the final countdown (39 weeks!)

we're 39 weeks in! six days away, january 17th, is my projected due date. you guys, i could be a mom any day now. ANY. DAY. and you know what? i'm pretty friggin ready. 

someone asked me what i'm looking forward to most when the baby comes. i think most new moms would say that they're looking forward to finally seeing their baby and beginning a new chapter in their lives. well i'm admittedly still stuck in the selfish stages of my life for these last few moments where there is such thing as thinking only for/about yourself and my gut reaction response was "not being Pregnant Regina" anymore. guess that must be the truth then, eh? thinking about myself and what i've been going through versus what joys are coming my way with a new family addition. but for nine whole months i've been Reg Who Is Pregnant instead of just Reg. there have been nearly zero conversations without regards to being pregnant. and i totally get it. it's not just a physical change, but a massive life altering change and there's no turning back. and it's not like i've been up to much else aside from incubating this thing anyway. so no worries if you see me and all we end up talking about is how i'm pregnant. it's unavoidable really, but i'm ready for it to be over with. i don't love pregnancy. 

that being said and this blog being directed towards the pregnancy, i've had a pretty good pregnancy overall. i was scared to experience a combination of pregnancy symptoms like sciatica or back pain, carpal tunnel, headaches, heartburn, stretch marks and the waddle. ohhhh that waddle. it was my biggest goal to not have to waddle and shuffle my feet around and i'm proud to say that i do not walk like an Emperor Penguin (and i haven't experienced any of the aforementioned symptoms either)! the other stuff is sort of out of your control but that waddle is up to you. i'd like to attribute my decent pregnancy with being fairly fit before and during most of the nine months. i only really stopped working out after seven months and my job (x-ray tech) is really physical so i think maintaining strength, good blood flow and mobility definitely helped in all aspects of feeling good overall and warding off some of those pregnancy symptoms. the only real notable symptoms i feel are swelling of my hands and feet (though not enough that i needed to go up a shoe size or anything), shortness of breath when going up hills or stairs, a short period of nerve disconnect in my lower back when i get out of bed and everything that comes along with weight gain and carrying a huge, hard basketball under your shirt. 

aside from going back to being just Reg, i'm looking forward to:

-not struggling to get my shoes on--i've got to sit or get them on from the side now. 

-not struggling to get out of bed--i have to be on my side and hoist myself up with my arms instead of using my abs because using your abs like you would for sit-ups can cause tearing between the abdominal muscles. google diastasis recti. not cool. just sooo not cool. on another note, i hate that i have to use the word 'hoist' in regards to myself before i'm like 70 years old. 

-getting my fitness back--i've gotten lazy over the last month and a half and i want my muscles back. 

-not having my boobs rest on my belly--having lacked boobs my whole life, i never had to experience boob sweat. now with slightly larger boobs and a massive belly, they meet in the middle and i'm in the experienced boob sweat club. 

-losing the pregnancy weight--with the excuse of pregnancy i've allowed myself to eat whatever i want whenever i want and i'm pretty much a food whore. it's not that i eat every hour of or anything like that but i've definitely changed my diet from trying to be low carb and never drinking my calories to giving no fucks about how much bread/pasta/rice i consume and drinking hot cocoas. that shit needs to stop but as you have no choice but to gain weight in pregnancy, i've let it slide this go around. 

-not sleeping in a cocoon-- right now i'm sleeping with a normal pillow and two full sized body pillows on either side of me because you're supposed to only really side sleep to maximize blood flow. it's hot up in there, yo! along with that....

-sleeping however i damn well please--i'm an every way sleeper. i can't wait to be on my back or my stomach again. i want to sprawl out, damnit! 

-not being a microwave--i'm not a fan of being hot and right now i'm serving as an incubator. one moment i'm a good body temperature and the next minute i'm radiating steam.

-wearing more than five outfits--i've been reluctant to buy maternity clothes because i won't spend money on clothes that i'll only wear for a few months. i've got like five shirts, three pairs of pants and a couple of dresses in rotation and that's it.
-not finding food stains on my protruding abdomen--this thing sticks out a LOT. i never knew i was a messy eater until i started finding stains and/or crumbs on my tummy tums everyday.
-not knocking things over--with the rapidly growing rock hard belly and overall gained mass i'm not accustomed to, it's been hard to navigate what size dimensions i actually fit through. trying to squeeze through tables to get to the booth side at a restaurant is a challenge in and of itself.
-not being a mouth breather--in certain positions i find myself breathing through my mouth and i hate when people mouth breathe. like, keep your breakfast and cigarettes to yourself. but with all this baby pushing up on my diaphragm and all the ENT fluids thickening, it's sorta hard to breathe through just your nose sometimes. shoot me now. i feel like Seth Rogan sounds.  

-being in control of my own body--this little dude moves around a lot. he forms shapes and discomforts inside of me and i never know when he's going to have a bout of hiccups. don't get me wrong. i am grateful to be able to feel him to know that he's thriving all up in there, but sometimes i just want to be still while this growing animal is just doing his thing and i can't escape it. 

-being independent--Ted has been really helpful and picking up where i'm lacking nowadays but it also makes me feel a little useless sometimes.

what i'll miss after pregnancy:

-Ted doing all the dog washing and vacuuming. 

-eating all the things. 

i've been on maternity leave for exactly three weeks now and mostly i've just been having lunch or dinner with friends. it's really important for me to maintain my friendships and i wanted to take these last days to spend some quality time with the people i care about before my attention span is shifted towards a needy little baby. it's been a great few weeks of transition from working to mostly purely enjoying some free time before life gets a little chaotic. 

so the end is in sight and while this post has been 100% purely based on myself, our lives are going to drastically change for the better. Cameron will soon have a face and identity and i'll stop referring to him as "it." i'm looking forward to seeing all of his firsts. whether it's his first smile to his first words, i can't imagine anything in life being more worth all that pregnancy sacrifices encompass. 

if i can gather the time and energy, i'd like to continue blogging once this guy gets here but no promises. we'll just have to see how i am able to adjust to my world getting smaller and our world becoming greater.