9 Pregnant Thoughts

How I’m almost five months into this pregnancy is beyond me. Someone asked me how far along I was last week and I told her, “Four months.” Then I realized I’m actually closer to five. Whoa! 

These are some random thoughts I’ve had over the last several months—actually some are more like tips for me to remember the next time I get pregnant, but I thought I’d share them here. 

1. I wish I made freezer meals the second I found out I was pregnant. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t want to even walk into the kitchen or that I opening the refrigerator would make me gag during my first trimester (actually, the freezer had a wicked stench, too). There were seriously more than a few times when boiling water for pasta was too challenging, so I opted to eat crackers for dinner instead. Next time I get pregnant, my husband deploys, and I’m living in a foreign country, I plan on having lots of meals already prepared.

2. Invest in toilet paper and put more than you think you’ll need in every bathroom! I knew pregnant ladies go to the bathroom a lot more, but getting up to pee four times in the middle of the night was more than I bargained for. True story: I once ran out of toilet paper during one of those 3 am pee-runs and there was no way I was going downstairs to scrounge up another roll. Invest in extra toilet paper. You’ll thank me in the middle of the night.

3. Start slathering on that cocoa butter! Bright red stretch marks around your belly button at 13 weeks when you’re still down two pounds is very hard to deal with. Even though I was using the cocoa butter I already have permanent marks of Pickles’ early existence. (Have you seen the following picture? Read the quote. It makes every single stretch mark I have and will get completely worth it.) 

Cassie Fox, you have a gift with words.

4. Say yes to (almost) anything you’re invited to. Honestly, leaving my house during the first trimester was the absolute LAST thing I wanted to do, but I knew that accepting my friends’ invitations for dinners and luncheons meant I wouldn’t have to cook for myself. I sucked it up, slapped my face a few times, popped some peppermint candies, put on a (somewhat) happy face, and went out. Luckily, all of my friends out here knew I was pregnant before the third-month mark, so they were all extremely empathetic about what I was going through.

5. Ask for help. I couldn’t stand the scent of chicken or onions, but I was going to a party and really wanted to make my Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas. I was going to suck it up, plug my nose, and cook the poultry, but then I realized I could ask for help. I felt so silly calling my friend to see if she wouldn’t mind cooking and shredding the chicken, and dicing up the onions for me, but having her help me with those steps was such a blessing.

6. It’s okay to cry at the drop of a hat and freak the heck out about all the changes and things to come. 

7. Bagels and cream cheese, cereal, oatmeal, grilled cheese, potatoes, quesadillas, toast, rice, mac ‘n cheese, and anything else that’s starchy, white, and totally bad for you will be your best friend. Seriously. Say it with me: “Carbs are your friend.”

8. I still haven’t read any of the pregnancy/baby books I own or friends have let me borrow. They’re sitting behind me on a
bookshelf collecting dust. I use the pregnancy apps on my phone to tell
me what’s going on each week. I’m pretty positive my husband knows more
about what’s going on and what will happen with my body than I do. I’m
sure I’ll pop open a book or two…eventually.

9. Apparently feeling like you’ve been kicked in the crotch
is “completely normal.” So is belching like a frat boy. Pregnancy is
attractive, let me tell you.

Can you relate to any of these? Pleeease tell me I’m not alone!