few days of walking on it, it got really badly swollen. I was really discouraged because I had been doing lots of walking for exercise. I went to the foot doctor and he helped me a lot! He put an insert into my shoe that after a week and a half made the swelling go down! I am so grateful!
I am struggling the last few weeks with shortness of breath. I often feel like I am suffocating in my own body! It is especially bad if I slouch when I am sitting up, or if I lay down at all, even on my side. It comes and goes but is really scary sometimes!
Blake and I took a private hypnobirthing class that was a great experience. I am excited to use deep relaxation and focus to give birth to this baby naturally! I want to experience a natural birth and feel very prepared and motivated. I practice my relaxation techniques daily (and usually fall asleep during them) and am rereading the book. I feel confident and empowered to know my body can do this!
In the next 8 1/2 weeks that I have left of this pregnancy, we go to Utah for thanksgiving, come home, finish the school semester, then Christmas, Anndi's 5th birthday, New Years, Caleb's 7th birthday, and Blake's birthday, then my due date at the end of January! I am due January 20th but am prepared to go into labor probably anytime after that.
I feel terrible for my end of the day lack of gratitude today. I know I am so blessed, and I truly am grateful. A fourth, healthy pregnancy is such a blessing and truly a dream come true for me. We can't wait to meet this baby, find out if this is a boy or a girl, and have him or her in our family forever!
