Pregnancy Observations

Just wanted to share a few random observations/anecdotes I’ve stored up over the last few weeks.

#1. Waddling: Lots of people describe pregnant women in their last few months as waddling, rather than walking. I think the general assumption is that it’s easiest to walk this way due to the size of a pregnant belly being in the way. However, now that I’ve experienced this, I have other causes waddling could be attributed to. (Granted, size is a factor, I just think there are other reasons people should also consider.)

Like back pain. Especially lower back pain. Now, one could say that lower back pain is being caused by the excess weight so we’re back at waddling due to weight. I beg to differ. You could just be me and decide against your better judgment to help move some furniture/other items and strain your back a bit. Don’t worry, it wasn’t too bad, and I learned my lesson. I think.

Leg cramps or stiffness can also create the need for waddling, although if I get a bad enough cramp behind my knee I tend to writhe around or imitate dance styles of the 80s.

#2. Enjoy any public education classes you attend: Andrew and I decided to do private childbirth education. A friend of mine suggested it since I want to try to deliver naturally with the fewest medical interventions possible. Instead of going to the hospital for classes with tons of people where we quite possibly won’t get through all the material while also listening to those who maybe should have chosen a later date to reproduce ask very, how should I put it, “interesting” questions, we do them at home. Our doula teaches classes at one of the local hospitals, but she also does private classes, and we have really benefited from the extra time. We’re able to cover everything at our own pace, and spend more/less time on what matters most/least to us.

Anywho, if you do attend a class at a local hospital or something similar, pay attention to others so you can be sure to leave the class with at least one good anecdote for the water cooler. We did go to “Keeping Baby Safe” last week, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that every couple in the room was genuinely interested in learning infant CPR and First Aid.

Or so I thought.

After we got through the first hour and a half of videos (that’s another plus to private classes—more discussion, less videos) about fire safety, childproofing, etc., we moved on to the CPR stuff. Toward the end, we had the opportunity to practice on dummies. This was when I realized there was one poor soul in the class who just did not want to be there. Or maybe his wife was the poor soul for bringing him against his will. Either way, he was annoying and distracting during our CPR practice, which at least gave us a good topic of conversation for the ride home.

When giving CPR to an infant, you’re supposed to give 30 chest compressions with two fingers, then two breaths. You continue with this 30:2 pattern. The instructor asked us to count out loud as we did the compressions to ensure that we were doing everything correctly. Most of us were mature enough to count out loud but at a quiet enough volume so as not to distract others. Not Poor Soul.

He not only counted loudly; he counted out of order. And he wasn’t counting as he did the compressions; he was counting while his wife did them to try and throw her off. Brilliant.

#3. Others’ comments: I don’t really get a lot of unsolicited advice or strange/humorous comments regarding my pregnancy, but I got one earlier this week that I thought was pretty good. I was at the bank trying to leave, and a little boy was in the way. His (probably) grandfather asked him to move for the “nice lady.” He then saw I was pregnant, laughed at said, “one and a half ladies!”

I laughed and said something in agreement. I truly wasn’t offended, though, as I’ve said similar things before, too. When I have friends with kids who are also pregnant, I generally tell people they have one and a half kids or two and half, etc. However, I could see how that might offend someone. He was older though, so you gotta go with it!