Pregnant then, pregnant now

Because it's been on my mind I want to compare these pregnancies in "print", the good the bad and the ugly—fair warning.

First trimester

Then: Felt SO good for a couple of weeks, literally like I was on drugs and Foodland's fried chicken breast was the best thing on the planet. Then I was knock-down drag-out ill, dry heaved for almost 8 weeks straight, not much honest vomiting involved. Onions were a particular nemesis, vile, most unclean. Cream soups were my friend and crackers. Whatever yoga & running I had been doing was put on permanent hold—I was completely disturbed. Total denial about needing maternity clothes, tried bigger sizes first, The Man took me to the sole Motherhood store on Maui and I cried.

Now: Immediately after my Half Iron Man race mid-August, I felt SO good again, and simply crazed with hunger. I mean HONGREE, I'd wake up at 3 or 4am and have to eat something or else I couldn't sleep and would suffer the consequence of low blood sugar. Made absolutely sure I eat >> protein every morning first thing, less sugar, more protein…possibly this cut back on the nausea though I still suffered some dry heaves, especially if caught hungry without food (but that wasn't too different from heavy volume weeks of triathlon training). Kept up some running, walking, yoga, strength train, swimming, once confirmed pregnant though I cut out the road biking, picked up some spinning here and there. Belly pops out faster with the second, so there was no denial about comfort this time around, I pulled out the maternity wear at first pinch of the pants.

Second trimester

Then: Began prenatal yoga once a week for an hour, + massage minimum once a month, short bouts of walking. It's pretty warm on Maui most of the time, I think I started swelling a bit early. Felt better and kept gaining weight, too much weight as my doctor kindly reminded me every time I visited...as I said, I was disturbed, this constant reminder that I was FAT didn't help. Of course the kick azz pizza place, and the kick azz burger joint, and the kick azz taco stand just down the road didn't help matters. Add to those things the need to use cookies as a vehicle for all the milk I drank, well, not exactly ideal nutrition, no? Honestly I felt bad about myself every time I ate anything, but I couldn't not eat, 'cause then I'd be hangry (hungry + angry). Cruised, had a couple of total emotional breakdowns. As I will relate in person any time, "I didn't know I was a control freak until I got pregnant, and the only thing I ever really controlled with a compulsive constant (my body) went completely, awesomely, awry."

Now: Part of the weight rebound was most certainly post-race relaxation. I was pretty friggin' lean. This time though, my eating habits are well established from training & racing, there's not much to change really. Running became uncomfortable rather earlier than I expected, cycling most certainly off the table, swimming however becomes my saving grace. Some strength training periodically, and I even tried a body pump class but blimpish feeling would keep any pregnant woman out of those I think. In addition, the overheating I suffer sometimes was doubly an issue with pregnancy, as was eating during training. Found myself on more than one occasion whoozy after only 30 minutes of workout, and 'cause I'm slow catching on sometimes (read: stubborn denial) it took me a few workouts to just give in to eating for a simple 1 hour workout. Kept up some Fit Mama yoga and salsa dancing, a better workout than I'd expected, especially from a video. Made myself completely comfortable with maternity wear early, not going down that ridiculous road again. There's another Little Person around, and makes things a bit more challenging logistics, energy level, etc. I remember the day she gave me a hug 'round the waist ~5 months, we were standing in the bathroom and she had finally definitely noticed the change of circumference. Little Girl looked up at me, "Mama? WHY is your belly so big??"

Third trimester

Then: With the purchase of an elliptical machine I put workouts in on the porch at least a couple times a week, and walking, and natal yoga. One of my less than couth co-workers remarks, "Oh, wow, you look more pregnant than ffff…." His brain-mouth filter malfunctioning. "Fat? It's okay, dude, I understand." I continue working 40 hours a week, expecting my mom and siblings to visit around the due date. My husband is terrified of me, and for good reason, I was HUGE in a very real sense, and ridiculously swollen all over…shoot, I was freaked out and miserable. Everyone, and I do mean everyone had a wives tale about whether it's a boy or girl. Mostly heard votes of boy, maybe a handful of girl votes.

Now: Still eating well, the sugar cravings through the roof sometimes, "fatten that baby up!" said a friend. A salad a day, loving my veggies, the nutritional training that goes along with triathlon is super habit forming. Cruising along just fine up until about week 36, then hit a low energy wall. Having an almost 4 year old makes a big difference in what I'm able to accomplish in a day, and it daily becomes less and less. Now that I understand the "end game" of pregnancy, watching My Miss Monkey grow & develop, with the NEW person in mind—it remains miraculous that two people can produce different versions. If this one is a girl we sort of have a baseline, but they'll still be different. If it's a boy, wow, even different-er. Again, vast majority votes boy. I'm more-belly than I was last time, my center of gravity is completely outta whack. At > 38 weeks I'm pretty tired of heaving this belly around. Wanna know how I know I'm smaller though? Well, there are pants that barely fit me toward the end last time, that are still loose on my lower hips/legs this time—THAT is proof to me. Also, I haven't had to switch to XL maternity wear…L has been enough.

Labor

Firstborn: First contraction on a Monday 3 days past due, more Tuesday with a massage, Wednesday 1 cm dilated recommended I eat good birthday breakfast and then no roughage the rest of the day. Doc said if water broke to go to hospital, of not go to hospital anyway 'cause we're a full week overdue. Contracted consistently, more intensely, all night long then to MMMC super early Thursday. My mom is on crutches as she had busted her ACL in the shore break, at Makena beach. Once at the hospital, still only 1 cm. L So they dose me Pitocin in stages, I breath through every contraction, one at a time. My Loving Husband is there, with me, every step of the way. He's my man, I love him so much. Eventually, at the most intense contractions, just before the feeling to push, it occurs to me, "wow, this is really intense, maybe next time I'll consider drugs." *pause, read that again*
That's right, it says "next time", even drunk on pain, in that haze, I already knew I would do it all again. When I told The Man to report to the Doc & nurse that I wanted to push, he left a moment, returned wide-eyed saying "they're not that concerned! Wait 10 more minutes, they said." So then, after a cervical adjustment where I almost jumped off the bed, I finally got the go ahead to push. About an hour later, Miss Fiona Adelaide was breathing her first beautiful breath, squalling, turning pink. And today, right now, at this moment, she's dancing around the living room, purple fairy wings, singing random songs in her early birthday gift dance slippers.

Second born: After learning of my 1 cm dilation at my last check-up, discussing it, I decided that if I didn't labor by Sunday's due date then we'd induce Monday morning. Why continue being uncomfortable? We were to call prior to arrival in order to ensure there was a bed available. Now that I'm experienced I see that this is what my doc asked me to do the first time, too. The decision made me nervous, I didn't like it at all, I really wanted to do this without a boost. I started contracting Saturday, I figured okay, great, we'll be in hospital by Monday for sure. I called to cancel the induction, only to find out later that the young doctor ignored me…the hospital called early Monday asking where I was because they had orders for me, but no mama present. My contractions were sneaky, and had subsided. Monday afternoon they asked me to come in and sit with the monitors for a while. Later that afternoon I crawled around the backyard digging out dandelions, and the following morning I had some very real contractions very early. Then those subsided slowly also. Labor check at the doc's office reveals ruptured membranes a.k.a. water broken, and I'm sent to the Childbirth Center. After a nice lunch with Ms. M and soon-to-be big sister in the café we head over and check in. Early afternoon I'm hooked into the Pitocin, around dinner time things got really intense, 15 minutes of pushing and the New One arrived at 8:08pm. At first the cord was around her neck twice, then she wasn't breathing right away, apparently had swallowed/inhaled some fluid. So she was only on my tummy for a moment before they took her to the bin to get her pinked up. In the interim I got severely chilled, and before they gave her back to me, at least I think that's what happened. One would have to ask The Man what order everything happened 'cause it's a bit blurry to me. So, a smooth labor, smooth delivery, and a healthy baby girl! Esme Caitlin has since thoroughly made her presence known.