16 days to go…and a little bit of a Reality Check….

Getting here, to this place, has not been an easy road.

I am almost 38 weeks pregnant, but it has been a long and often rocky road to get here…..and it’s required a huge amount of effort and sacrifice on my part.  Before January of 2005, I was so naive.  I thought that once you got pregnant, you just trucked along, and maybe felt a bit tired, and a lot sick, and then you popped the baby out, and went on your merry way.

I realize that I’m simplifying things a ton, but after we lost Nathaniel my whole world changed.  I was no longer innocent and naive.  I had suffered a HUGE loss, and my liffe would never be the same.

I had 3 other losses after Nathaniel, and by the last one – while I hoped tha I’d be bale to have another baby – I wasn’t so sure it was actually possible.  We ended up going to see a Naturopath, and I had to change my lifstyle.  No more eating whatever I felt like, and I had to take all these supplements.  BUT, if it resulted in a live baby at the end of the journey – I still had that much hope that it might be possible for us to have another child.

I cut out wheat, dairy, sugar, yeast, coffee, and chocolate.  I’ve cheated a little bit here at there, and after Chri had his accident and we were up in Kamloops and SOOOOOO tired – I started drinking a soy latte for a bit of a boost, and have continued with one cup a day.  It doesn make it more difficult when you are tired, and your kids are whining for something, and all you want to do is be a bum, and get them some chicken nuggets and fries, and instead you have to make a real dinner…….whine, whine, whine, whine…….  It’s made a huge difference in my life, and now that the whole family is eating like this – it does make it easier to stay on track.  It’s kinda hard to stuff a bowl of ice cream in your face, and tell the kids that they can’t have any.  Just to be honest…..it’s not that we haven’t ever cheated, it’s just that those times are few and far between, and I have to actually make the decision knowing that I and they will feel like crap after we’ve finished whatever we’ve decided to cheat with.  It’s weird how that works….eat crap…feel like crap.

I’ve managed to make it to the end of this pregnancy, and as of yet have only gained 25 pounds.  Every other pregnancy I’ve done at least double that.  I am very pround of the fact that I’ve not ballooned up to epic proportions with this pregnancy, but to be honest it’s only because of the food I’ve eaten, and the supplements and vitamins that I’ve taken…’cause I’ve mentioned it before….I hate exercise…..with a passion, and have not done really anything worth mentioning as far as exercise goes this pregnancy.  Bad me, but I don’t feel that bad about it…..maybe I should….but I don’t!

Any way, for your viewing pleasure……and believe me – some of these should make you laugh..even if only the hair, and not the double chins…… are a bunch of shots of me pregnant with Geli, Xan and Jeremy and even after I had Jeremy…..’cause apparently I didn’t get the memo that I was supposed to stop gaining weight after I had him, and I just kept going……There are a whole bunch more with descriptions on Flickr….you can just click on any one of these beautiful shots, and it’ll take you there.  Think of it as your laugh for the day.  I know that I’m 5 foot 10 inches tall, and I have people who say that I look good no matter how big I’ve gotten….just to put it in perspective…..I am 202 pounds right now.  There is not one picture in Previous Pregnancy set where I am less than 215 pounds, and most of them are closer to 225 pounds or more…….Gotta love stress eating….I did my fair share of that…So, If I get around to it, I’ll post a pic of me from today, but most likely I’ll just continue on tomorrow……..

I had one more guess for the baby pool…..any one else?

The prize will be a $25 gift certificate to the store of your choice (local – if you are local and want or on line if you are anywhere else or if you just want an on-line certificate).  Basically, I’m just giving away money………sounds fun, doesn’t it?