Prego Memories
All right, so I am here to tell you that "mommy brain" is real.
I heard a lot about it, especially while pregnant, but now here I am, almost 7 months postpartum, and I don't remember stuff that just happened a few days ago. I'm not sure if it's something hormonal, or there's too much on my mind, lack of sleep, or a combination of all three, but my memory is practically non-existent.
So I will try to relate what I do remember about my pregnancy, which probably won't be much and it might be all over the place. This post is just to safe keep random memories I have about my pregnancy, so they won't be lost forever and I can share them with Peanut one day.
1. My pregnancy was high-risk, due to a variety of factors, including thyroid issues, high blood pressure and my age (!!!). That wasn't fun because it required a lot more tests, including a 24 hour urine collection test that I had to complete twice. Ugh. I hated that part. It's exactly what it sounds like, collecting your pee in a plastic jar for a full 24 hours. Yay.
Every pregnant woman has to take a glucose test, which consists of drinking an extremely sugary drink and then getting your blood drawn an hour later to see how quickly your body breaks down the glucose. I was borderline the first time, so I had to take the 3 hour test, which sucked so much!
The last trimester I had to take weekly non-stress tests, where they strap a monitor to you to check the baby's heartbeat and stress levels. They were typically about half an hour long, depending on how active the baby is. Sometimes he feel asleep and they had to give me a couple of apple juices to wake him up. One time, the lady next to me was having issues with her baby being picked up by the monitors. They tried everything; juice, massages, changing positions, and nothing. Finally, they decided to take her to get an ultrasound but by this point she was understandably upset. I felt terrible for her and moving forward, had a mini panic attack every time they couldn't find my baby on the monitor right away. Ugh, and this test was supposed to monitor my stress levels, that's the ironic part.
2. I didn't throw up not once during my pregnancy! So excited about that one as I have an extreme aversion to throwing up like you have no idea. Just talking about it makes me queasy and witnessing it is a sure way to get me to join you. One of my biggest worries was having to throw up while driving or at work, because I'm sure I would be loud. I've only thrown up a few times in my life but I hate it so much that just the act of throwing up will gross me out enough to make me throw up even more and then it's just a long cycle of throwing up and being grossed out and throwing up so much more. Anyway, enough throwing up talk as I'm already feeling ugh typing it out. So, I carried plastic bags in my car and in my purse at all times, to make sure I didn't have any accidents. Luckily, I never threw up. I felt really nauseous my first trimester, hardly ate. Felt like throwing up plenty of times but I would suck on a peppermint (which helped a lot) to distract me and calm me down. I carried those peppermints everywhere!
3. I had an aversion to smells. People would walk past me and I would crinkle my nose, smelling something that others probably didn't even notice. I couldn't walk past a trashcan, the smell was so disgusting to me. Even normally pleasant odors, like perfume or cologne were a no-no for me. My husband started putting on his cologne downstairs, as I had a bad reaction when he would do it near me.
4. Another aversion I had, both smell and taste wise, was meat. Ugh, it was so disgusting to me. I was able to eat meet by the second and third trimesters, but that first one, I was not interested in meat. My husband's birthday fell in that first trimester and every year, he wants to go to a Brazilian steakhouse. I sacrificed myself and went, and ate from the salad bar. But just being there, was so hard. Dinner seemed to drag on and on. I could barely concentrate on eating, as most of my energy was put into suppressing the urge to be sick.
5. I didn't have any strange cravings, nor did I eat any weird combination of foods. Well, I did enjoy my fries with mayo and ketchup, but that's something I've had before. One thing I did like eating more often than most things was chips & salsa from my favorite Mexican restaurant. I would eat like a tub of it myself over the course of a couple of days. And that would be my meal. During my third trimester, I also ate Burger King often. A whopper, with cheese, no onions. It's what the baby wanted, apparently. But other than that, no late night, 3 am, watermelon and pickles with bbq sauce cravings. I mean, my husband might say different, but I think I was pretty easygoing on that front.
6. Heartburn was out of control. I'm sure the above mentioned chips & salsa didn't help, but man, I had heartburn all the time. I used peppermint and gum to try to alleviate that situation. But even pasta sauce or pizza gave me heartburn. It was uncomfortable. They say eating spicy food or lots of heartburn are a sign the baby will have lots of hair and boy does he.
7. We were blessed with 3 baby showers. They will get their own post as this one is already long enough.
8. The theme of our nursery is elephants & giraffes, as that's an inside joke between my husband and I. The color scheme is blue and gray and the furniture is white.
9. We nicknamed the baby Peanut early on, before we knew if he was a boy or a girl and it's kind of stuck. We found out as soon as we could, as we are planners and needed to know what color to decorate the nursery. For now it's blue, but if he decides he likes pink later on, we can change it. Both grandmas wanted girls, and the grandpas wanted boys. I can genuinely, 100% say that neither of us cared. We were more concerned with having a healthy baby. And so far, God has blessed us on that end, so I am happy with my little boy and just between us (And future Peanut), I am glad I had a little boy. Then he can be a momma's boy like all the other men I've come across in my life, ha ha ha. Sorry, I had to.
10. I worked until the day before I was admitted into the hospital. You hear that Peanut? Your mom pushed through as much as she could. Believe me, it was hard not ripping anyone's head off at work, but I succeeded! Towards the last trimester though, I didn't feel comfortable driving, I felt my car was so tiny, so I would drive in with my husband. It was wonderful! I didn't have to deal with traffic and sometimes I was able to take a nap on the way to work.
This is what has come to mind on my pregnancy thus far. I'm sure there's plenty more, but I want to make sure I do get some stuff on record, so I'm sharing this for now.
I heard a lot about it, especially while pregnant, but now here I am, almost 7 months postpartum, and I don't remember stuff that just happened a few days ago. I'm not sure if it's something hormonal, or there's too much on my mind, lack of sleep, or a combination of all three, but my memory is practically non-existent.
So I will try to relate what I do remember about my pregnancy, which probably won't be much and it might be all over the place. This post is just to safe keep random memories I have about my pregnancy, so they won't be lost forever and I can share them with Peanut one day.
1. My pregnancy was high-risk, due to a variety of factors, including thyroid issues, high blood pressure and my age (!!!). That wasn't fun because it required a lot more tests, including a 24 hour urine collection test that I had to complete twice. Ugh. I hated that part. It's exactly what it sounds like, collecting your pee in a plastic jar for a full 24 hours. Yay.
Every pregnant woman has to take a glucose test, which consists of drinking an extremely sugary drink and then getting your blood drawn an hour later to see how quickly your body breaks down the glucose. I was borderline the first time, so I had to take the 3 hour test, which sucked so much!
The last trimester I had to take weekly non-stress tests, where they strap a monitor to you to check the baby's heartbeat and stress levels. They were typically about half an hour long, depending on how active the baby is. Sometimes he feel asleep and they had to give me a couple of apple juices to wake him up. One time, the lady next to me was having issues with her baby being picked up by the monitors. They tried everything; juice, massages, changing positions, and nothing. Finally, they decided to take her to get an ultrasound but by this point she was understandably upset. I felt terrible for her and moving forward, had a mini panic attack every time they couldn't find my baby on the monitor right away. Ugh, and this test was supposed to monitor my stress levels, that's the ironic part.
2. I didn't throw up not once during my pregnancy! So excited about that one as I have an extreme aversion to throwing up like you have no idea. Just talking about it makes me queasy and witnessing it is a sure way to get me to join you. One of my biggest worries was having to throw up while driving or at work, because I'm sure I would be loud. I've only thrown up a few times in my life but I hate it so much that just the act of throwing up will gross me out enough to make me throw up even more and then it's just a long cycle of throwing up and being grossed out and throwing up so much more. Anyway, enough throwing up talk as I'm already feeling ugh typing it out. So, I carried plastic bags in my car and in my purse at all times, to make sure I didn't have any accidents. Luckily, I never threw up. I felt really nauseous my first trimester, hardly ate. Felt like throwing up plenty of times but I would suck on a peppermint (which helped a lot) to distract me and calm me down. I carried those peppermints everywhere!
3. I had an aversion to smells. People would walk past me and I would crinkle my nose, smelling something that others probably didn't even notice. I couldn't walk past a trashcan, the smell was so disgusting to me. Even normally pleasant odors, like perfume or cologne were a no-no for me. My husband started putting on his cologne downstairs, as I had a bad reaction when he would do it near me.
4. Another aversion I had, both smell and taste wise, was meat. Ugh, it was so disgusting to me. I was able to eat meet by the second and third trimesters, but that first one, I was not interested in meat. My husband's birthday fell in that first trimester and every year, he wants to go to a Brazilian steakhouse. I sacrificed myself and went, and ate from the salad bar. But just being there, was so hard. Dinner seemed to drag on and on. I could barely concentrate on eating, as most of my energy was put into suppressing the urge to be sick.
5. I didn't have any strange cravings, nor did I eat any weird combination of foods. Well, I did enjoy my fries with mayo and ketchup, but that's something I've had before. One thing I did like eating more often than most things was chips & salsa from my favorite Mexican restaurant. I would eat like a tub of it myself over the course of a couple of days. And that would be my meal. During my third trimester, I also ate Burger King often. A whopper, with cheese, no onions. It's what the baby wanted, apparently. But other than that, no late night, 3 am, watermelon and pickles with bbq sauce cravings. I mean, my husband might say different, but I think I was pretty easygoing on that front.
6. Heartburn was out of control. I'm sure the above mentioned chips & salsa didn't help, but man, I had heartburn all the time. I used peppermint and gum to try to alleviate that situation. But even pasta sauce or pizza gave me heartburn. It was uncomfortable. They say eating spicy food or lots of heartburn are a sign the baby will have lots of hair and boy does he.
7. We were blessed with 3 baby showers. They will get their own post as this one is already long enough.
8. The theme of our nursery is elephants & giraffes, as that's an inside joke between my husband and I. The color scheme is blue and gray and the furniture is white.
9. We nicknamed the baby Peanut early on, before we knew if he was a boy or a girl and it's kind of stuck. We found out as soon as we could, as we are planners and needed to know what color to decorate the nursery. For now it's blue, but if he decides he likes pink later on, we can change it. Both grandmas wanted girls, and the grandpas wanted boys. I can genuinely, 100% say that neither of us cared. We were more concerned with having a healthy baby. And so far, God has blessed us on that end, so I am happy with my little boy and just between us (And future Peanut), I am glad I had a little boy. Then he can be a momma's boy like all the other men I've come across in my life, ha ha ha. Sorry, I had to.
10. I worked until the day before I was admitted into the hospital. You hear that Peanut? Your mom pushed through as much as she could. Believe me, it was hard not ripping anyone's head off at work, but I succeeded! Towards the last trimester though, I didn't feel comfortable driving, I felt my car was so tiny, so I would drive in with my husband. It was wonderful! I didn't have to deal with traffic and sometimes I was able to take a nap on the way to work.
This is what has come to mind on my pregnancy thus far. I'm sure there's plenty more, but I want to make sure I do get some stuff on record, so I'm sharing this for now.
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