A Few of my Favorite Things

I am going on 33 weeks into my pregnancy and with the exception of some issues here and there, it has been a relatively easy pregnancy though tiring.  But of course, I still sulk at times that I don’t feel like doing things.  Because I don’t.  In those moments, I have flashbacks to when I was about five years old and it would take me forever and a day to motivate if I were hungry or overtired.  I think hormones now have a lot to do with it (2nd trimester I was so energetic, but now the opposite is occurring), but sometimes life is just making yourself do things when your body and mind want to revolt.

Yet, true confession: sometimes bribing myself helps (back to my five year old self…)

When I know it’s going to be a long, hard day, I look forward to going through the drive thru afterwards for a snack sized one of these:

I justify it by telling myself the baby wants it.  I know he already loves M&Ms…. Or, surprisingly, every afternoon around 3:00pm I look forward to a cold glass of milk.  We’re not talking skim, either.

Aside from having to bribe myself at times (“As soon as you finish grading papers, you can get that glass of milk…”) there have been some little joys in life-  some that were definitely worth the investment, like a Boppy Body Pillow:

That’s not me pictured, but I’m snuggled into my pillow just the same.  I’m typically a cheap-skate when it comes to, well, anything, but my husband convinced me to buy the pillow after tossing around the first four months.  We both needed some sleep.  I also found that taking a shower before bed and scrubbing down with a loofah sponge is pretty much as wonderful as a back rub.  I don’t know why the rough surface feels good, but it’s one of those little joys that I look forward to.  I have also had pretty bad heartburn, and a glass of milk before bed seems to help with that and ensuring I don’t wake up at 3am with a sugar drop.  With all this heartburn, this child better have some hair at birth, or he has some explaining to do!!

A few of my least favorite things?  High heels (oops…didn’t think that one through before I wore a pair to a wedding a month ago and felt nerve pain for a couple of weeks after!) and maternity jeans.  Jeans are usually a staple for me, but a pair that actually fits and does not suction are few and far between.  I haven’t been able to find that with maternity jeans.  The waistbands often fall down creating a very unattractive, droopy back side.  Around 25 weeks I began to lament to my husband that I was getting bigger and didn’t know what I was going to wear (it was very dramatic).  I set out on a hunt to find the perfect pair of maternity jeans…and walked away empty handed.  However, I did find these:

One of the most helpful articles of clothing I have bought while pregnant has been maternity yoga pants from Old Navy.  At $20 on sale, they have been well beyond worth it.  I don’t actually do yoga– I bought the pants for their capacity to masquerade as other things, like dress pants.  I wear them with long sweaters or shirts that cover the backside and have them loose enough to not cling on the thigh– and no one knows they are yoga pants!!  They can be worn with a dress boot or a tennis shoe depending on the occasion.

One of the most difficult things I have experienced with pregnancy hasn’t necessarily been the dramatic body morphing or physical symptoms, though those have been interesting.  I have struggled the most with focus limitations.  The first trimester I found it very hard to pray because my ability to really focus on something began to decline.  It came back around 2nd trimester and I was excited because I could read, pray, and be productive.  But these past few weeks I know it has been declining again.  Sometimes it’s because I’m hungry but I’m tired of eating.  Other times it’s because I wake up so often through the night that my brain is mush during the day.  I know the hormone levels are getting wacky again (example: why do I currently hate everything?)

I grow frustrated with myself and assume God must be, too.  But then I am reminded that first, because of Jesus I am already accepted before God.  From this flows a sigh of relief from my own expectations.  And second, I am reminded that God created me and He knows what is going on with my body.  He’s not surprised my brain isn’t functioning as it does with a full 8 hours of sleep.  This doesn’t excuse my sin, of course, but it does remind me that while Jesus was without sin, He was also tired while on earth and He can understand.  Meditating on these truths brings relief from the slave driving I often produce in myself from expectations God doesn’t even have of me!

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