pregnancy – Page 2

The Sisterhood of Motherhood

Published on July 18, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

There’s something about being pregnant, being a mom that brings other mother’s together. A common bond that you now all intimately share. Random strangers you encounter while out and about, friends that you’ve lost touch with, cousins, distant high school acquaintances all suddenly become closer to you. Drawn together by this little pull of motherhood.

People you barely know, or wouldn’t normally approach suddenly have this approach-ability to them. A common thread that you can tug on to enter into a conversation that you wouldn’t normally have had. “How far along?” “When are you due?” “Boy or girl?” Aren’t deemed as inappropriate or prying questions when coming from someone else in the same boat. There’s no need to guard yourself and your growing belly from the reaching out of curious hands from a mother who’s carrying a belly of her own.

If you are through the pregnancy part and have little ones of common ages, those silly little creatures we love so much become the strings that tie us together instead. Your little one catches the attention of the little one at the next table and all of a sudden an instant friendship of sorts is formed with a complete stranger, if only for a few quick seconds. An understanding that is inherent and buried so deep that you don’t even question it.

Mom’s get it. Mom’s to be are on their way to getting it. “IT” being the all-knowing and yet totally unknown adventure that you’ve entered into by becoming a parent. The even playing field that life becomes the second that you enter into this new chapter in your life. Total strangers who find this one common link in otherwise unrelated worlds or societies.

How powerful this one little thing can be…

Pregnancy Cravings

Published on July 5, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

When I was preggers with J I craved milkshakes and salads. I had a few random cravings for a few things here and there, but nothing totally out of the ordinary for what I eat on a regular basis. Somewhere I heard that your cravings are you body telling you that you are missing something and you need more of it…if that’s true then with J I needed calcium and ranch dressing? Haha.

With #2 I am having more random cravings. Still nothing that I haven’t eaten before – and no pika here thank goodness… There’s still something about salads though so I have to get one any time we go out to eat – making one at home just isn’t the same!. But this time around I have been having dreams about food.

Last night I had some very specific dreams about strawberry Poptarts and pickles. (Not together though) But it was a vivid enough dream that today I had to go out and get those very things! Actually Poptarts and pickles and M&M’s made up the majority of my dinner tonight…he he

Granted I’m only 11 weeks in, so who knows what’s coming. With J there were a few nights during my second trimester that I ate ice cream and kettle corn for dinner. I think Hubs knew better than to argue with a pregnant woman about what makes for a “good” dinner!

Pregnancy the second time around

Published on June 20, 2014 by a.simple.mama4 Comments

To preface this post, I love being pregnant. There’s something so magical about the whole process. I missed being pregnant. Which is probably why we didn’t wait very long before we decided to try for baby #2… There are many many positive experiences that pregnancy brings. It is a feeling that many many women long for and only some are lucky enough to experience.

Now that I’ve cleared that up…

Some days, especially these days during the middle part of the first trimester, I wonder why I would want to do this to myself all over again. MORNING SICKNESS = the shittiest way to start off such an otherwise wonderful experience. How your body is supposed to think it’s a good thing that you feel like total crap is a mystery to me.

“You have that pregnant lady glow”

“You try throwing up all morning, you’d have that glow too”

– Friends

If you’ve had to experience morning sickness, you will wish that the first trimester moves at the speed of light…There’s nothing fun about the first trimester outside of learning you are pregnant and hearing the heartbeat for the very first time somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks…

With J I don’t remember my MS being quite this bad…but then again I was getting a full night sleep, and had a few extra pounds on me too. These days I’m being sucked dry by a voracious 1-year-old and still being waked 1-2 times a night by said little monster. I guess that’s part of why people said I was crazy for wanting another baby when the first doesn’t sleep through the night yet…

With J I did have crazy awful heartburn…bad enough I had to be on Zantac for 75% of my pregnancy. And I remember having some nausea with J until my 14th week or so, but it was never bad enough to keep me from functioning. This time around I’ve had a few days where I’ve struggled to get out of bed. On a really bad day I’m lucky to be functional before 10am. And on those days I fight strong nausea all day long. Eating helps (assuming I have enough energy to get food down) and water helps too. I make sure to keep lots of snacks at the office so that I don’t get too hungry, and I suck on Jolly Ranchers like they are going out of style. I’m just at 9 weeks now, so I’m readying myself for another 4-6 weeks of MS hell…hoping that this is the trade-off for not having heartburn this time around. I think that’s a fair trade!

I am also going to continue to breastfeed J through this pregnancy. If he self-weans in the meantime then so be it, but otherwise I don’t have any real ready to wean him otherwise. My midwife is supportive of this, which is awesome, but she did warn me that I need to really watch my nutrition (since I should basically be eating healthy for 3) and that I will be extra tired. Oy, well nothing like preparing myself for 2 babies right from the beginning huh?!

We’ll go in at 12 weeks for our first ultrasound and will get to hear the heartbeat then too. Most docs will do an ultrasound at 8 weeks, but mine waits until 12 for the first one. And sometimes you are lucky enough to hear a heartbeat at 8 weeks, but my uterus tilts back towards my spine and would make it impossible to hear a heartbeat that early on. So 3 more weeks till we get to see/hear all that fun stuff.