ONE.MORE.MONTH.

My sister and I would always roll our eyes at our mom and her "easy" pregnancies, laughing how she claimed that she didn't have any of the problems or annoyances that so many complain about. Surly she is delusional, we thought, it must have been so bad that she blacked it all out. But even my dad would casually mentioned that "Lisa was at her best when she was pregnant", only adding fuel to the fairytale that is my mom's pregnancies. No morning sickness, no water retention, no heartburn, no worries, blissful births that were no big deal and then she went white-water-rafting a couple weeks after having her firstborn? I finally had enough and called it, "Well, Mom is just a freaking UNICORN isn't she?!" Because we all know unicorns don't exist.

I was under no such illusion that such a pregnancy was even possible. I was fully prepared for an absolutely horrible, no-good, tear-inducing, miserable pregnancy. Because that's what pregnancy is right? Nine months of sickness and pain and uncomfortableness, your body changes and gets weird, all these things are happening beyond your control, you feel fat and tired and hormonal. I was going to be big and miserable, I was so sure, I was prepared for it, I welcomed it. I just had to get through it. That was my only goal, just to get through it.

But then I got pregnant.  I waited for the dreaded morning sickness to start but I only got slightly nauseous. Instead of getting heartburn, I just got really really really hungry. Sure, I got constipated, but that has been easily managed by keeping a close eye on what I was eating. Then there was the ONE day that I had super bad round-ligament pain. That was pretty bad but it was only one day so it hardly warrants any whining. I'm honestly trying to figure out what my biggest complaint about pregnancy would be and... well, I can't. There isn't anything that has made these past seven months unbearable. My pregnancy, for lack of a better term, has been pretty darn magical.

I feel great! I am so at ease in my body, it's the craziest thing. Even though my weight is the highest that it has ever been in my life, I feel the skinniest that I have ever felt! I'm growing a human, I'm supposed to be this big! I welcome it, I glory in it. It is such a beautiful, amazing feeling. I imagine it's how a unicorn feels...

Good thing my sister got me this unicorn maternity shirt so everyone can know I'm a unicorn. ;-)

People have been pretty nice too. The refrigerator repair man looked stunned when I told him how far along I was. He looked at my belly, looked at me, and then said "Girl! Other pregnant ladies must hate you!" hahahahahaha! Today at the store when the cashier asked my due date, I told her in a month and she goes, "Really?! Man, I wish I had looked like you at 8 months!" A couple weeks ago I was at the store, standing in line at the register, facing forward. For some reason I turned around and the lady standing behind me exclaimed, "Oh! I was admiring your dress and didn't even realize you were pregnant until you turned around!" hahaha I'm just happy that nobody thinks I'm having twins! Although, it's kinda funny how people constantly telling you that you're small can start to feel like an insult, as if I'm TOO small and doing something wrong. My new response for when people tell me that I'm "not very big" is: "I'm exactly as big as I need to be! The doctor says I'm measuring perfectly." Okay, well then at my last appointment she did think I was "measuring small" and ordered an ultrasound. (And when your doctor tells you that you're small, it does NOT come off as a compliment!) I was pretty happy to get a chance to see Kamuela on an ultrasound again! Josh went with me to the appointment and we saw our son moving around, sucking on his wrist, looking freaking adorable already! Luckily, his growth measured right on track and I had plenty of amniotic fluid.*phew* I may or may not have cried tears of joy when I got that news.

It's not that I haven't been completely unaffected by pregnancy, there's been plenty of struggles. Like bending over. Bending over is hard. Real hard. And bending over after eating is NOT a good idea. I have come SO close to having the contents of my stomach come back up when I've bent over too soon. Not fun, not fun at all. Getting up is also hard. Real hard. Especially from our cushy recliner couch. "Honey, can you help me?" is a very common saying around our house these days. Josh has even taken it upon himself to just come over to me when he notices I'm sitting or squatting, it's pretty much the sweetest thing ever.  (So maybe that's what has made all the difference in my pregnancy... my husband. Every complaint that I have can be countered with thankfulness for how he has taken care of me.) But still, doing things for myself is HARD. My motto has long been "I'm pregnant, I'm not handicap" but ohmygoodness, I certainly have been feeling handicap these last few weeks. I simply cannot (safely) do the things that I have always done and it's driving me crazy. I have very rarely ever had to wait for Josh to do things like move furniture but I now find myself twiddling my thumbs, waiting for him to get home, so that I can get things done. It is rather frustrating. But whenever I try to push myself, like when Mom and Josh were doing yard work and I wanted to help, I end up paying for it hardcore the next day. And now I have carpel tunnel. I wake up and my hands HURT. From my elbow down is asleep and my hands feel like they're packed full of sand and I can't really bend them. It's horrible. But again, not that bad. I can survive and I still can't quite bring myself to really complain about it... at least not all the time. I'm sure if you ask my saint of a husband, he might mention that I do complain a little bit. I guess I'm not the perfect unicorn. :) (And I really hope beyond hope that I'm not jinxing myself into having a horrible delivery since I'm talking about how awesome the pregnancy has been. PLEASE please please let that also be magical. hahahaha)

32 weeks at Kya's baby shower

33 weeks at our baby shower in Oregon! 

Me and Mari, the amazing hostess!

34 weeks, after a photo session

35 weeks at our WA baby shower! 

Iris and her parents, and Grammy Lisa, came up for the shower too!

There's only one more month to go! ONE MORE MONTH! Which means, really it could be LESS then a month... possibly more then a month, but roughly ONLY A MONTH left. And then we'll have an actual baby here. To say that reality is setting in is to put it mildly. Nesting has definitely kicked in full force, for both Josh and I, which is awesome because we are getting so much stuff done! I love it. With only ONE MONTH LEFT, we need all the nesting energy we can get to finish off our "To do" list before Kamuela makes his grand entrance. IN A MONTH.