Pregnancy Update

Let's have a little pregnancy update now.

Let's see, my due date is June 28th, so that leaves roughly less than 5 months to go. That means I am more than 4 months pregnant and I am starting to show. Actually, I started to show a month ago, I think that has something to do with this being baby #4 and my body already accustomed to being stretched out to accomodate a baby.

I can still wear my regular clothes, though they are starting to feel a little snug around the belly now. I still have my maternity clothes from Youngest, though I was never the type to buy a whole wardrobe for less than 9 months of wear, and only have a couple of tops and pants that I rotate. I will need to buy a couple of new maternity / nursing bras, though. They are so damn comfortable that I wore them until they were threadbare!

My varicose veins have come back with a venagance! This is the reason why I don't wear shorts when I am pregnant out in public. I have heard that varicose veins can hurt. Fortunately, mine don't hurt, but they do hurt my eyes to look at-- ugh!

Plus! There are other places varicose veins can pop up! Bet you didn't know that did you? They can come in the guise of the dreaded hemorrhoids!! Ohhh! Now that's fun! Did you also know that when it comes time for labor and you are pushing the baby out of your uterus and squeezing that watermelon-sized head out of that tiny little hole, you can also inadvertently squeeze out your hemorrhoid from your other tiny hole? I distinctly remember after having Oldest and being cleaned up by the Doctor, he stuck his finger up my other hole to push in the vein I pushed out. I was too focused on the brand new baby at the time to say anything, but I asked about it later and this is the reason I know.

On the brighter side of things, I have yet to gain any weight, so I am happy about that, and hope at the most, I only gain 10-15 pounds total. Keep in mind that I haven't really lost the baby weight (can I still call it baby weight if the baby is now 2 years old??) from the last time and I had only just lost 10 pounds when I found out I was pregnant again.

I also don't have any heartburn issues like I did with Oldest, or weird food cravings, or a highly developed sense of smell like I did with Youngest. That highly developed sense of smell kept me out of the garage and the office because I couldn't stand the way they smelled. I also craved lots of coke with Youngest and had to force myself to limit one can of coke a day, after checking with the Doc that it was fine as long as I drank plenty of water before and after ( I did).

I DO have tender boobies, though. That's another unfortunate side effect of pregnancy. Your body is preparing your boobies to become milk factories and they are growing and changing and while it does all that, your kids are constantly bumping into them, the cat wants to knead them while she sleeps on your belly and the husband wants to fondle them. Too much attention on the boobies make you want to scream and slap some sort of security perimeter around them to keep kids, cats and husband away!

Oh! Have I mentioned hair??? Yes, people, a pregnant woman's hair also changes. The increase of hormonal production causes the hair to fall out! While people normally lose about 100 hairs a day, it seems like with pregnancy, it increases to 1,000!! I am a walking, talking shedding hair factory!! How can I have any hair left on my head?!? In the shower, when I wake, during the day, I find long, blond strands of hair everywhere! On the other hand, my hair looks nice and shiny and healthy, another side effect of pregnancy.

And that glow? Yep, I have it. Which is why hubby constantly keeps reaching for the boobies! Need I remind him that's how I got into this position in the first place????