Kissing Pregnancy Goodbye...

Things I won’t miss one bit about pregnancy:

- Taking over 5 minutes just to flip over in bed

- People making comments like, “Wow! You must be due any day!” even though I was only 20 weeks along.

- Headaches, backaches, bloody noses, hemmeroids, nausea, stretch marks, breathlessness, sleeplessness, Braxton hicks, achy hips, water retention, fatigue, heartburn, blurred vision, breast tenderness, and itchiness

- Gestational Diabetes

- Feeling fat and ugly one day then beautiful the next, and never knowing which mood I will wake up to

- Getting used to one stage, then having it change just as quickly

- A head-butted cervix

- Excess mucous…everywhere

- Insatiability

- Tacky maternity clothes (having to look at them in the stores; I didn’t actually BUY tacky maternity clothes!)

- Hoping people will let me go to the front of lines, offer me their seats, and open doors for me, but never actually experiencing this

Things I will definitely miss about pregnancy:

- Feeling beautiful and magical and completely feminine

- Getting compliments from people

- Cute maternity clothes

- Having a huge belly for a purpose

- The closeness between me and Evalie

- Not having to deal with a crying baby because she is always able to sleep perfectly, eat endlessly, and be completely comfortable

- Sleeping when I can

- Prenatal exercise & education classes

- How WONDERFUL apples taste (or anything else I am craving for that matter)

- A feeling of anticipation and looking forward to the future

- Celebrations & showers & presents

- David taking such good care of me

- Extra massage therapy and pedicure appointments

- Free time; lots of free time

- The nesting instinct; I love the motivation and energy of this drive to clean and organize. Oh, I also love having such a clean house all the time.

- Creativity; it just flows!

Overall…

Pregnancy has had its ups and downs. It’s had wonderful moments, and painful moments. The funny thing is, though…even though the lists are about the same length…I look back FONDLY on this season in my life! I have treasured, savored, LOVED being pregnant! I have enjoyed the good stuff and focused on it. I have minimized the bad stuff and just let it pass. I am so very thankful that God has given me a spirit of optimism during this precious time in my life, because it’s helped me to appreciate things so much more. And, although everything is going to change when Evalie arrives outside my womb, I hope that my same bright outlook will continue. I am not naïve. I know that parenting will be difficult – no one hesitates to tell you about that! But, people don’t often go around talking about how amazing it is to watch a child smile for the first time, or say their first word, or learn how to read. Everyone worries about how much they’re “sacrificing.” But, what about the gains? What about the fact that we’re adding so much to our lives, to our communities, to the world? I am excited to become a mama, and I can’t wait to experience the next chapter…as I say goodbye to this one…

{Photos by Kelly MacDonald}