Bump Watch 2012

Well that was annoying.

I set up my camera so I could do a video blog for today and not more than 30 seconds in...the battery dies.

It was gonna be a good one too. I've been watching a lot of My Drunk Kitchen, Jenna Marbles and You Deserve a Drink on YouTube today. I WAS feeling motivated...and a little spunky...but thanks to my loser camera, that ship has sailed so we're back to the good old fashioned 'typing until you feel the carpel tunnel acting up' method.

I haven't really been in the mood to write lately thanks to just plain laziness. Whatever. Laziness...yet another thing I can add to the list of 'Shit I Can Get Away With Because I'm Pregnant, Haha Suckers!' But I told myself it was important to get off my butt and do something productive this evening, so I chose to update my blog. It was either this or figuring out how to use my new breast pump. The breast pump looked painful and actually I don't think I'm ready to find out if I can actually pump anything out of my breasts at this point. I shouldn't be able to because technically the milk doesn't come in until a day or two after the baby's born, but there is something called colostrum that can leak out before then...whatever it is, I'm just not into it tonight so THE BLOG WINS! (shocking...)

Speaking of leaky breasts, are you guys aware of how many other uncomfortable/embarrassing/painful/just not cool and totally unfair side effects are possible during pregnancy? A LOT! Here's a few:

• excessive gas 
• constipation
• diarrhea
• indigestion
• hemroids
• excessive sweating
• vomiting
• the leaky breasts we were talking about before
• sore breasts
• swollen ankles
• swollen hands
• swollen face
• swollen everything
• of course, the weight gain which may be weight gain or it could be swelling but at some point you just can't even tell anymore
• an awful metallic taste in your mouth
• excessive discharge
• yeast infections
• congestion, which means a lot of extra snot and eye goobers to deal with first thing in the morning

...and the list goes on and on and on and on. Luckily we don't have to experience all of the side effects, and thankfully most of them come and go without being a nuisance for the entire 9 months. Lately I've had one symptom in particular that has really not been fun....but since I'm a lady, I'm not going to reveal which one it is. And before you start trying to guess, it might not even be on this list. Anyhoo, it sucks and it's embarrassing and totally uncomfortable and after a week of trying to cope and hope it would just go away, I broke down and went to the doctor on Monday. It's nothing to worry about, it's not going to harm me or the baby at all, and the doctor was able to prescribe something to ease the discomfort so that was nice and everything is going to be just fine. But unfortunately, my mother-in-law called while we were at the doctor, so she found out we were there and now she just can't seem to accept that we don't want to share with her why we were there. I really don't want to talk about my mother-in-law on here again so I'm just going to leave it at that but I think you can all appreciate that I'm just completely baffled as to what the hell has taken over my sweet, loving, wonderful mother-in-law these days and turned her into this stressed out, bossy person.  I completely understand that she's over the moon excited about her first grandbaby arriving any day now....but really? Maybe grandparents experience some not fun pregnancy side effects too...like craziness.

Anyway, that's what's been happening this week. 

Also our neighbours decided to cut down some completely useless trees in their backyard. At first I was less than impressed by their chainsaws at 9am on a day when I was actually able to sleep until that time (and possibly even past that had they not started up the chainsaws) but then when I saw the results.....all was forgiven. We now have the most beautiful view of the Aegean Sea and the coast line and Rabbit Island...it's gorgeous! I had planned to take the camera outside and show it to you but....remember the dead battery? So instead I'll have to wait until tomorrow to take some photos. Or maybe I'll feel motivated enough to still do a video blog and I'll just show it to you there...we'll see, either way I'll show you our new ocean view from our balcony very soon. 

And now, I thought it would be interesting to end today's post with a series of belly shots so we can see the progression of the growing bump over the past 9 months. I like to call this piece:

Bump Watch 2012

12 weeks/ 3 months 

16 weeks/ 4 months

about 22 weeks/ 5 1/2 months

about 26 weeks/ 6 1/2 months

 33 weeks/ about 8 months

 This is today! 38 weeks and 5 days/ 9 months and waiting!! 

How funny to compare the difference in 6 months! I'm HUGE! It's so amazing what the body is able to do! You know what else is amazing? Somehow I'm wearing the same bra in both of these photos (but I'll admit, it's so tight right now I might not even need the breast pump!) Also, I don't have a single stretch mark. I'm not sure how I managed to get away with that, but I'm knocking on wood right now so I don't jinx myself since I'm not quite in the clear yet.

Sometimes it feels like the last 9 months have flown by, and other times it's like it just won't end. But it is going to end. Very soon. And looking back over these pictures is bringing back a lot of moments that I haven't thought about in a while because I've been so preoccupied with thinking about what delivery will be like and when it will happen. It's a little emotional thinking about all the firsts: the first kicks and flutters, the first ultra sound, the first time we heard her heart beat, telling everyone for the first time. Even all the doctor's appointments and the morning sickness seem like good memories now. Discovering that she gets quite excited when we go swimming and when we listen to Greek music...laughing about how she's going to be a beach bum and Greek dancing machine one day. So much has happened. It's been 9 months. 9 months! Back in December when I first found out I was pregnant I thought about what it would be like in August, waiting for her to arrive. When I thought about it then, I'll be honest I was so scared....but now I'm living in that moment that I thought about back in December and I just can't wait! I'm a little nervous I guess, but not really. Mostly I just feel like it's finally time to see her and hold her.

Ok, she just head butted me in the cervix. I think that means she agrees with me.