Pregnant Belly vs. Just a big ole belly.

As my weight creeps up with the pregnancy I am a little surprised by the changes in my body. Maybe I was naive going into this but I always figured "hey I used to weigh 301 pounds, carrying around a baby isn't going to be a problem for me." Well, it's not a problem, per say, but it's not exactly what I was expecting either.

For instance, when I was just overweight I could still paint my toes, tie my shoes, shave my legs, get up from a sitting position easily, roll over in bed... I led a very normal, functional life. Now that I have gained weight in the form of a oversized basketball on my belly it's quite different than just being overweight.

I was in the bathtub yesterday trying to soak my muscles to stave away those darned cramps before bedtime and decided, hey, I'll shave my legs. Oh did I have a surprise in store for me. My baby belly doesn't quite have the "give" that my bigger non-baby belly had. In fact, there is no give at all. It doesn't squish up. It just sits there, like a rock, like a basketball...unmoveable. So as I stretched and squirmed trying to lather up my legs I decided this probably wasn't going to work. If just lathering them up was this difficult imagine what would happen one I put a sharp little razor in my hands. I was imagining a lot of bleeding. Eventually I manuvered myself into a position where I could almost reach down my entire leg and just did the best I could do. Who's going to be looking at my Shrek ankles anyway? They'd be so engrossed in the thickness of my joints "formerly known as ankles" that a little hair wasn't going to phase them!

I've been wearing my crocs to work since the weather warmed up here and the swelling wouldn't allow me to jam my feet into any other shoe. Thank GOD the office is extremely casual. Well the weather had cooled a bit and it rained the past few days so when I walked the dog I wanted to wear my regular walking shoes...with laces. Usually I can just slip them on without untieing them but of course as my feet have almost doubled in size there was no way anything was just "slipping on". So I untied them, loosened the tounge and slid my feet into them. Then, of course, I had to tie them back up. So I bent over, arms outstretched, ready to lace em up and be on my way. Only my arms didn't quite reach my feet. In fact they barely reached mid calf. No problem, I'll just lean back a little on my leg and stretch a little more. Hmmmm, not working. Okay so I'll put my foot up on the bench and go from there. With a little manipulation involving tendons in my knee being strained to the furthest outward position possible before snapping, I got those bastards tied. Double knotted even. There was no way I was going to risk having to do THAT in public!

It makes me think back to when my best friend, Liz, was pregnant with her first baby, Cooper. The morning he was to be born (she was induced) I went to their house to help them get all packed and ready to go to the hospital. We were all really excited. She let me take one final "belly shot" of her before heading out the door. She slipped on her shoes and sat on the couch to lace them up. Naturally at that point it was impossible task so her husband Greg came over, liz propped up her foot on his leg and tied her shoes for her. It may sound cheesy but it was just a sweet moment to witness, to see the two of them, about to become parents, working as a team for such a menial task as tieing up some shoes. I was glad to be there to witness it. Eventually Marco will have to lace my shoes for me as well and I'm sure he'll do it just as happily as Greg did for Liz. He's been such a trooper through the whole pregnancy. I couldn't ask for a more caring, involved partner!

So as I carry on for the next 7 or so weeks I know things are going to be a bit more difficult for me to do on my own. So I'll have to give birth with hairy legs, that's not so bad, is it? So I'll need a crane to boost me up from my bed, which incedentally sits way to low to the ground. I'm sure you can rent a crane at a decent price. So what if slip on shoes are the only way to go from here on out. I sacrifice all of that (and so much more) to see this little one come into the world. Only seven little weeks to go. 7 little weeks!