Behind the Bump

Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing. 

When I stop and think about it, I get chills at the thought of this little human being, being formed inside of me. My body is on auto pilot and there isn't much I need to do in order to ensure her healthy arrival! Such a miracle. I am a week away from meeting our little princess & my family and I are over the moon. Such an exciting time in our lives.. 

But it hasn't been all rainbows and butterfly's.

There is so much they don't tell you about pregnancy!

Sure you hear about the "morning sickness" & the "heartburn"

But there is so much more in between, and off the wall things that can happen!

This pregnancy has been anything but easy for me. 

I have always been a positive person and I believe in the quote:

"fake it until you make it" thanks to my days educating at Paul Mitchell. 

So most of you haven't seen a glimpse of what I have been going through. 

So here is my 

"What really happens during pregancy speach" 

(According to my personal experience of course)

1st trimester:

During the 1st trimester you are all full of excitement and a roller coaster of emotions. 

It's such a happy time! Your mind begins to wonder, boy/girl? What should we name the baby?

Oh the nursery! (& the planning begins) The first few appointments are so exciting, especially when you get to see your little peanut on the ultrasound screen. There is nothing like hearing the heartbeat for the first time!

However, along with those joys- come the morning sickness. 

When they say  "morning" they use that term loosely. At least for myself.

It lasted ALL day and I have actually had it during my entire pregnancy! It never went away

once I made it into the 2nd trimester, like it does for most. I tried 3 different medications prescribed by my doctor before we found the one that worked for me to help take the nausea away. Even then I had to make sure I had food in my system, but that my stomach wasn't to full because I would get sick, or it wasn't too empty because- YUP! You guessed it, I would get sick! 

In the beginning I lost 12 lbs from not being able to keep much down. 

Next up exhaustion! I have always been a big believer in naps! When I am able, I make sure to sneak one in! However once I got pregnant it's like I couldn't sleep enough. My husband always joked and said I was in a coma, he wasn't far off! If I was not at work, you could find me in bed or on the sofa catching some ZzZzZZ's. This never really went away as the pregnancy went on either. It just got worse. Especially now in my 3rd trimester. 

Ohhhhhhhh the heartburn. There is NOTHING that can prepare you for this! Tums, antacids, chews whatever you can take becomes your best friend. My purse looked like a heartburn bomb went off for months! I have multiple stashes all around the house! In the kitchen, next to my bed & some in the bathroom! So whenever it would strike I would be ready! This as well got worse the bigger I got. Which makes perfect sense, seeing as how the bigger baby Hadley gets, the less room there is in my belly causing everything I eat or drink to just sit at the top & create indigestion. 

2nd trimester:

Random symptoms can occur, and you can acquire an illness that you have never had before, and most likely will never have again after pregnancy. For me this started with carpel tunnel. 

I am a hair stylist, as most of you know... so I wasn't shocked when I discovered my wrists and hands tingling, going numb and having the worse burning sensation. It got to the point where I now sleep with wrist braces on, I have seen a massage therapist who worked on my hands and taught me tricks to help ease the pain. It would be one thing if you could take real pain medicine during pregnancy but Tylenol doesn't do much for me! Work got to be difficult as my hands would give out during a haircut or color service. Shampooing was the worst! My doctor feels this may be one thing that stays with me after delivery due to my line of work! So there may be a surgery in my near future! 

Which I am a-okay with if it gets rid of the pain. 

Even really attractive things like hemorrhoids can occur. 

We wont even go into detail about these, but know it can happen!

What a weak bladder you end up having! Potty breaks are more often than not! They even wake you from your sleep! They come on out of no where and sometimes you don't even make it to the bathroom! You can even pee a little when you cough or sneeze! I know, attractive right?! The potty breaks that wake you, I feel are just preparing me for those late night feedings. So I actually don't even get mad anymore. I just try to think about what it will be like when she's here and how excited I am to see her face!

Like I mentioned before the morning sickness, heartburn & exhaustion 

just increased during my 2nd trimester!

You even have the possibility of getting gestational diabetes, which I was so blessed to have skipped this symptom! Many woman I know have had it and actually get it during every pregnancy! You get the luxury of drinking a very sugary, syrup like drink an hour before they take blood work! That's how they determine your results or see if you need further testing! Most woman complain about how awful the drink taste, I myself didn't mind it! I had the orange flavor and felt that it just tasted like very sugary Hi-C! 

Swelling is no joke! I know I am on my feet all day doing hair so it doesn't help- but the sooner you start wearing compression socks, the better! So what if you feel like an old lady! I wish I would have started a long time again. I have no more ankles, and my feet can't even fit into most of my shoes & boots anymore. My ankles look like softballs when I get home and take my shoes and socks off! My hands and face have even swollen a little bit. I can no longer wear my wedding bands. I purchased a fake set at Wal-Mart for like $10 and I can occasionally squeeze it on if my hands aren't too bad, but most days I don't even bother!

3rd trimester:

Now keeping all those symptoms in mind, lets add just a few more!

Your body aches all over. But mostly in your lower back, hip's and pelvis where baby is now hanging out and making their way down to get ready for birth! You will feel so much pressure. I always joke that when I stand up she is going to fall out! (If only it were that easy, right ladies?!) You totally begin to waddle! My husband always mocks my walk when were hanging out around the house. He says I look like an old lady, with a hunchback, with bow legs. Such a sweetheart right? he he.

Turning over in bed becomes difficult, you have to pretty much lift your entire body up and re-adjust. 

Vomiting & Diarrhea have become a thing for me recently. Again so attractive right? I told my doctor and her response was "Yeah I didn't wanna tell you but usually if you are really sick in the beginning it comes back in the end ten times worse" So while I am still on my nausea medication I am occasionally throwing up again and spend a lot of time in the bathroom,  if ya catch my drift. 

I am sure you have heard about them, but braxton hicks are no fun! They are just false contractions, preparing your body for the real deal. But they still don't feel pleasant and can come in at anytime. Normally they go away if you drink some cold water, or you change positions. 

Recently I had a preeclampscia scare. I went into my docs for my weekly visit and they detected protein in my urine. They told me to watch my blood pressure because when high BP is paired with protein in your urine it is a major sign for preeclampscia. Which means you can get seizures during pregnancy. Another one of those symptoms that come during these 40 weeks, and usually disappear after delivery. Other things that come along with this disease are horrible headaches that can't be taken away with Tylenol or caffeine. They may even blur your vision. You could become dizzy and lightheaded. I had multiple of those. 

Which lead to me doing a 24 HR urine test (let me tell you how NOT fun that was! Peeing in a jug EVERY time you had to go- for 24 hours), and had multiple blood test done. My results all came back okay but my doctor told me they were classifying my symptom as gestational hypertension, which just means high blood pressure during pregnancy. Therefore like preeclampscia the only "cure" for this is to deliver the placenta. 

So my doctor no longer wants to risk me going past my 37 week mark, meaning I will be induced and have baby girl 3 weeks early! We already have it scheduled and I have to go to the hospital for Non Stress Tests twice a week until she arrives to monitor her and I and make sure my BP doesn't rise. With gestational hypertension if your BP is all over the place like mine, it doesn't take much for it to switch to preeclampsia. Which can be very dangerous for mom! In most cases, baby is not affected. 

So I am on bed rest until she makes her arrival. They don't want me working any longer and just taking it easy so that we can make it to that 37 week mark so she is mature and considered full term. 

They recommend I lay on my left side as much as possible, as that is the ideal position for baby and I, to keep my BP normal. 

Now it is just a waiting game! 

Luckily I already had my amazing baby shower, which I will be blogging about later this week!

So I have all the things I NEED for baby! 

& Her nursery is all done !

(which I will also be blogging about soon, 

so you can all see what I have been working on the last 9 months)

We are ready for you Hadley Renee!

All the crazy symptoms in the world couldn't keep me from you.

& I know I haven't even met you yet, but I know I would do it all over again in a

heartbeat if the outcome was getting you!

<3