66 Weeks Pregnant - now illustrated!

Scene: Our master bathroom, this morning.

Landon: I'm a big boy. And daddy is a big daddy. And Tex is a big doggie.

JP/Me: (nodding, making general noises of agreement while getting dressed)

Landon: And Rosie is a big doggie. And Lilly is a big kitty.

[I suddenly turn to the side, revealing to maximum effect my giant belly that is somehow made to look even bigger in my purple top.]

Landon, with eyes as big as saucers: And Mommy is a BIG Mommy.

JP, laughing: Yes, but we don't tell her that.

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So yes I am 66 weeks pregnant and have the belly to prove it. I've decided to start adding in the 35 weeks I was pregnant with Landon because only that number accurately reflects how pregnant I feel. Everything continues to go well so I shouldn't complain- I'm not swelling, my blood pressure is super low, and I have no stretch marks or any other nefarious pregnancy symptoms, but I am just so tired of it. I miss my waist and my old clothes. I miss the way I used to be able to turn to the side to pass by something. I desperately miss wine and now that it's getting warmer, miss the possibility of a frozen margarita on an outdoor patio. Each morning I remain surprised to find this giant belly attachment that I need to swing out of the bed along with me. I have 8 weeks to go, and annoyingly enough, even in my most negative "I hate being pregnant" mood, I really do want to stay pregnant for the majority of them.

People have asked if it's been different being pregnant for a second time. Yes and no. At first I thought it went by much faster- and it did, until right about now when it has slowed to the same crawl that I remember from last time. I know even more now that I should be enjoying these last few weeks of uninterrupted sleep and time along with my little boy (who has morphed right back to his usual utterly charming and tantrum-less self), and yet I'm just as impatient to meet our baby girl as I was to meet Landon. That and I just seriously hate being pregnant and I'm ready to get back being the only one living in my body.

There are few differences. This time around I am way less focused on my weight gain, to the point of not noting it at all. I didn't do anything to attempt to restrict or control my weight gain last time (obviously, since I was +38 lbs. when Landon was born 5 weeks early), I just remember thinking about it a lot and always being aware of where I stood. But right now I couldn't even tell you how much I'd gained, though I think it's about 25-30 lbs. More than I was hoping, but nothing I'm concerned about (good thing, since I just ate a cookie the size of my head after lunch). The other major difference in this pregnancy is that I haven't done any pregnancy or baby-related reading at all. I barely even skim the babycenter.com updates that arrive every week. I think last time those emails and articles were my only connection to motherhood and my baby, so I reveled in them; whereas this time I've got a Landon running around who is SO much more fun than a fetus and I don't always need to know what variety of vegetable my baby looks like this week. Physically I feel about the same- maybe a little more tired, but I think that's because I have a Landon I want to play with after work rather than just a couch that needs to be sat upon (and also, I'm at work all day rather than just being a school for a few hours). But overall I don't feel like it's been too different this time around.

Lastly, I want to thank you all so much for your wonderful, helpful comments on my c-section post. I got so much from reading your stories, the positive and the negative, and from your advice- I even copied a bunch of them into a Word document for JP to read. So thank you. Thank you for understanding this sentence of the post, "I knew I had already made my decision as to how future babies would be exiting my body" and responding with your comments, experiences, and insights rather than judgment. It was all of tremendous help to me and will likely be a help to other women who google their way to that post as well.

57 more days!

(Not that I'm counting.)

Update! I got JP to grudgingly snap a picture of me after work today. I really need to start taking them in the morning when I haven't had my makeup on for 12 hours. But here's my 66-week belly, forever frozen in time: