I forget so much... but I found something I wrote while I still remembered... so here it is.
I have two babies. That means I've been pregnant twice. I don't claim to be an expert on pregnancy - I'm certainly not. But God did a marvelous job when he planned those nine months. (I had wonderful pregnancies. If you didn't, forget those months right now and consider mine with me.)
Remember that wonderful mixed up feeling when you discovered your first pregnancy. Ours was not an accident so my first feeling was a thrill - and a little bit of disbelief. I didn't feel any different and it was hard to believe there was actually life inside.
Then the discovery that your favorit pants are too tight. I immediately got my sisters maternity clothes, put on a much-too-big pair of pants, pinned them to hold them up and raved about how good it felt to get into some looser clothing.
Getting my husband to talk about names with me when I was two months pregnant wasn't easy. I knew we had not much more than half a year to decide on one, but I'm sure he, with his male reasoning, wondered why we had to talk about that when we had more than 200 days left to worry about it.
Einar got tired of the term Jr. very quickly tho, and we were soon calling 'it' Kenny. Now I must explain the way my husband thinks. When he wants anything, he makes up his mind the opposite will happen and that way he's never disappointed. So, calling 'it' Kenny was, to me, an indication that he really wanted a girl. I was happy because I wanted a girl and "knew" we were having one; at least that's what I told everyone.
There is one reason I loved being pregnant. I love food! Being pregnant gave me an excuse to eat. I'd get fat anyway so I might as well - was my reasoning. Fortunately I don't have to worry about my weight. I only gained 22 lbs in my first pregnancy and lost it quickly afterwards.
I ate well though. I loved green salads, and they, as well as apples and carrots made up my snacks.
It didn't take long before my tummy started to round out a bit. It was becoming more believable all the time.
Then came the movement. A tiny butterfly feeling here and a gentle bubble there. 'It' was really alive! 'It' could move around! What an exciting time.
Perhaps you gained weight all around. Remember the swelling? Some are fortunate enough to miss that. I was. My babies were all out front. From the back I didn't even look prignant.
There are the theories. "Wrap-around babies are always girls," I was told, "and basketball babies" (those that hang out front like mine) "are boys." I was also told the same theory the other way around. Everyone had a theory. One day 'it' was a girl; the next day, a boy.
"I don't care whether it is a boy or a girl today," I once told Einar, "As long as it is born on a day when it is a girl."
I was tired of waiting but very excited. Just like I 'knew' we were having a girl, I also 'knew' she'd be early. No one believed me. I doubt if I believed me. But that's what I told everyone. My husbands two best friends and ourselves had been married within a year and a half span and we were all having a baby one to one and a half years after our weddings. Both the others had girls and both were three to four weeks early. So of course it would be the same with us.
Our baby was due June 18. My birthday is May 8, Einar's on July 3. Einar did not want a baby in May. He thought Mothers Day and my birthday was enough expense for one month.
June arrived before the baby did. I started to think the 5th or 6th would be nice - exactly halfway between our birthdays.
The 5th arrived and started to crawl by. Before it was over though, I was at the hospital once and back home for the night.
My journal ends there, but Kirsten was born the next evening after a full day of labor at the hospital once again. I don't remember any hard labor with Kirsten... I think I slept between contractions right until the end. They had to break my labor in the evening, so things would progress further, and, if my memory is correct, she was born shortly after that.
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