Megan&Marcus Co.

I thought I would do a post on the differences between my 4 pregnancies, since they have all been so vastly different. With Ruth of course I had no idea what to expect, it started out fine, I was a little queasy but only lost my breakfast once. I was working at Trader Joe's at that time so most of my wardrobe consisted of Maternity pants, XL Trader Joe's T-shirts and Easy Spirits (only shoes I could stuff my whale feet into.) over all I gained just under 80lbs. The day they reached the end of the scale and they had to slide everything back to the left to start over with the 'next size up' block was a very dark day that eventually got darker when my weight passed up Marcus' and kept going. (He WAS at his best weight then from working auto glass but still...) You could squeeze my legs and feet and your hand print would take a few seconds to melt away from all the swelling and I acquired names like "Megasauraus" "Preggie Meggie" and "Megnant" from co-workers. Along with the swelling came stretch marks starting just below my neckline and ending mid-calf. I always tell Marcus he must have really loved me (or was hoping for a speedy recovery) because I was NOT cute. At all: Sick right? And we had only been married a year and a month when she was born.
Sadly it took me about six months to realize I wasn't going to magically drop the last 30 or so pounds by nursing and showing off my cute baby so I joined a gym and almost to the day that I lost all my baby weight I got pregnant again.
Round 2- With Neil I felt nauseated more often and did have to run to the bathroom or ask Marcus to pull over NOW please because I was sick a bit more (totaling 4 or 5 times I think, still not bad.) My weight stayed in the upper acceptable range according to "your pregnancy week by week" reaching a grand total of 35 lbs. I still had stretch marks but nothing like the zebra stripes with Ruth and even thought I was standing on my feet all day (still working at Trader Joe's) the swelling was far better, I could wear my normal shoes.
*yeah* All in all a pretty normal pregnancy, thought I was still working on the last 15 lbs of baby weight when I got pregnant with Liam.
Round 3- I started this pregnancy feeling great, thought a little worried about already being over the mark a bit in the weight department but I mysteriously lost the weight within the first 3 months. (Without throwing up once) Maybe I do believe in magic? Anyway I didn't gain a single pound or retain an ounce of water until my last trimester when I gained back 12 lbs. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I expressed concern to my Dr.about the lack of weight gain and then had to go in for ultrasounds every week to track his weight, which was fine even if he was a little on the small side weighing in at 6 lbs 3 oz. I lost the rest of the weight within a week of delivery which was still 15 lbs over my desired weight, but i was definitely not complaining.
Liam was my fav. pregnancy.
Round 4- This pregnancy I started out AT my desired weight but with gall stones and a small hemorrhage behind the placenta. Obviously everything has turned out fine but I was a little concerned to begin with. After I figured out how to control the gall stone pain with my diet everything has been pretty by the book, I gained 20 lbs (though the Scale at the Dr. office puts me at 25lbs, I know its wrong!) and have had no mentionable swelling. All in all # cuatro has been good to me. Here I am ready to head off to the hospital. Wish me luck!