Oh the Humanity!
Posted
Monday, April 28, 2008 12:44 PM
My lord are people obsessed with pregnant women! I've never been given so much attention in all my life, not even on my wedding day, as I do now that I'm quite obviously pregnant.
I went to one of Chris's cousin's bridal showers this Saturday, but I think the attention was all on my stomach. Cousins, aunts, and even strangers were very into every single detail of my pregnancy so far.
Most felt really bad for me. I'm not looking for sympathy at all, but when your feet have an obviously severe case of pitting edema at only 6 months gestation, I guess there is no hiding it from people. I find it funny, to be honest, that I'm like this science experiment for everyone...pushing at my feet and ankles to see how deep the imprint is and how long it will last, or squishing around the gel-like fluid underneath my skin to see it slide from one side of my foot to the other.
I heard each of these statements more than a few times that night:
"There is no way your doctor will let you go 40 weeks."
"You'll be induced early, I'm sure of it."
"Wow, I give you two weeks before you are put on some form of modified bed rest."
"Hmm, I didn't have any swelling at all until I was 38 weeks."
Yup, I soaked it all up and never once told someone it was completely unnecessary to remind me that you're normal and I'm definitely not having a "normal" pregnancy. I told people I will refuse reduction unless medically necessary (which was followed by glares of distaste from the people who had wonderful induction experiences, which of course they all shared with me) and that I hope to work up until delivery.
I was told labor stories that I never asked to hear. Really, I don't care if your water broke days before you ever had a contraction, and that the one time it was such a slow drip that you had to wear a pad and then hold it up to the light to see if it really was amniotic fluid. Seriously, I was fine without hearing about your epidural that didn't work and how you felt intense pain in your vagina even though you couldn't feel your legs.
In addition to that Saturday night experience, my husband and I finally registered. It was a surreal experience. I must admit that I'm the greatest wife ever because most couples I know spent over 3 hours at one store registering...but not us! I did a ton of online prep work, and I already did research to know exactly what we do and don't need. I don't get into baby clothes and toys a whole lot so we skipped over those whole sections. All in all, we spent one hour at Target and one hour at Babies R Us. We kick ass. I call it surreal because I couldn't believe I was holding a registry gun and scanning things that I'd never in a million years want in my cute little house before now, like a baby bath and underarm thermometer. Surreal because people kept asking us if it was a ton of fun, and I have to say that no, it wasn't really fun because it's baby stuff. Now give me a scanning gun at Best Buy and I'll show you a good time.