A look back on my pregnancy journey

I am 35 weeks pregnant! I never thought I would get here. I know I still have 5 weeks (give or take) to go, but thought I would recap some of my thoughts about pregnancy here.

Pros:

• Knowing that we are creating and growing our 1st child together
• Discovering that Stephen gives the BEST foot massages
• The generosity of our friends/family - Everybody is wanting/willing to help out where they can. Whether it was donating maternity clothes (Thanks Erin and Jennifer), offering their children's clothes/gear/toys (Thanks Beth, Sarah and Amie), coming to a shower (Thanks everybody), or offering to help with day to day tasks - It has been amazing to see!
• Eating dessert more often
• Not needing an excuse to NOT run :)
• Not spending money on shopping
• Bigger Boobs!

Cons:

• Sleep! I haven't been able to sleep through the night in 20 weeks. I know that everybody says 'get used to it'. However my hope is that once Samantha comes, I won't be in pain anymore, therefore, when I am able to sleep a few hours in between feedings, they will be solid/uninterrupted.
• CONSTANT peeing. I mean seriously - like every 1-2 hours.
• Expensive maternity clothes - you know I love a good deal, and let me tell you, there are NO good deals to be had when it comes to maternity clothes. They know that they can charge an outrageous amount and you have no choice but to fork it over.
• Not being able to buy new shoes - I really wanted some new fall boots a few weeks ago, so I went and tried some on. Not a good idea. Actually, like one of my worst ideas since being pregnant, so depressing.
• With that being said - swollen feet. I don't know what pregnant women in the winter do, none of my shoes fit. Thank goodness for flip flops.
• My patience is gone - I no longer have tolerance for stupidity or excuses. Its hard to be at work and bite my tongue....
• No wine
• No deli sandwiches (I pretty much lived on turkey sandwiches for the majority of my life)

Typical Pregnancy Symptoms - what I did and did not experience:

• Morning Sickness: I would get queasy and feel 'hung over' every evening in the first trimester, but only actually got sick one time.
• Loss of appetite: I definitely experienced this in the first trimester - nothing sounded good, (especially meat!) I lived on cereal and peanut butter and jelly. Stephen had to fend for himself because I never wanted to cook, I ended up losing about 7 lbs during that first few months.
• Cravings - Not really. I have been eating a lot of fruit, and more dessert than normal, but nothing that I 'need' to have.
• Being overly emotional: I think something is wrong with me - I am just not an emotional person. Some women complain about crying at the drop of the hat, overreacting, getting mad easily, etc - but I have been pretty normal (I think) through the entire pregnancy. Although, as I said earlier, my patience is gone now, but that's not really an emotional thing.
• Nesting: I am not sure I would call it 'nesting'. Yes, I have wanted the nursery to be complete, but its more of a taking it day by day thing. I have never had a huge urge to clean the house, as many of you know :) I do what needs to be done and clean about every other week or so. However anytime I ask Stephen to complete something in the house or nursery, he says "its your nesting..." No, I just want it done! :)
• Insomnia/Backaches/heartburn/charlie horses: Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes. ugggg.
• Stretch marks: not yet, but I still have 5 weeks to go - most people say that theirs happened in the last few weeks, so this could change, but so far, so good.
• Pregnancy Brain: Nope, not yet