Random Musings on Pregnancy

Before I'm through this construction project that's taken over my life, I want to share a few random thoughts I've had about it. Just bare with the pregnant lady a moment, please.



There is a delicate balancing act going on in my fridge lately (read: the past several months) called I'm-Pregnant-And-Can't-Stand-Leftovers Syndrome. It basically consists of me making a new meal for dinner every night and then shoving the half in the fridge that we didn't eat, saying it'll make a perfect lunch for the next day. Now Joseph has been a champ about taking his share of the leftovers and disposing of them for said lunch meal, but me and Sophie? We've not done so hot. I can't abide the thought of rewarming something up the next day for me, and since I'm responsible for Sophie's sustenance, she doesn't get leftovers much either. We have managed to choke them down every once in a while, but generally the dishes just continue to pile up in the fridge until they've covered every inch of space, creating an almost complete solar eclipse with the fridge light. It's not cool when you have to search for the butter with a flashlight.



I want to know how women who get huge bellies right away sleep the rest of their pregnancy. Maybe it's not hard when baby is still small, but when the baby is full-term and you know they're just as uncomfortable in there as you are having them there, how does anyone get any sleep? Every time I lay down on my side, I swear I can feel myself crushing little toes, only to flip over (which right now is a MAJOR accomplishment alone) to the other side where I know I'm causing brain damage to a little head. So my solution? I just quit sleeping on my side altogether and sleep away on my back. I know "they" say to not do it, but my doctor gave me the go-ahead to sleep on my back since I don't have any kidney/heart/other internal organs issues that would make it dangerous, so I do it. That way I only imagine my baby also having to lie on its back strung out over my belly from side to side like a beached whale. I know, I have issues.



And could somebody please explain the whole nesting thing to me? I hear some women have a sudden urge to clean their entire house in preparation for baby to come, but I think that's a bunch of bologne. That's just a cover-up explanation for what I'm feeling right now: a need to make my house look spotless because my mother is coming to stay with us next week. Not that our house is dirty because I do my best to keep it clean even when bending over to sweep causes Braxton Hicks contractions that last for the next hour. But when your mom comes, it's gotta be ultra clean to prove that you're not spending your afternoons when toddler girl is napping writing a blog post instead of cleaning the toilet. And the funny part about it is this is completely self-inflicted; she doesn't say things that make me feel I have to do this, I just tell them to myself and Joseph just rolls his eyes.



Last but not least, what poor brain surgeon did they con into doing a study that discovered that women lose brain cells while they are pregnant? All they had to do was ask the millions of moms out there who've gone through it! I can tell you right now that my memory is daily being sucked through the umbilical cord, never to return again. But they needed a scientific study to prove this. Pregnant brain is not a myth, unfortunately. I have it bad, which is why I walk out of WalMart with everything in my cart but the two things I went there specifically to get, or stand in front of the full length window in my room, looking outside with my daughter, only to realize that I haven't in fact put my clothes on yet over my underwear? Sorry neighbors! (Apparently my dignity is also being sucked away.)



Have any of you ever wondered these things, or am I losing a lot more than memory with this pregnancy? Oh well, kids are supposed to make us a little crazy, right, so I guess it only makes sense that it starts when we're carrying them. :)