What Pregnancy Has Taught Lily: The Sequal
About four months ago, I wrote this post about all the little things that Lily has "learned" about pregnancy. With only a few weeks left, Lily has learned a few more things that most children didn't know about pregnancy, let's take a look.
Angela is "the Baby Lady"
Last week while I was frantically cleaning the house as to not embarrass myself waiting patiently for Angela to show up at our house for our appointment, I heard Lily at the window screaming "BABY!!! BABY BABY BABY!!!" I thought she had seen a baby in the parking lot or something, and went to investigate. Instead, what I saw was our midwife unloading her equipment from her trunk. I couldn't help but laugh as Lily proceeded to leave the window sill and run in circles around our living room screaming "BABY BABY BABY!!!" I'm starting to wonder if she thinks Angela is just gonna bring a baby to the birth...
You can easily outrun a pregnant lady
After figuring out that she can hide behind things that I just cannot fit behind anymore, Lily quickly figured out that if it comes down to it, she can outrun me. Eamon got to witness this yesterday when we went grocery shopping. We got down the stairs and were waiting near the parking lot. When Eamon came out, Lily took off. It's not a busy parking lot or anything, but that's not the point. Homegirl FLEW past me and proceeded to weave through the cars. Eamon watched his almost 9 month pregnant wife run around in the bent over "get your ass back here" run trying to catch his year and a half old, giggling toddler. After I gave him the "WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE?!?" look, he busted out laughing...such loving support in our marriage I tell ya.
Coconut oil is for your hoo-ha
So this one is pretty embarrassing...but it's definitely been something in Lily's learning process. When I'm pregnant, I get a yeast infection. Last time I had it from TWELVE weeks on, this time I've had it for about 8 weeks, so it hasn't been nearly as long, but it has sucked. Major. My midwife has been very encouraging with natural remedies [despite the fact that I ate AN ENTIRE PAN of lemon squares I made within a three day period. I'm not kidding. out of a 9x13 pan, Eamon ate two...] to help me cure this dreaded infection. One of them is coconut oil. And I tell you, it works miracles! The itching and burning [whoagross] are virtually gone when I use it, but there has been one unexpected side effect...Lily thinks that this alternative cooking oil is to rub on your lady parts. Come on moms, you know it's been an eternity since you've used the bathroom without an audience. Lily watches my every move some days, this is no exception. So when I saw her reach into our container of coconut oil, and wipe herself with it, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at my failure. I thought telling her "No no Lily, that's just for mama" might make it better. Nope. What did she proceed to do? Try to help me out by reaching her hand to my nether-region...Oh Lord. That pass was quickly intercepted.
Pregnant women cry...A LOT
It's no secret, pregnant women are hormonal. Ok, well maybe not all of them, but this one IS. Lily has started doing the sweetest thing whenever I'm having a "moment" She's started wiping my tears. She'll come up, right in my face, take my glasses off if I'm wearing them, and gently wipe away all of my tears. She'll say "Oh, sweet baby. I know, I know" and give me a big hug. I think we have a very empathetic little girl on our hands :] It's so sweet.
Well, we have our birth class tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited! It's cool not being the noob in class ;]
Happy Monday!
Mae
ME TOO!!!
You know what I love about blogs? This sort of community you can have with someone you've never met.
Spiritually, I've met Chelsea from Three Birds, and started talking to her on a personal level because it just got deep so quick!
In the Mommyhood world, I sorta stalked this trio turned quartet over at Pacing the Panic Room. It made sense because their little girl, Tessa is just a few weeks older than Lily. Then I found Emery Jo over at moms are for everyone! because our pregnancies are lined up [almost to the day!] this time around.
You've seen the instances where the Lord has been working on something in Chelsea's heart then starts doing the same in mine, but sometimes there are much more practical everyday occurances that happen that make me scream "ME TOO!" from my birthing ball in front of my computer.
For instance:
A few weeks ago we went to the park and there was this irritating little girl shouting at the top of her lungs, FOR TWENTY FREAKIN MINUTES
"D-I-N-O-S-A YOU ARE A DINOSAUR!" I went clear to the other side of the park to avoid Lily trying to copy her. This is one of the many times I hate going to the park. Kids swearing at the ripe old age of 4, other moms letting their kids be complete d-bags. OH, I AM that mom who says something. So I rolled over laughing when I read this post about little Tessa and her daddy going through the same thing.
Then, as I was preparing to blog about this week, I read Emery Jo's Valentine's Day experience...Holy Cow. Yup, The Flu & 35 weeks Pregnant is right! Monday night I was supposed to bring sushi to one of my newly newborn'd friends and bash The Bachelor while we coo'd over her little girl...but my lungs decided they wanted to leave my body and never come back. Then Lily and I both got fever. Her's got up to about 105 so we went to the ER and found out we had Flu A. BUT, Thank GOD it only lasted about 24 hours. We've both still got a little bit of a cough, but the doctors said it'd probably stick around for a few weeks...so boo to that, but ya for no fever!
And now: some random pictures!
![How Being a Mom Has Made Me Awkward[er]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/554ea22fe4b0c824fa18f09a/1431265681290-FGTJPMTJUXWRAKJ0YWRF/image-asset.jpeg)
How Being a Mom Has Made Me Awkward[er]
I've been waking up hour after hour every night for the past week hoping to get a text from a sweet fried saying "Start your praying, we're in labor!" With the snow the other night I even dreamt that her birth team couldn't make it fast enough and since I'm so close *I* had to go deliver the baby and photograph the birth! [Because you know, I'm an expert at both?!] Well this morning during my 5 o'clock "check your phone like a stalker psycho" I saw "2 unread messages" COULD IT BE?! I got ready to pray and then read "Woke up at 3 in active labor, H was born at 4:40" WHAT THE?!? PRAISE JESUS!!! So happy for my sweet friends, only a few more to go before mine gets here!
When I had Lily, I was just out of a very social job, hadn't been out of school that long, and still functioned like a normal human being.
A few months in [after being at home by myself for endless hours] I noticed I started losing my cool a little bit. I took Lily to a going away party for some friends one evening. The location took me over an hour to get to [hate living in the Metroplex], Lily was a hot mess by the time we got there. I was the only one there with a baby. There was another pregnant mom there, but that's about it. I sat off to the side for the most part [how do you tell the host of the party you're at to stop with the chain smoking? You'd think the pregnant lady and baby would slow 'em down, right?] Every now and then whoever wasn't afraid of a nursing mom [who had a cover on] would come and ask me how I was doing.
It was hot, [plus nursing increases your body temp to a comfy 115 at all times] Lily was getting sick of being shoved under the hooter hider, mosquitoes were gigantic and thought it appropriate to suck on my boobs as well, and I was getting sick of the second hand smoke. So like the loving, awesome mother/friend I am, I used my daughter. She was crying so I took her to the car to change her diaper. While I was there I decided "Screw it. I've gotta go." But what could I do? Lily was already conched out in her carseat, and the party was down a little trail. So I just left.
That's when it all started.
After a year of "Sorry! We can't make it, thanks for inviting us though!" Our friends were sure we hated them. But the truth is, when you don't have any family nearby, and all of your friends [read: sitters] get together, you can't do anything after baby decides it's time to go to sleep! So I counted my losses and moved on. "They'll understand when THEY have babies," I thought to myself. But then I realized...eh, no they won't. The whole "no family nearby thing" kinda puts a damper on situations.
But then I noticed that the weirdo in me was coming out more and more. While grocery shopping I saw one of the patients that used to come into the office I worked at. I knew her name, her baby's name, hell, I even remembered what day of the week she came on and her phone number, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to carry on a conversation with her.
She said "OHMYGOODNESS! Is this your baby?!"
"...Yep"
"Oh, well how old is she now? I didn't get to see her when she was born."
"She just turned a year old."
"THAT'S AWESOME!"
"Yeah...." trying to smile genuinely
"So...how have things been going? I see you didn't come back to work" She looked a little disappointed [and rightly so, right? I was an awesome receptionist ;] I kid!!!]
"Ya, I just sit at home now. And I'm pregnant again." pretty sure I sounded like Ben Stein at this point.
"Aw! Congratulations!"
"Thanks..."
Her adorable little girl was staring at me from the grocery cart, just a few months older than Lily, but smaller. Her and her mom were wearing matching headbands, didn't have a blemish on them, both wearing white, CLEAN shirts. I'm in sweats and Lily's in a dress, no shoes, hair in knots, half covered in hummus. She started to push her cart away.
"...uh, your daughter's really cute"
"Thank you!" she said with that sideways head tilt thing like "Ok, we gotta go now, you're a mess"
I stood there, amongst the bulk bins of rice thinking "Did that REALLY just happen? I can't communicate with the outside world anymore, can I?" So over the next few months I began to just accept that I am no longer one of the most popular girls on campus, that I can't just strike up a conversation with strangers on the street, let alone a good friend, or be seen in public with any sort of clean clothing.
Now I'm about seven months pregnant with #2 and we're going out to eat at a place we go to...maybe, twice a month? A waitress [who sees us every freakin time we're in there] sees my on my way to the restroom and says
"Oh! You're expecting another one?!"
Poor lady hardly had time to laugh before I shot her a look and said
"Obviously!?"
without missing a step.
"What the heck is wrong with me?!" I thought to myself as I sat on the toilet. Something has GOT to change!
The nail in the coffin came last week. My husband has a Non Verbal Learning Disability [It's the umbrella that covers a lot of disorders all the way down through Autism] so when he notices things, I know they are pretty obvious. Last week we were at an appointment and my doctor wrapped what I had just said up in a nutshell. I didn't quite understand how he got what he said out of what I said but moved on. Later that night I asked Eamon if he noticed anything different about me since becoming a mother. We started talking about how socially awkward I am and he said
"Well, like today, you looked at Dr. H like 'No D-bag, that's not what I meant' I mean, I'm sure he didn't notice, but you used to be able to hide that sort of thing."
I actually got embarrassed sitting on my own couch. That's not what I was thinking! That's just crazy, did I really do that?!?
What's gonna happen to me when #2 comes along? Am I just going to have to wear a sign that says "Don't talk to me, I will disappoint you" everywhere I go? Will my children be embarrassed to go out in public with me? Or worse yet, will they be the kids on the playground who say "Ya, I'm playing right now, can you go away?" I fear the worst. ;]
Hope you've had a great week, everyone!
Mae
Oh, and here's how said number two is cookin ;]
