Dear Daughter: I Look Like I Have Elephantitis

Dear LadyBug,

Wow, we've gotten bigger this week. Me especially. I feel myself waddling when I walk and I can't help it. I love penguins, always have, but I don't really enjoy FEELING like one.

I also have a bigger appetite now. I went to Chick-fil-a the other day, and got a meal, then about 15 minutes later I went back to get more fries and the guy in the window was like "You again?" I lied and told him it was for my husband. If only they could have seen my big belly, they wouldn't have asked questions!

You're ALWAYS dancing around in my belly. You are a very very active baby. I've heard that means you'll probably stay that way once you come out. You can see my stomach jump all of the time, last weekend people at work even saw you and all said "WOAH" at the same time when they could see you push up like an alien trying to get out. I still haven't gotten you on video camera yet, and there's only 10 more weeks to catch you!

Just 10 weeks, I can't believe how time has flown! You'll seriously be here before I know it. It's like a crazy world when I go into your room and look around at all of your things... Your bed, your clothes, your dresser and decorations. I've never made a room look so nice in all my life and it's all for you!

I had a little scare this week. One of my feet got REALLY swollen, but I decided not to worry about it unless it hadn't gone down the next morning... It always goes down.

Well, when I woke up my feet were still swollen, especially my right foot so I started to worry. I had a headache and my face was tingling, and I was worried it was swelling up too... All signs of a pregnancy disease called Preeclampsia.

See, your mom is a little paranoid, and basically after I hear about a disease I worry I have it. Your daddy kept telling me I was fine, but I still worried.

I called the nurse at my doctor's office and she said you were probably sitting on one of my veins or arteries wrong and that's why one of my feet was more swollen. I didn't tell her about my headache right away because I wasn't sure if it was really there or if it was paranoia, or if it was just there because I was stressing about having one.

I decided I'd check my blood pressure and if it was high I'd call back. I drove around to several different pharmacies looking for one of those in-house blood pressure machines, and I finally found one at my third stop at a CVS.

It was normal. I calmed down (after leaving your dad a voicemail in tears, which he heard later when I was in a better mood and laughed at me) and I'm feeling better now... Although my feet still look HUGE.

You're still growing well! You should be close to three pounds now, and about 15.7 inches long. Your eyesight is developing more now too.

You're dad and I were debating today what you'll look like. I think you're going to be along the darker shade-spectrum and look more like me, and your dad says you're probably going to look pretty white, though he'd love it if you were my complexion, he doubts that will happen. I guess we'll see soon enough. I'm sure we'll both be surprised, and most likely you'll be something in the middle.

Our baby shower is today! I'm excited to take lots of pictures and see all of our friends! It's my first Saturday off in almost a year, so I'm looking forward to it! You really are one loved little baby!

I was up late making TONS of hairbows (more than 60) for people who donated to March of Dimes on my blog before I found out I was pregnant with you, and luckily I had a couple extra so I stashed a couple for you! Surprisingly they aren't pink! But they're still cute!

I'm finally starting to feel prepared for you so I can relax for the remainder of my pregnancy and just wait for you, it's a nice feeling. There's still so much to do but I have a lot of big things out of the way, which is nice.

I know some people get so eager to get their baby out at the end, and I can't imagine feeling that way yet. I mean, I can imagine being eager and excited to meet you, but for the most part I enjoy being pregnant... Swollen feet and all.

Keep growing little one!

Love,

Mommy

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