Undeniable

Hey all,

It's Cara again. Brian and I had our childbirth ed. class again last night, where we watched two of the dreaded "birth videos." After watching the videos, I was surprised by the legends that surround them. Perhaps they've been updated, or perhaps our instructor is preparing us all well for what birth is really like, but I didn't find them shocking at all.

Why did I title this post "Undeniable"? Well, that's how I'm feeling about pregnancy these days (as are, it turns out, all the other women in the class with me! I'm not alone!). Not that it's anything I want to deny . . . it's just that it's starting to affect almost all of my daily activities. There would have been examples, a few weeks ago, when a trip to the bookstore or a day of teaching could have passed without the fact of my pregnancy passing through my brain; well, those days are gone now. Brian has mentioned the sleeping--that continues to get a bit more difficult as each week passes. Last night in class we all shared the common experience of the extremely strong leg cramps that come in the middle of the night and wake you up--a weird pregnancy symptom that I've been surprised by. Then there's just this general feeling of heaviness and fullness--it's as if my body is running out of space for itself. I guess, in a way, it is.

Except for a difficult day yesterday, I'm still feeling quite good in general. But something I can see around the corner is the feeling of anticipation for this to be over. I was talking with a friend of mine on Tuesday evening and she confirmed that this was about the time that she started to feel very ready for her pregnancy experience to come to an end.

Whenever I feel a bit discouraged by all this, I'm going to remember two things: 1) the baby is growing about 1/2 a pound a week now, so my energy needs to be devoted in large part to the project of that amazingly rapid growth rate, and, 2) my childbirth ed. teacher said last night that the smartest thing I can do right now is "listen to my body." It's good practice for the intense listening I'm going to be doing in two months. :) It's 32 weeks--less than two months to go. Amazing.