Life with a belly

Exactly a year ago I was standing bare feet in the forest in my summer dress. My maternity leave had just started and I felt happy to be able to concentrate fully on my belly and getting everything ready for the new family member. It's weird and pretty amazing how some photo can bring all the feelings and even the smells (lake, trees, fresh air, pine cones..) right back to you.

Until that moment I had been working crazy long hours basically without any time off for a couple of months. So, I had very little time to think about the whole pregnancy or what will come after. I think it was both a blessing and a curse. A couple of my friends were pregnant at the same time and they obviously had way too much time to think and worry about everything. The downside of me working so much during the last months was the stress. I don't think I have ever been that stressed before and sometimes it scares me if it had some kind of effect on the baby. But I did the best I could in that situation.

I have always been a tiny girl and before pregnancy my weight was 42 kg (skinny, yes, but also very short). So I really felt it when on top of that I suddenly had to carry +16 kg. That was quite an increase for my tiny body and because I'm short as well the baby didn't have anywhere else to go than forward. So in the end I basically was as wide as I am short and it made me look like some kind of hobbit.

Since I also had all kinds of pains I had to say goodbye to the dreams I had about laying on the beach and getting tanned. I just couldn't lay in any position at least on a hard surface. So my lovely husband bought me this air sack type of "chair" that would make sunbathing possible. What a lovely idea, I thought, and headed out to test it. Luckily I went to my parents backyard and not to the public beach because it was just something hilarious.

I managed to get comfortable with the chair pretty fast, and really enjoyed the sun and my new Jo Nesbo book. After a while though I got thirsty and started to get up from the LayBag and oh my God. I tried to get up in so many ways but nothing worked. I looked like a turtle that got stuck on its back and of course I was laughing so hard (still by myself there..) that it made it even more difficult. In the end I was somehow able to roll over out of it and get myself together. If someone would have taped it I would have definitely been in the worlds funniest home videos or something.

The whole pregnancy was such a funny, painful, stressful, extraordinary, wonderful time and I feel very blessed that I got to experience that. Not everybody does and I surely didn't take it for granted.

Hugs, Momone