Third Trimester Part 1

  I started showing at the close of the second trimester. I remember being so excited to buy my first maternity clothes. I wanted to bask in my pregnant state and the fact that my body was finally starting to reflect the miracle that was happening inside of me. I went to Motherhood after work and wore one of my newly purchased blouses the next day. As I was crossing the street and feeling maternal, a [very unpregnant] woman stopped me in the crosswalk to compliment my blouse and ask where I got it. Normally this would be taken as a compliment, but this devastated me and deflated my mood. I just knew I had reached the point of perfect strangers looking at my belly and smiling, but nope. Apparently I was still in the in-between stage where perfect strangers just thought I'd been drinking too much beer.

  This trimester was marked by getting to see our sweet babe in 3 and 4D. We decided to use an ultrasound boutique so that we could share the moment with our families. We drove to Montgomery for the event and were so excited to see what our son was going to look like. Who was he going to look like? Whose nose would he have? Would the heartburn predictions be correct and he would have a lot of hair? Did he have chubby cheeks? All of these questions and more were swirling through out minds, and we were elated to once again know a little more about our son.
  We got a few pictures of his sweet face, but he was more interested in chewing on his umbilical cord and sucking on his toes. After a few shots, he turned his face to the side and covered the exposed side with his sweet little baby hand. We took a break and walked around East Chase for about an hour in hopes that he would change position. We went back and found out that our little man was not a performer. We scheduled another visit in a couple of weeks. Again, we got a couple of shot but he wasn't up to performing.

  Ultimately, we were happy with the pictures we had and went about putting them in frames to decorate our apartment. :)
   I received a lot of unsolicited advice from people during this trimester. It's amazing how much negativity people like to dole out when they find out someone is expecting. It's almost like a game-let's see how much we can freak this prego out. People seem to think they can say negative things about pregnancy and motherhood and it's okay as long as they end their little rant with a positive statement. All of this is said under the guise of trying to prepare the expectant mother for what is coming. Truthfully, it casts a dark shadow over this milestone and creates a cloud of anxiety and worry over what is to come. Statements like, "It's the hardest job you'll ever have" and "You'll feel like you'll never sleep again....and you won't" are heard over and over again by expectant mothers. While it is a lovely thought for people to try and prepare you for the hardships of motherhood, it just gets old. Each person may only tell you that once (I'm lying, they tell you over and over again each time they see you.), what they don't realize is that everyone is telling you the same thing, and it starts to take a toll on you after hearing it for the 100th (more like 1,000,000,000th) time. For goodness sake, anyone who's ever been around a baby can figure out that taking care of one is no easy task. There's no need to point out the obvious, Captain.
   I guess I looked really pregnant once I got to the final month because people felt the need to point out my pregnant belly at all times. This didn't bother me in the least since I loved being pregnant....until the last three weeks. Then I started hearing comments like "Suck in that gut [followed by self-amusing chuckles]" and "Lordy, you're about to pop". Yep, these were made from strangers. Every single day. These comments didn't bother me either, but they led me to believe that I might have the baby early since it looked like I was "going to pop". Did I mention I suffered from delusion during that last month?