I posed an interesting question for moms on Facebook: If you knew you only had a few days left sans baby, what would you spend your time doing? The responses were interesting – some were expected, some were funny. Mostly everyone said sleep, a few suggested making freezer meals (done and done!). I appreciated the advice to spend time with my husband… he’s certainly my favorite person in the world and any uninterrupted time I can get with him right now is not to be taken for granted. I’m not sure how often we’ll be able to go out on dates once the baby is here, but I do so love the “our” time we get together. It’s important in a marriage, I believe. And about to become very important, I suspect!
But the responses got me thinking. I am a firm believer that with gain comes loss, and seeing everyone’s responses made me a little sad – there’s so much that will be lost with such a substantial gain as having a baby! So my mind keeps turning the things that I’ll be gaining instead, and in particular, things I’m really looking forward to by not being pregnant anymore.
Don’t get me wrong: pregnancy hasn’t been horrible. Sure, I am not a fan of packing on the pounds, or all the typical symptoms that come with pregnancy, but a part of me knows that I’m pretty lucky. I’ve felt pretty great this whole pregnancy, even with the 24/7 first trimester sickness. I’ve been able to exercise and push myself quite a bit – including a 10k PR!
But let’s be honest. As blissful as one can be during pregnancy (and I’m certainly not the blissful type. Pregnancy’s been a 9-month long means to an end for me), things keep popping into my head that I’m really looking forward to once this chapter ends and the next begins.
1. Sleeping on my stomach. I went for a prenatal massage on Friday, and experienced my first prenatal massage table where there’s a hole in the table cut out for the belly and boobs. For the first time in perhaps 4 or 5 months, I was able to lay on my stomach and nearly fell asleep during the massage. It was HEAVEN! I wish they made prenatal mattresses! I’m a stomach sleeper, so giving it up has been difficult. My hips hurt from having to sleep on my side all the time. All I want to do is stretch out on my stomach with a big fluffy pillow and drift off.
2. Alcohol. Need I say more? There’s a build-your-own Bloody Mary buffet at a local brewery here that has my name all over it.
3. Pre-pregnancy pants. Most of my pants and skirts have moved over to the other side of the closet. We’re going to be reunited very shortly, I believe. It sucks to lose weight and have a wardrobe you spent money and time building, only to have to put it away for several months. I was lucky enough to wear a lot of my pants until about 4-5 months pregnant. But I yearn for the day where I can wear pants again that have real zippers and buttons.
4. Pushing myself during a run, and keeping up with the girls in treadmill boot camp.
5. Bending in half, tying my shoes without effort, and getting out of bed like a normal person instead of rolling myself off the mattress. All things that never occurred to me that would happen. It’s hard to bend over and pick something up when there’s a baby in your belly!
6. Indigestion and constipation – be gone! Years ago, I had my gallbladder removed and should have bought stock in Prilosec. When I was obese, I had to use it every other day because my indigestion was so terrible. When I lost weight, however, I was down to taking one about every 1.5-2 weeks. Tums actually worked for once since the surgery. And then came pregnancy. With a baby and a uterus pushing up on my stomach, I have indigestion all the time. Prilosec lasts about 2 days, and I am so sick of Tums that the only ones that don’t make me gag are the peppermint flavored ones. Oh, I can’t wait to stop dropping a ton of money on antacids!
7. Speaking of gagging… not being randomly sick after meals. Once the 24/7 nausea ended about week 10, I would (and still do) get randomly sick after meals. Some things seem to always make me sick (seafood), other things will be fine one day, but make me barf the next. During the second trimester, I could see that it was definitely tied to a surge in hormones, but in the past few weeks, it seems to be just totally sporadic. I had a $50 steak on my wedding anniversary. I ended up flushing it down the toilet. Ugh.
8. Middle school acne. I’m really praying that my skin goes back to normal after pregnancy, though I’m aware it may not. But I have high hopes. I’ve always had decent skin, but since being pregnant, my face won’t stop breaking out – badly. I don’t think I had zits this bad when I was a teenager! It seems as though my normally dry skin is now oily, and my once resilient skin has to be washed every single night. Dear God, PLEASE let this go away!!
9. Smaller boobs. Most women love pregnancy boobs. Mine were fine the way they were pre-pregnancy, and now they are the size they were when I was at my highest weight. I realize that since I’ll be attempting breastfeeding, that they’ll stay the same size for a while until I stop. But knowing that eventually they (should) shrink back to a smaller size and fit in my bras again gives me something to look forward to.
10. Having control over my body. I never realized how much I would sacrifice when it came to my own body. I’m so used to just doing whatever I want in terms of pushing myself with exercise, or choosing what to eat or drink, etc. When I became pregnant, I worried endlessly about what I was doing. Was it ok to run? Was it ok to eat this or that? What do you mean I can’t take Excedrin for a migraine, or Ativan to fly on a plane? Everybody has a list of do’s and don’ts, and most of the time, I tried to play it safe. But I gotta tell ya – Tylenol doesn’t do jack squat for migraines, and I’m so tired of wondering if it’s ok to eat this or that. I can’t wait to get out there for a sweaty run and really, really push myself without worrying for once!
