I saw alot of FB posts a while back where people were sharing interesting tidbits about their pregnancies.  I decided to do it too..but on my blog so I’d have it to remember….

1)  My back pain was so atrocious through the entire 9 months that I used the seat warmer in my car to soothe it.  Even in 90 degree weather at the end of July

2)  I gained 42 pounds total but lost all but 10-15 in the first couple of weeks after delivery.

3)  I continued to do Step on 2 risers until around 30 weeks pregnant. I continued to walk/run, do weights, pushups, etc until the last 2-3 weeks.  I’m making sure to remember this so I’ll be sure to do it again the next go round!

4)  I ate super healthy the whole time – only moments of weakness were a bison burger (wouldn’t let myself have real beef) and a few trips to yogurt mountain.  For the most part I got the sugar free flavor but added a bit of whipped cream here and there.  That was about as bad as the eating got.  When out for a nice dinner I occasionally had dessert – but nothing was ever on a regular basis.  Even though I typically don’t eat gluten or dairy I did so in small amounts while pregnant and was fine.  I didn’t want Ritter sensitive to those things.

5)  We found out we were pregnant the day before the Iron Bowl.  The first person I called was Lindsay.  The 2nd and 3rd people to know were Sara and Jonathan because they were in town staying with us for the game.  We actually didn’t tell our parents for a few more weeks because we could never nail them down in person (my parents travel alot).

6)  I never threw up but had some pretty bad nausea in the beginning.  It was really bad for about a week to 10 days and then it was gone completely.  I only called in to work 1 time.  It was so bad that day.  I made Eric go to the store and find the healthiest cracker he could find because gluten free crackers weren’t cutting it.  Did you know saltines have sugar in them?  Ritz have high fructose corn syrup.  The healthiest non-gluten-free cracker is actually a triscuit.  The more you know!

7)  I refused to drink regular soda but on the days I was nauseated I had to have something so I fell in love with these stevia sweetened natural sodas.  They make a lemon/lime which is their version of sprite.  It saved me!

8)  I craved chicken salad in the beginning.  I discovered that Whole Foods makes like 4 different kinds of chicken salad.  I came home with a pint of each one day and ate it all in about 24 hours.  I also ate my weight in the “egg” salad at Golden Temple in the beginning.

9)  I always craved cold things.  I couldn’t get enough crisp, cold stuff.  Apples, chilled grapefruit, cold oranges, cold chicken salad, crisp lettuce and salads, cold water, cold smoothies, iced coffee….

10)  I have been a black coffee drinker since high school.  I’ve never added cream or sugar to my morning coffee.  In the beginning when I was super nauseated, the smell and taste of coffee made me want to hurl.  So I temporarily switched to hot tea and then for a few weeks I had to add a little almond milk to my coffee to get it down.  I eventually went back to black coffee once the nausea was gone.  I also went completely decaf through the whole pregnancy.  Which, I’m sure, begs the question “why did you continue to drink coffee?”  There’s something about a warm beverage in the morning…and even though it was decaf I think it was all in my head..I actually felt like I got a boost of energy from it.

11)  I was in labor from friday until sunday afternoon.  I was “stuck” at 8.5 cm for about 12 hours.  I had no epidural.  It was brutal.  Here’s that story.

12)  I LOVED LOVED LOVED being pregnant.  Besides the brutal back pain, I had a pretty easy pregnancy with no complications.  Sleep was difficult due to the back pain but other than that, things really didn’t get hard until the very end.  I loved feeling Ritter move and kick – and he did so ALOT.  I felt so connected to him the entire time. It was the most beautiful experience of my life.

13)  I had “phantom kicks” after delivery.  Ritter was a few weeks old.  Eric and I are sitting on the sofa and my belly starts moving and jumping just like he was in there kicking.  From the inside it felt exactly like what his kicks felt like.  I thought I was going crazy so I asked Eric if he could see it and HE COULD!!!  It was so freaky.  Google turned up alot of stuff but basically said it is your uterus spasming and/or going back to normal size.  But some women report it several months after delivery.  When it stopped I cried.  Alot.  I was in that awful hormonal roller coaster phase after delivery and it just brought back so many memories of being pregnant and feeling him kick.  I missed that so much.  For the longest time, it was just he and I.  No one knew him like I did and vice versa.  We were one.  Having him here is amazing and miraculous, but having him inside me was so beautiful and special.  I definitely missed it for a while.

Here’s the link to all of my pregnancy and ultrasound photos…pretty neat looking back at these!