The Weirdness That is Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a strange thing.  It's different every time.  Sometimes it seems familiar and then life throws you a curve ball. Let's look at my four pregnancies.

With Sarah, I had no morning sickness. This was almost unheard of, but I loved it! However, there were two things that caused me to get physically ill - Shrimp with Lobster sauce and the time that she shoved my gall bladder into an unnatural position. 

Back to the shrimp with lobster sauce.  That was my all time favorite Chinese dish.  Before I knew I was pregnant, I had it on two different occasions.  I threw up both times, violently!  I thought it was just bad food.  Then after I found out I was pregnant, I ate it one final time.  The food was not bad, Sarah just wouldn't let me get it down!  It was many, many years before I was tempted to taste that dish again!

And when it came to chicken, I hated it while pregnant with her.  I couldn't even eat my grandmothers fried chicken.  It was torture to sit at her house and smell it because it still smelled divine!  But the moment it touched my mouth, the taste, ugh!  Funny thing about that chicken tasting bad thing though is that my first hospital meal after giving birth was fried chicken. I'm not joking.  And guess what?  I ate every bite and licked my finger afterwards!  That's saying something, because hospital fried chicken is not that great to begin with!

After Sarah came Ashton.  Again, no morning sickness.  That was almost my favorite part of pregnancy.  But the chicken thing came back.  Only this time, I was able to start eating it in my second trimester. My new hang up with chicken became the smell of it raw.  I never noticed the smell of raw chicken before. I'm not talking about after it's gone bad, I'm talking about not spoiled raw chicken.  I can't describe how it smells, but to a pregnant, scent sensitive woman, it was not a good thing!  Did I mention that I could sub in for a blood hound when pregnant?  Apparently this is a common thing with pregnant women.  Sometimes it's a blessing and on a quite a few occasions, a curse.

My dear son also left me with another memory.  His head was huge.  Now, he was a big baby when born anyway, but he left a nice little bruise on my pelvis where his lovely, HUGE head would repeatedly knock into it.  Then again, I'm thankful he never really messed with my bladder much or kicked me in the ribs or lungs.  He could have.  Did I mention he was HUGE!  He weighed in at 10 pounds 7 ounces.

Next came my feisty little Brenna.  I should have known that she would be full of attitude. With Brenna, I got my first taste of morning sickness.  Tasting morning sickness - that brings back memories.  I had a great deal of sympathy for women who had morning sickness, but was secretly glad that I could never fully relate to that aspect of pregnancy.  That was until I had Brenna.  And no I couldn't even touch raw chicken with her!  The misery of feeling nauseous all day and night was just enough to almost drive me insane!  And then there would be little rays of hope.  We would be out driving and I would get a whiff of a hamburger or something and we would have to stop and get it right then.  Not because I was craving it, but because there were a few (precious few) times when I would smell something and be 100 percent certain that I could eat it and it would stay where it should.  My hopes would be lifted that the dreadful illness had passed and then an hour or two later the sickness would return.  Sometimes I would hope to be ill.  I just wanted the nausea to end.  I tried to take my vitamins, but I couldn't keep them down.  I couldn't drink water or most liquids because I would end up miserable.  Morning sickness is not for wimps.  It why women got stuck with it!  But then again, after having gone through it, I'm not so sure that being wimpy is bad thing. 

Now I'm on to Baby G.  Once again, things are totally different.  He's the most active of my kids in utero.  He kicks and move all the time.  I did manage to not get morning sickness and I thank the dear Lord for that kindness.  Although, I did get a nice little ulcer that took a good while to go away.

But how is this guy different from his siblings?  Like his oldest sister, I could wear my normal pants until I was about 5-6 months prengant.  With Ashton, I was wearing maternity clothes a month or so into my pregnancy and 3 months in with Brenna.  But, he found my bladder a few months ago. I thought he'd be too little to do anything to it, but I've been proven wrong.  I think he believes he should head butt it on a consistent basis.  I can tell he gets it from his Grampsy!  And then he tap dances on my stomach. Since aging and pregnancy together make that little valve that keeps stomach contents from coming up weaker, this is not a good thing.  I've gotten up on quit a few occasions thinking that he was going to make me physically ill from his antics.  Something tells me he's going to have a bit of mistchief in him as well.  Not one of my other kids ever came close to what he's putting my internal organs through.  And did I mention he's even kicked at my lungs a few good times.   I'm so scared for my ribs. I've never been concerned for their safety before. It's a very strange feeling to have!

I say all this in good humor.  I really do love the feeling of a little one growing inside of you.  It's an amazing blessing to be able to carry them as God knits them together.  And it's fun to see how even in the womb, each one is different and how just carrying them changes your body as well.