nine months in one post

i didn't do so great about documenting my pregnancy on this blog while i was pregnant. i guess i had a lot on my mind ;-) i'm now settling in and figured i'd play some good ol' catch up starting with the last nine months of my growing belly. 

 weeks 12-20:

i started showing really early on. i'm not sure if it's because this was my forth pregnancy or because i'm short and baby had no where to go but my belly started sticking out around week 10. i got my first pair of maternity pants during christmas break. i couldn't really fill them out but having the stretchy band felt so much better. dang you bloated belly! 

from there i just kept growing and growing. honestly i couldn't get enough of my growing belly. every week i felt bigger and bigger. funny but at week 20 i didn't think i could get any bigger. oh was i wrong!

weeks 21-29

my belly just kept growing and growing. i finally started putting on weight during these few weeks. after not gaining much in my first trimester it was difficult for me to get on the scale. at one dr.'s appointment my cute dr said "i was worried about your weight gain, you weren't gaining enough...now i'm not worried". yeah i jumped up and i jumped up fast. i knew my belly was special but it was also hard feeling so big and not so beautiful. i know a lot of girls try not to wear maternity clothes but i was not one of them. i couldn't fit into my non-maternity things but honestly having maternity clothes helped me feel a little better about myself. they helped me embrace the bump!

weeks 30 to 35

my last trimester flew by. of course part of that was due to the fact that i didn't have 5 weeks of if but still, it went by fast. it was week 30 that i really started to puff up. my feet, hands and face started swelling. my face got so swollen that my teeth started to move. i didn't even know that was possible. my smile looked off as well. i truly didn't feel like myself. that was one of the hardest things. my feet were so puffy i could wear one pair of flip-flops. i wore those poor things out ;-) i put on almost twenty pounds in these last few weeks. it was so crazy seeing the scale go up a few pounds everyday. most all of this weight was water weight due to my preeclampsia. i felt huge and ugly at the time...now i'm just blown away i was so big and swollen and didn't even realize it. when i was in utah all my family was so worried because i was so swollen....i should have listened ;-) 

i love looking back and seeing the progression of my sweet gwen growing in my belly. this was something i had a hard time thinking i would ever experience. despite all the hard things that come with pregnancy i am so grateful to be able to experience all of it.