A List Of 3rd Pregnancy Complaints, In Alphabetical Order, While I Can Still Remember What That Means
A List Of 3rd Pregnancy Complaints, In Alphabetical Order, While I Can Still Remember What That Means #epicwhiningahead
1. Exhaustion – My current nap schedule rivals that of a 3 month old, which makes sense because I’ve had something sucking all the energy out of my body for the past 3 months. I feel like I have one of those video-game life bars over my head that never gets above about 50% and usually hovers around 10. Just enough that I am not ACTUALLY asleep or dead, but not enough to handle reaching over there to put on the bra I took off at 9 am when someone knocks on the door. I will say having a 4 1/2 year old is very handy in this situation, since he thinks fetching things for me is the Best Game Ever and will bring me food/drinks/the remote/a blanket and pillow for another nap. But I’m still not putting that bra back on.
2. Feelings – The combination of the holidays + Caroline turning 3 + pregnancy means I’m basically 20 seconds away from sobbing at any given moment. I cry during Match.com commercials, which are the lowest form of emotional string-pulling currently on TV. I cry reading Buzzfeed roundups. I get myself worked into screaming rage fits over comments on the internet that have absolutely nothing to do with me in ANY WAY. Listening to the radio in the car is a game of sobbing roulette, just waiting for a sad song or an NPR story about poverty of any variety. If someone were to be kind to me in public (putting my shopping cart away, holding a door, not giving me dirty looks when Evan yells “FARTS” in public) I would become inconsolable within seconds and probably scare them out of ever being kind to a stranger again.
3. Hugeness – I am starting this pregnancy at a higher weight than my first two (I ate a lot of feelings over the past year) and it is not very pleasant. I don’t know if any of my maternity clothes are going to fit (I can’t find them) and I KNOW none of my bras do. I’m not going to have an adorable bump or take cutesy maternity photos or impress anyone with my pregnancy style – if I make it 9 months without splitting my pants in public I will consider it a win. My doctor is not concerned (or at least has the tact not to point out it was stupid to get pregnant before I got back in shape because IT’S TOO LATE NOW) and I have plans to keep attending my gym and stay as active as I can…but I am not one of those people who gains 6 pounds and leaves the hospital in her skinny jeans. I do not plan to beat myself up over it (again TOO LATE NOW) but it sort of…sucks.
4. Morning Sickness – I should go back and reread post from both previous babies, since I am guessing I did have medium-to-disruptive morning sickness with them and have just blocked it out. I DEFINITELY remember that after I had Caroline it never really, truly went away – if I brush my teeth in the morning while still half-asleep I almost always gag myself. My current schedule goes like this: wake up, try not to move any more than necessary until I can get to the bathroom, throw up nothing for a while, feel like crap, eat something around noon, eat something around 2 pm, eat something around 4 pm, start feeling crappy again, try not to throw up until I go to bed. If I’m still awake at midnight it starts over again with the eating. I crave spicy food but am scared to eat it too much because that is an unfortunate choice when it comes back up. I’m not in danger of dehydration and it’s not bad enough for medication but it does feel like it’s going to last forever. THIS IS MY LIFE NOW.
5. Slightly overwhelmed and/or terrified – Three children is a lot of children. Outnumbered. Zone defense. We’re out of bedrooms and easily accessible seats in the van. I haven’t really thought much about the reality of three kids, since I haven’t fully convinced myself this one is real. (Sidebar that should probably be a whole post: It’s amazing how much one extremely early loss has changed my belief in pregnancy. I had no problem announcing I was pregnant the second I got a line on the stick the first two times because I had no experience with anything but a full-term outcome. Now I have a hard time believing I’ll ever get a baby out of this, despite the fact that everything is totally fine so far. I can’t imagine how much worse that feeling/worry is for someone whose suffered multiple losses or false positives.) But since it’s already 2014 I’m going to have to think of the details of adding a 3rd baby soonish. My current plan is bunks for the current gingers in Caroline’s room with the front bedroom as a nursery. It will give me an excuse to paint it something other than the VERY blue I chose for Evan (we’re not going to find out what this one is) and buy bunk beds, which is something my childhood heart has always wanted.
I really like lists and this I will blog lots of lists from now on. Coming soon: lists of things I am convinced are wrong with me, lists of stuff I need to replace for this baby because mine are broken/gone and I cannot live without them, and lists of lists. Also the story of how my 4 year old lost his first tooth due to a face-smashing. Maybe bunk beds aren’t a terrific idea.
Tags: 12 weeks, baby #3, Caroline, evan, family, first trimester, ginger babies, kids, pregnancy, pregnant
So sorry you are so sick! And this sounds like a post I would write if I was pregnant with baby #3. Hang in there. Your kids would LOVE bunk beds– I did when I was a kid! :)
Congrats to you on Number 3! I’m not going to blow too much sunshine; being pregnant with a third while taking care of the first two is NOT easy, and there are definitely challenges when the baby actually arrives, but you will survive, I promise. :) Crossing my fingers that your morning sickness subsides!
#3 sounds AWESOME! Can I have another too?! I say this with my ovaries talking and the mommynesia that has blocked out the horror of Ethan’s pregnancy and that fake ha ha laugh of OF COURSE that’s how bad it is without really remembering. That being said, I hope you don’t throw up in public (only vivid bad memory) and I cant wait to see ginger #3.
I’m sorry you are feeling so sick!! And that Evan lost a tooth but I bet he looks super cute. I have to say, I am so excited for you that you are not finding out the sex of the baby. So few people do that and I totally get it, but I have to say it was pretty cool both times to not know. You won’t regret it!!
I have to say I wrote this post really late at night and I have to say I am sorry for the repetitive phrasing. I just had to say that.
I’m no mama but it sure sounds like that sickness is enough for medication, especially if it was a lingering symptom!
Girl, complain away! This third pregnancy, although mostly uneventful, has been rough physically. I have only gained a total of 16 lbs because I’ve been so sick!
Ahhhh my entire pregnancy I was terrified of miscarrying and had horrific nightmares about it, thanks the early-2nd-trimester miscarriage I’d had before it. It happens! It’s horrible! Human brains are JERKS!
Hopefully you’ll get to feeling better soon.
About the weight: I’m really super fat and haven’t gone on a weight-loss diet in YEARS (although I follow a fairly specific diet because of digestive/health issues). I gained a total of 12 pounds while pregnant, and lost ALL of it by 3 days post partum. I’m not saying this to brag or anything (that’s really gross! stop doing that, folks!) You body will gain the amount of weight it needs to gain to sustain you and your baby. It’s really REALLY common for people who’ve dieted/lost weight prior to conception to gain a very large amount of weight while pregnant because the body panics and packs the weight on, finally free of being starved. Being fit is an AWESOME goal and I hope you can find something that helps you feel physically comfortable and strong and flexible and everything else you’re gunning for. But please don’t feel bad about being “too fat” or anything like that. There’s a lot of very expensive marketing at play, targeted at women, ensuring that we’ll hate our bodies and want to spend lots of money and time changing them.
Pregnancy is hard and parenting is hard and three kids sounds like it’ll be a challenge. But it sounds like you’ll be able to do it! Good luck! Have as much fun as you can, even despite the barfing.
Hang in there, friend! I barf non-stop all the way through my pregnancies, so I feel ya on the morning sickness. It is the worst. Hopefully you can distract yourself with some room planning – I can’t wait to see the new bunk beds and nursery!
I don’t know if it makes any difference to you, but you will rock 3 kids. This is coming from someone who had many of the same 3rd pregnancy complaints/fears. I don’t talk about it because it feels insignificant in the wake of losses friends have suffered, but I had a miscarriage the year before I got pregnant with Ev. So I get those feels. I was even more paranoid, though, after the rupture with Del. I wasn’t sure if my uterus could actually handle the third pregnancy after that. That’s why we waited until I was 20 weeks along to announce the pregnancy. I’ll keep keep my sticky thoughts on you and Amy and everyone else with the same fears. But I wanted you to know, 3 takes a little getting used to..but you will rock it.
Ooh, congrats! I haven’t had any time to read blogs so totally missed your big news!
Just wanted to tell you that I get the complete disbelief that an actual baby will be coming home with you. I’m 35 weeks today and I still can’t see us bringing him home. Like, at all. And I get anxiety attacks before ultrasounds because we found out she died at our 20-week gender scan. So third pregnancies suck for us, right?! Man, these babies better be amazeballs.