The Beginning of the End

Conflicting reports on a tree next to Jim Morrison's grave in Paris.

At the beginning of my pregnancy when I complained about something regarding my body, the baby, life, etc being uncomfortable my mom liked to say, "This is only the beginning" or "Just you wait." At first she was serious. I don't remember when I finally snapped and told her to knock it off. I assume it was somewhere after the first or second time she said it - I'm not one to put up with things I don't like and luckily my mom and I have an amazing relationship to where I can actually tell her to hush it and she respects that. From then on the phrases became jokes in our house. I would say, "I'm tired" and her response (followed by me mocking her) was, "this is only the beginning!" Yesterday I reached 27 weeks and officially starting the third trimester. I have been having Braxton-Hicks contractions that are getting uncomfortable and when I commented on this my mom instinctively said, "this is only the beginning!" Thinking about it, I told her, "No, I'm in the homestretch!" (Later realizing that she was actually right this time, BH contractions are nothing compared to real labor.) I think it hit both of us at the same time, I'm almost done. This baby is on her way anywhere from 9 to 14 weeks! I can tell she's running out of room in there because rather than the incredibly strong kicks and punches, I'm feeling her roll and flip more. I can feel the weight of my belly increasing, not from my diet, but from little Junebug getting heavier and heavier. I can tell the last trimester is going to be rough with the heat and getting substantially bigger but thank heavens I have an amazing reward at the end. 

I've read, heard, been lectured on how the second trimester is golden but once you hit the third, it's almost like the first all over again. I've been pretty lucky in this pregnancy that the only really terrible physical symptoms have been awful, ridiculous heartburn, sciatica and that pesky abdominal pain that no one has any idea what to do about. I'm sure it could be worse. I actually got some energy back in my second trimester, meaning I could wake up at 630am (I've always been an early riser) and stay up until 10pm with no nap. However, as if there were some internal calendar that told my body that we've hit the third trimester, yesterday I was exhausted. Woke up early like usual, worked my normal hours with the daycare, went to the pool and by 930 I was asleep. It wasn't the falling asleep early like, "Oh, I'll get in bed now." It was more like get in bed, take off glasses, pass out. I didn't plug my phone in to charge like I always do, I didn't even move my glasses to the nightstand (I left them on Thomas' pillow and then couldn't find them this morning). I'm curious to see if this exhaustion will continue for the next 12 weeks or 18 years.

I decided to start getting my body ready for labor, which I should have been doing this entire time but I'm not a fan of exercising. I figured working 8 hours a day with children between the ages of one and four, running after them, taking them for walks, etc was enough for me. I'm slowing down at work, not lifting the kids, letting my mom or the fab Miss Stacy run after them, sleeping while they're on my watch (just kidding). I knew swimming was recommended for pregnancy exercise and with the temps rising in sunny southern California I've been at the pool a lot. Yesterday I decided that I'd actually swim, not just lounge around the shallow end. With Thomas as my coach/partner, I swam 10 laps fairly quickly. It wasn't as easy as I had expected. I mean, I felt fairly weightless and that was really nice but because miss June is getting bigger my organs are all pushed into my lungs and my diaphragm is completely squished up in there so breathing is getting a bit more laborious. But I did it. I managed some form of exercise. For that, I'm proud of myself.

Walking home from the pool I was reminded of summer as a kid; swimming all day, having blurry vision from opening my eyes underwater, being so exhausted by dinner time that I was cranky and passing out before bed time. Those were my favorite days. I can't wait to have those summer days with my little Junebug. 

Baby girl is now the size of an eggplant. I've read she can be anywhere between 13 and 16 inches and weigh up to 3 lbs. No wonder my belly feels heavy. 

She probably looks different inside than the eggplant, I assume.