Babies, Barbies and Barf

So, I kinda figured the world would do a dance when we announced we were preggo and that life would suddenly make sense when I hit that milestone. Alas, life has gone on and brought the usual stressors with it; but I'll save that for another post.

So many people have been saying that the 2nd trimester would be so much better. So far, I think they were high. I've had just as much nausea and morning sickness as weeks 10-12, if not more since I decided to give up my off-brand version of zofran.

But in my personal opinion, if I am planning on a natural birth, I need to suck it up and handle headaches and nausea with natural remedies (not to mention the added benefit of avoiding those fun side effects that come with pharmaceuticals that snowball into needing to buy more bottled solutions). Thus, my best friends have become cold packs, essential oils, ginger snaps, gum and my amazing hubby making me quesadillas and (pause writing to toss this morning's smoothie - at least it's another one of those foods that tastes the same coming back up ;) getting me any food I desire from the store on his way home from work almost every day.

Yet, like now as I catch my breath and reflect on my woes, I can't help but think that God totally knew what he was doing when he created this whole pregnancy process. I mean, it is a complete inconvenience and well, sacrifice, to not be able to eat the foods you want, regurgitate the ones you can stand and have to pee every 2 minutes. Not to mention the inability to sleep and waking up sore when you do, having to snack every hour because you're starving and then feeling full after 4 bites and to having to use hair ties in your jeans because buttoning them gives you claustrophobia! Whew.

Anyways, if we as women didn't have to endure and sacrifice these things, if pregnancy was just a cake walk and all rainbows and gumdrops, I don't think we'd be as grateful for our kids when they showed up.

My mom taught me the same concept when I was a little girl and I really wanted the Bubble Fairy Barbie. She had wings that you'd dip in bubble concentrate and then she'd leave a trail of bubbles when you'd make her fly.

Coolest. Barbie. Ever.

At least I thought so when I was 7. But my wise mother would not just get her for me, no matter how much I begged and pleaded. Instead, she told me that I needed to earn $10 by doing extra chores and if I could do that, then she would pay the rest. Well, at 7 years old, it might have well been a million dollars because that seemed impossible. Inflation has definitely made an appearance in our family since then, because it took a TON of $.10 and $.25 chores to earn my money. Thanks for saving the $5 and $10 chores until we were older Mom ;)

But I did it. After endless weeding, sweeping, cleaning, dusting and washing, I vividly remember pulling Bubble Barbie out of her package on the way home from the store in our old maroon Plymouth Voyager. It was better than Christmas. I didn't just get Bubble Barbie, I earned her. She brought me more joy than any other toy I can remember (except maybe the red Razor Scooter I later saved $100 of babysitting money for) because I sacrificed time, energy and money for something I truly wanted.

Consequently, I felt so much more devastation when Barbie's bubble wing broke (and when my scooter got stolen) because it wasn't just a toy or a gift, but the loss of hard work and personal love and investment.

After 9 months of magnified sacrifices in health, energy and sleep, I can only imagine the love, addiction, devotion and joy I will feel when I bring this little Mike/Lindsey mutation into the world. On the other hand, I can also barely imagine the sadness and pain I will experience when my baby gets hurt or cries.

I don't say all this to sound smug about pregnancy or pretend that I even remotely understand my role as a mom. But thanks to my own wise Mother, I'm starting to scratch the surface of the maternal instincts and lessons that must be learned.

So BabyBear, I hate to break it to ya, but you won't be getting a car for your 16th birthday, you'll have to help pay for college and when you're little and really want that -insert whatever cool toy will be popular in 5-7 years- I'm going to pass on the same lesson I learned. Go thank your grandmother for that ;)

In other news, I finally put makeup on and did my hair for this really cool event my friend Wendy helped put on. It was called Empowering Fearless Birth and they premiered a couple of birth videos and had a ton of amazing vendors. Michael was a trooper and stayed even though he didn't quite realize what the whole thing was about and how long it would be. Thanks again HoneyBear!!! (Thanks to his extra raffle tickets, I won the birthing gown I had my eye on!) If I can get my etsy business off the ground soon, I'd love to be involved with the next event! So anyways, here's me last Friday night at 13 weeks.