10 Recent Pregnancy Thoughts: 26 Weeks

I’m 26 weeks along now. Some people say they feel like this pregnancy is going quickly. Those are the people who are not carrying the baby. However, I’m sure April will be here before I know it!

10: I have been experiencing a heightened desire to correct people’s grammar. So far I have been able to restrain myself because I don’t want to be that person, but if I see one more misplaced apostrophe on Facebook or hear someone say “ain’t” again in the next three months, I might come unglued.

9: However, if grammatically sound, people’s comments regarding my pregnancy aren’t bothering me as much as they did with my first pregnancy. The other day a woman with whom I am acquainted said “wow, that baby bump is really getting big.” I just let it roll off. Maybe it is just that I am more confident in my ability to deliver, raise a baby, and return my body to a state of relative fitness despite the extra pounds and Cesarean scar.

8: How does an OCD gal know if she’s actually nesting? I believe I’m in a permanent state of nesting, so I don’t know how much of my desire to organize my sock drawer or dust the entertainment stand a dozen times a day is pregnancy-related or just my usual personality.

7: I haven’t told my husband this yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ll emerge from the Stevie Nicks/Pretenders concert in February with a new list of baby girl names to include: Stevie, Chrissie, Nicky, Gypsy, Rhiannon, and Gold Dust Woman.

6: Take down your Christmas decorations or I’m going to puke. I had intense morning (all day) sickness with my first pregnancy that reached its pinnacle around Christmas and with this pregnancy, also experienced a great deal of nausea around the holidays. Every time I drive by a lingering plastic snowman or holiday wreath I feel as if I could be sick.

5: My ribs hurt. That’s where the pain seems to be concentrated this time around. I remember my hips and legs hurting with the first pregnancy, but this time it’s all ribs and my upcoming massage cannot come soon enough!

4: I’m not cool anymore. Maybe I never was, but being pregnant is a blatant daily reminder of this fact. It makes me think of what my Connecticut friend Tracee said she thinks when she drops her toddler off at her mother’s for a few hours. She said: “I just feel free and cool again. I don’t even smoke, but I just want to go buy a pack of cigarettes and roll the window down and crank up the music.”

3: Will I be able to love this baby as much as I love my first daughter? I realize the answer is most likely yes, but it is hard to imagine being able to love someone else as much as I love her.

2: I hope my older daughter is still excited when the baby actually arrives. Lately, her elation at her soon-to-be big sister status has compelled her to approach strangers in stores to let them know she has a baby sister in Mommy’s tummy. It’s her favorite topic of conversation.

1: Fewer than 100 days! My doctor won’t let me surpass my due date because of complications with my first pregnancy so we officially are within the 100-day mark! That is worth celebrating.