Comparisons

Seeing that I'm 38+ weeks pregnant, pregnancy is on the brain. And so how do each of them compare? Just thoughts....
*I'm very thankful I've had easy pregnancies. Now I definitely have my moans and groans (Shane will assure you of that), but compared to some of you girls, I've had it pretty easy. For example - no morning sickness and no vomiting! No need for Zofran or Phenergan. Now with Avery I claimed to have a mild degree of morning sickness; I think it was because I thought I was supposed to. I was still working full time and I remember eating crackers on the way to work. With Parker and Carter I did feel some nausea, but it always came in the evenings. And by around 16 weeks with all 3 of them I was feeling better.

*I was induced with Avery at 39 weeks, labored all day, had C-section. Parker came on his own at 39 weeks, had VBAC. Carter...we'll see.

*Avery was 8 lbs, 13 0z. Parker was 7 lbs, 11 0z. I have a feeling Carter is going to be more like his sister. I feel bigger than I did with Parker.

*Weight gain - 30 with Avery, 17 with Parker, 20 (so far) with Carter. It's weird, with Avery I exercised and walked a lot! I would work a 12 hour shift and come home and go walking. Didn't happen with Parker or Carter. Go figure.

*Swelling! - I was very swollen with Avery! She was an August baby, so I don't know if the hot weather had anything to do with it...but I know I had a lot of water weight. Couldn't wear my wedding ring, had to get new shoes to wear to work (couldn't wear my tennis shoes or my clogs anymore). With Parker (March) and Carter (Feb.), very minimal swelling if any.

*Cravings - I remember with Avery I couldn't get enough watermelon! With Parker it was sweet tea from Chick-fil-A. With Carter, Sprite. I rarely drink sodas. I'm just a water drinker. But when I'm pregnant I crave soda; there are times when water makes me nauseated. And with both boys...ICE!!! I cannot get enough ice to crunch!

*Heartburn - If I had to give my #1 complaint, it would be heartburn. And with each baby it has showed up earlier. It came very early on with this one. Pepcid twice a day and TUMs just haven't been cutting it lately. I've learned to stop eating around 2 to 4; if I don't I'm pretty miserable the rest of the night.

*Maternity clothes- with Avery I didn't wear maternity clothes until week 22. With Parker it was more around 18 weeks. With Carter it was the day after I had a positive pregnancy test! I do find that I enjoyed fall/winter maternity clothes better than the summer clothes.

*the test - (it's funny the things you remember...) Shane knows how I get my hopes up so easily and in trying to protect me he made me promise not to take a pregnancy test until I was at least a week late. So for Avery I waited. He was in the shower getting ready for work one morning and I got up and used the bathroom and took the test. We laughed and cried together through the shower door. With Parker, there was a few days of waiting, but I knew...I just knew. We played our championship volleyball game that night and I was nauseated, I thought it was just b/c I was nervous about the game. But on the way home I stopped and got a test at the grocery store. Shane asked me what I was doing and I told him. As I was peeing on the stick he was reading the instructions and says "ok, it says to set the stick down on the counter and come back to look at it in 2 to 3 minutes" and by this time I looked at Shane and told him I was pregnant. He was surprised. (hope that wasn't too much information). And with Carter, I really thought I was going to start my period that day b/c I was really crampy and crabby, so instead of waiting around I thought I'd go ahead and ease my mind and take a test. To my surprise, it was positive. I was actually visiting my mom & dad's with the kids. I sent Shane a text at work which simply said "I'm pregnant". I got a fast return phone call!

I'm sure I could go on and on, but those are some of the highpoints. I will say that my favorite things about being pregnant with all 3 of them are feeling them move around, the 2o week ultrasound, and the kindness of others (especially strangers) to big, fat pregnant women!