Truth Be Told

It's hard to believe that this was already 18 days ago:

Left to right: Jon, Steph, Grandpa, Gram and Kate about 15 hours old

We haven't quite gotten back into "normal" life yet. Jon and I are both still on maternity/paternity leave, so most of our days are spent at home enjoying Katherine and getting to know her.

I wanted to take this opportunity to post the whole truth about my pregnancy experience and dispel some of the myths and old-wives tales I heard. Mostly because I think that pregnant women really only share the scary stories and I want people to know that there is such a thing as a happy pregnancy!

Myth: You are having a boy if you carry low and out in front.

Truth: I carried low the whole time and you couldn't tell I was pregnant from behind. Obviously we had a girl, and I've decided that everyone's bodies carry babies differently. Thank you, Kate for not making me look ginormous!

Myth: Girls make you more sick because you have more estrogen.

Truth: I never had morning sickness. Not once. In fact, I felt fantastic for most of my pregnancy! Just sleepy.

Myth: Your baby will have a lot of hair if you have bad heartburn.

Truth: Kate had a LOT of hair - and I never had major heartburn. I had a little indigestion a handful of times which always went away with a tums. Real heartburn I think I only had twice. I'm pretty sure it's because of what I ate and the fact that my stomach was squished to the size of a quarter, not because our baby was working on becoming Rapunzel.

Myth: You will gain a lot of weight when you're pregnant.

Truth: I ate the same way I did before being pregnant, did yoga every day, and kept working on my feet up to 37 weeks. I gained a total of 18 lbs. And my doctor said I was perfectly healthy.

Myth: You will have crazy cravings in the middle of the night.

Truth: I don't think I craved anything. Ever. I definitely liked eating fresh fruit, but I like that stuff anyway - and having a summer baby was perfect because it's right when peaches, plums and strawberries are in season! I didn't eat them any more than I normally would. But they certainly were delicious :)

Myth: You will be up peeing all night.

Truth: I slept all the way through the night even at 41 weeks.

Myth: You will have swollen ankles and fat feet.

Truth: I was really worried about this one because I already have wide feet. Small feet, yes, but there are a lot of shoes in stores that I can't even get my feet into because they are so wide HAHA embarrassing :) Luckily for me I did not get cankles OR wider feet. They stayed their perfectly normal size the whole time. I think once or twice when I was sitting for a long time my feet did get a little swollen from it being so dang hot. But that went away as soon as I got up and started walking again.

Myth: Your baby will kick you in the lungs and the ribs all the time.

Truth: I think Kate kicked me in the ribs once. When she was bigger I could definitely feel her up in my ribs when I would sit down, which would make it hard to get comfortable for a few hours, but she never took my breath away or kicked me all the time. And once she dropped I was way more comfortable and even went to see Dark Knight Rises in theaters 3 days before she was born. And I didn't have to get up and pee during the movie once.

Myth: You will drive your husband nuts with crazy mood swings!

Truth: Although I was a little more prone to crying and being silly-emotional, I always knew when it was just irrational and I never had intense mood swings. It was not like I suddenly became bi-polar and couldn't control my temper! I felt pretty much like myself the whole time.

Overall I sincerely LOVED being pregnant. I never thought I would be one of those women. I was sure I would have bad morning sickness and even worried about having to go on bed rest. I worried about having a c-section because of my small frame and I thought that Kate would be breech like Jon and I were.

But in the end everything went so well! I tried to just LOVE each day of my pregnancy and whenever I was a little too tired, got out of breath walking to class, or started to feel frustrated because I had to try on 4 outfits in the morning before finding something that fit, I would stop and remember that I am extremely blessed to be able to have children of my own, and that there is nothing in the world that I have ever wanted more than to be a mom. Maybe that's part of why my whole experience ended up being awesome.

I definitely feel like I was SUPER blessed. I understand that not everyone has this easy of a time being pregnant. And who knows, maybe the next one will be really hard :) But at least with Kate, she has been incredibly fantastic and we could not have asked for a better experience. So far we think she is the best thing ever!