And yet... sometimes I don't see it. Sometimes I don't feel like I look pregnant at all. Maybe it's because I'm tall, maybe it's because of the way I'm carrying, but even though I'm at the point now where I underestimate the size of my belly and accidentally bump it into things, it doesn't feel to me like the stereotypical basketball-under-the-shirt look. It doesn't feel like it protrudes, exactly.
But I'm also very comfortable with my pregnant body. All my weight gain has been in my belly... I haven't been retaining water (so far). My weight gain has been reasonable, and even with the pregnancy weight, I'm still significantly lighter than I was before I had my lap-band surgery. Maybe that's part of it. I'm not having struggles with the loss of my thinner body, because I have very clear memories of having a much fatter body. Seeing pictures of non-pregnant thin people doesn't incite any sort of jealousy or envy in me; I am pregnant, I am supposed to have a big belly, it is healthy, and honestly it's nice for once not to feel like I should be sucking in my gut.
I think it's just because it's happened gradually. I didn't wake up one day with a 5- or 6-pound baby in my belly, and so as it has grown slowly rounder and rounder, I have adapted with it. The same way you probably don't notice your child getting taller overnight. It just seems to me that my belly has always been round and big, and it's hard to remember what I used to look like.
So it came as a bit of a shock yesterday, when I was looking through the photos of my pregnancy progress, to realize that I've gone from this:
To this:
As Torsten says, "From slim to rhino in just 35 weeks."
(We'll forgive him the rhino comment since he did refer to me as slim. Fair trade, yes?)
Aww!
ReplyDeleteYou look absolutely GREAT. So cute. Much more adorable than your average rhino.
hahaha @rhinocomment. And I completely agree - I was just commenting yesterday that sometimes I think I don't really look particularly pregnant, just somewhat round in the middle, and if it weren't for all of this baby movement inside (and you know, pregnancy tests and hearing heartbeats, etc etc) I would think that I wasn't really pregnant at all. But then random people/strangers comment on the pregnancy and I realize that I must look pregnant to everyone else!
ReplyDeletehahahahaha RHINO?? oh my :) you make a seriously cute pregnant lady, my friend!
ReplyDeleteha! You look fabulous, not like a rhino at all. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love it! You look great. And Montana thinks so too =)
ReplyDeleteYou look WONDERFUL!
ReplyDeleteMontana looks like she knows what's coming.
ReplyDeleteYou look FAB.
You look great! It looks like you are only carrying it in your belly too.
ReplyDeleteMontana looks like she is trying to protect you from the paparazzi! :-)
I think you look adorable! I was spying your shots the other day. And yeah, maybe because to you it was gradual, but you look very obviously pregnant.
ReplyDeleteAnd more than that? You look so darned happy! Yay! (Smooch on Montana extra for us. I love that she always looks so forlorn.)
That's definitely a fair trade even though you're a pretty far cry from a rhino! You look so content being pregnant, and that's such a beautiful thing.
ReplyDeleteYou look great! Homer always called me "Chunk" when I was pregnant. Charming.
ReplyDeleteOnly in pregnancy can one be comfortable being called a rhino. :)
ReplyDeleteLook at that belly! Pregnancy is very becoming on you. You look great!
ReplyDeleteJess, you look fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThe rhino comment made me think of what my sister's fiancee said to her a couple weeks ago when rubbing your back. He said "This is hard, have you ever tried to rub a hippo's back? You expect there to be an end, but it just keeps going!"
I LOVE that Montana is in your picture. Looking good, lady!
ReplyDeleteCUTE baby belly! (And FYI, it totally protrudes. But in a GOOD way).
ReplyDelete