And Then There Were Four by Heather Bowles

Good afternoon, ladies, and how is your Saturday?  It’s official. I’m expecting again. What’s even more surprising than the fact that I seem to have spontaneously developed properly working female plumbing? I’ve managed to muddle my way through over half the pregnancy experience with no symptoms!

When I became pregnant with Tabitha, she made her presence known within the first three weeks. My little vegetarian baby turned my diet upside down and for nearly 4 months I couldn’t guarantee the ability to keep down even saltines or tap water. I subsisted most often on raw ginger root and my prenatal vitamins took care of the rest. Weight loss has always been difficult for me, but without even trying I lost fifteen pounds during my first trimester with her. My only escape from the crippling nausea was sleep, and I found I needed a lot of it.

This newest addition to my family is not nearly so picky or so much trouble. Last month, when I finally resigned myself to the loss of Tabitha’s milk supply, I even had my first fast food and mixed drink in nearly two years.  As I look back over the last four or five months, I begin to understand how some women say they didn’t know they were pregnant until the latest stage, or even until they were in labor. The one drawback of the ease of this pregnancy has been the speed with which I have gained weight. I am now at the same weight I was when I was 8 months pregnant last time, and since I’m sitting at about roughly 5 months now? Well, needless to say, this does not please me. In my worst moments, I imagine my 5″2″, 9 months pregnant frame stacked at over 250 pounds and having to give birth at home because I can’t fit down the stairwell or out our front door.

Other than the irrational fretting over my weight, I do not have a lot to report, medically speaking. The OB-GYN office was slow to respond to my requests for appointments, so even though I am estimated to be between 22 and 26 weeks, I still have had no blood work or ultrasound. In fact, I wound up going to a Planned Parenthood just to ensure that I could get my pregnancy confirmed in a timely manner. To be quite frank, I was in denial up until they came back with the results last Monday. The only symptom I have experienced with any regularity (and this is the one that also caused me to use the old OTC test at home, actually) were those feathery, teasing, first kicks that you might begin to feel in the second trimester. In the last two weeks, they have become far more forceful, and are now commonplace to the point that they are impossible to ignore.

Tabitha continues to surprise us daily. In fact, she started running today. Of course, she promptly fell, bumped her little head, and had her first truly scary ten minute cry. I’ll be checking her somewhat neurotically throughout the night tonight just to ensure that she didn’t give herself a concussion, even though her father is sure she didn’t. She continues to struggle with communicating her wants and needs to us, but I believe she’s making some progress. It’s either that, or I’m becoming more attuned to the meaning behind her babble. Either way, it’s getting a lot noisier in our home, and will be even more so in just a few short months. Boy, it’s going to be a hot, hot summer.

Tags: pregnancy, pregnancy symptoms, toddler communication, toddler mobility, weight gain