Ankles, Cankles and Thankles

Being pregnant was the most amazing (and enjoyable) experience I've ever had...actually, I take that back - giving birth to Sophie was even more so. But when you're talking about such a long period of time to be accumulating anxiety, excitement, fear and unfortunately, weight... I think I was very lucky to say that overall it was great.

I think it's funny how everyone refers to pregnancy as nine months in duration, when in reality, it is ten. Four extra weeks, thirty extra days...Those days can seem like eternity when you are so big that it is nearly impossible to heave yourself off of the couch because you are so big. But, I took all of the physical effects in stride for the most part and tried to focus on the fact that I was sharing my body with another human being.

The first time I felt her move, at 19 weeks, was spectacular. I had read so many different articles and books about feeling movement and how difficult it was to describe it. But when I felt it, I immediately knew that it was our first formal introduction. I would lie awake at night just waiting for our next interaction. And after she became super crazy active baby she became our entertainment most evenings. We would sit on the couch and just laugh at Sophie's limbs protruding from my stomach. Toward the end she had a pattern of movement and I separated my belly into quadrants so that I could report where she was at any given time (and for the record she enjoyed the upper left quadrant most days).

Getting pregnant seemed to be the biggest challenge for us - but once we were there I was blessed with good health. My biggest struggles were nausea and swollen feet and ankles. My doctor prescribed me Zofran for the nausea and it worked wonders. My nausea lasted up to the day that I had Sophie, but the meds kept it at bay. Eventually, I only had to take one in the morning and I was set for the rest of the day. I remember asking Dr. Callison if she was concerned that I was still taking them after the first trimester and her response was that she took them multiple times every day when she was pregnant and that I would be just fine. Ok. Sounds good!

The swollen feet and ankles were definately a progression. In fact, I was down to one pair of shoes toward the end of my pregnancy...black patent ballet flats that were so stretched that the sides of the shoes touched the ground. Yikes! My only saving grace was that Spring was approaching and I could begin wearing flip flops the last few weeks. If nothing else, it was a good topic of conversation. I was definitely sporting the cankles for a while. It was awesome to see my ankles shrink again two weeks post delivery. I didn't care if my butt was still huge, I had my ankles back!

One thing I loved about being pregnant was that so many women empathized with me and supported me through it. And for the most part, people saved the war stories for the actual "delivery story" and focused mostly on trying to help me feel more normal. And when your body has been taken hostage by another person, feeling normal is as good as it gets! One friend of mine told me that when she was preggo she didn't have cankles, she had thankles! And when I failed my first glucose test, there were several other friends who told me that it would all be ok, they'd been there, too. (I know, I failed it...but it was the week after Christmas! That's not exactly fair!).

Speaking of delivery war stories, I don't have one, and I can't wait to write about my awesome experience. From the sounds of it, we all need to hear more of these!