on becoming a moma [guest post]

I am thrilled to have Emily from Moments & Momentos share some of her own pregnancy experience. I thought it would be neat to gather some perspective from another moma to be. Thank you for sharing your journey with us thus far - 

I am so excited for all the good stuff to come (although I can't promise it's all good to 40-42 weeks, but it gets better!) 

And yes, signing us up for a play date when your little arrives :)

So, first off, I must begin by saying a few words about Brenda/Caren and express
how excited I am to be a guest writer for her See You in November blog.  Brenda and

I met for the first time back in the summer (June, right?), which was about the time

when she was just a few weeks into her second trimester and I was a few weeks

away from being pregnant. I was super excited to meet her as we have many mutual

friends, I have heard her sing that beautiful instrument of a voice she has, and I

felt like I practically knew her already through the many-a-comments I’ve read of

hers on Mel and Adam’s loft blog. July came around followed quickly by August,

and my husband and I were blessed with the news that we were expecting our first

little one! @#%$&^#*$©ƒß¨∑˚!!!!! (<---- that was our excitement at the time and

still is today) See You in November became somewhat of a coaching tool for me. I

have enjoyed reading about Brenda’s experiences as she prepared for and grew her

little miracle llama Stella and I have been able to relate to as well as learn a lot of

things from her writing. So, in short, thank you Brenda for your inspiring, funny,

interesting, and endearing words that you have shared with us through your blog,

and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to add my own little two cents on

growing a nugget.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned so far (at 21 weeks I realized the learning is

just beginning) through this whole pregnancy experience is how vastly different

every expecting momma is in terms of the physical side effects of pregnancy. I know

many people who say “Oh, I just LOOOOOVED being pregnant!” or “Aww, I really

miss being pregnant, there’s no feeling like it!” or something along the sorts. Those

comments kinda gave me false impressions, not gonna lie. Let’s just say it took me

a while to not want to go knock on the door of all of those women and demand they

tell me exactly WHAT it was they loved about being pregnant???

Regardless, I knew going into this whole thing that it probably wasn’t going to

be “easy peasy” (more like “peasy queasy”!) or “smooth sailing” (“CAUTION:

Rough Waters”) or a “piece of cake” (I didn’t want to TOUCH cake for 3

months)....…HOWEVER, I had no idea what exactly we were getting ourselves into

until about a week after the home pregnancy test when the excitement and thrill

was quickly overshadowed by nausea and sprints to the toilet. I say “we” because

although I was the one physically experiencing the lovely joys of morning all-day

sickness, Nate, my husband, was by my side the entire time feeling helpless. It was

really hard for him to not be able to alleviate my nausea or help me when I was in

tears from feeling so miserable, especially in the beginning. By the end of the first

trimester, my vomiting and general yucky-ness were the norm and became part of

our daily grind. One of the things that got me through it all (besides knowing that in

April I will be holding our precious baby) was thinking of the billions and trillions of

women who came before me and managed to do this, so I could do it too. Now those 
are days of the past. Things are much better and I can start to relate to my friends

who loved being pregnant (though I don’t honestly think I could ever gush and rave

about it like them ) Nate lovingly refers to my first trimester as “The Dark Days” and

we laugh about it now. And as hard as THAT part was, our baby isn’t even here yet!

So I like to think of The Dark Days as an intense training for the many hard times/

sleepless nights/teary eyes that will surely come in April along with our new family

addition.

After 14 weeks my nausea subsided. Now the only downfalls include occasional

heartburn, headaches, cramping, and sleep discomfort. But again, not every

momma-to-be experiences these things, and I find it fascinating how individual each

pregnancy is.

      self portrait at 17 weeks.

Now, I’d like to end this post with some of the good stuff (aka the second trimester ).

I haven’t puked in weeks and I have gained back all the weight I lost early on (and

then some my friends!). I am clearly showing and I love my belly. I love wearing

maternity clothes and find it really fun (though I hear this fun wears off after about

28-30 weeks when you feel like you can’t get any bigger yet you undoubtedly will).

In the last few weeks the “quickening” has turned into legit kicks and I am

absolutely in love with the feeling of our baby wiggling and flipping and dancing

inside of me. It has been my favorite part thus far and I grab Nate’s hand whenever I 
think they are strong enough to feel on the outside so he can experience the joy as

well. We are not finding out the sex of the baby and I couldn’t imagine it any other

way. No idea what we’re naming him/her yet but I’m okay with that. Our first

ultrasound was two weeks ago at 19.5 weeks and it was AMAZING to see our little

one in such a real way. 

     first ultra sound at 19.5 weeks.

I am a high school art teacher, and love sharing the news

with my 138 students and laughing at their hilarious reactions, comments, and

advice (which is another blog post altogether). Hearing the baby’s heartbeat at my

monthly appointment is like music to my ears. Being able to eat whatever I want

and not have it come back up is also a great feeling. My sister is pregnant with her

second now and our babies will be 5-ish weeks apart which is beyond exciting! I

have a lot of friends with little ones on the way or recently-born (I’m talking to you,

Baby Stella!) and can’t wait for our kiddies to meet. To sum it up, my pregnancy is

now a part of me and I look forward to the weeks and milestones ahead. Pregnant

mommas may all be different physically (and emotionally and mentally and every

other way), but one thing we have in common is our end goal. I am in no rush to

reach that end goal (hello, To-Do list!, when did you get so long!?), but I do

anticipate it with growing excitement each day. And to my little 10-inch, sweet-

potato-sized baby wiggling in my belly as I type this, I’ve got four words for you: 
See You in April!

     at 20 weeks I took Baby to Philly to visit my brother and 

     posed in front of this famous (and appropriate) sculpture.