First Things First

One of the joys of being pregnant is being able to feel the baby move around inside (yes, even at 3:30 in the morning!) and know that this child was sent to us by Heavenly Father. I'm feeling really good with 5 weeks to go in this pregnancy, despite how big I look and am (trust me I do have a mirror and am acutely aware of just how big I do look).

One thing that is not so great is the swelling of my feet and hands. I can no longer wear any rings and my watches must be taken off halfway through the day otherwise they cause my hands to swell even worse. I constantly have my hands falling asleep at random times and from doing random things. It's really weird and a first. Nothing like this happened with either Owen or Caroline. But, like everything during this pregnancy, it has been right down the middle. I was sicker - in the beginning - with this one than with Caroline, but better than Owen. This pregnancy the swelling is worse than Caroline's but better than Owen's. I've gained more weight than with Owen's pregnancy, but less than Caroline's.

Something that is similar to Owen's pregnancy is I have to put my shoes on first thing after getting showered and dressed otherwise my feet literally will not fit into my flip flops. By the end of the day, my feet barely fit into my slippers. They ache and hurt because of the swelling and puffiness, but truly that is they only thing that makes me uncomfortable - I'm lucky. So, to prove a point to my younger (and littler) sister, I took some pictures of my feet and sent them to her. She couldn't believe just how swollen they were/are. I told my mom I just might be wearing my slippers to the hospital on the day I deliver. Her response was "do what you have to do to get the ox out of the mire."





No, I'm not toxic nor is my blood pressure high. But, when I did ask my OB about it, his response was "as long as I can see space between your toes, I'm not worried about it." Great. Thanks a lot! Meanwhile and for the remainder of my pregnancy time, I will walk around with severe kankles (I can no longer see the ankle bones on either the inside or outside of my ankles, nor my Achilles tendon), and Vienna sausages for toes. I will continue to ask for, and sometimes beg, foot rubs from Adam (who doesn't necessarily like to do it, but loves me enough and takes pity on me to do it anyway) and I will continue to put my feet up wherever and whenever possible to help alleviate the swelling (if it's in a long enough duration) and/or the pain of the pressure on my feet.

So, if you see me out and about just know that truly I'm not really miserable with this pregnancy, it's just my feet are hurting and there's nothing I can do about it other than have the baby - in 5 more weeks - but who's counting, right?!!!!!