Beach Baby (33 weeks)

I'm back!

So sorry for the long delay in getting a post up - I've been a combination of away from a computer, then jet-lagged, then busy, then ill, and often simply very very lazy.   I am very sorry!  But after the long delay, I'm going to come back into full force :o)

So there is much to say and to update.  But I think much of it is so same old same old and doesn't need much elaboration.  Basically I'm getting bigger and the baby is getting bigger and I'm daily surprised at how strange an experience being pregnant is.  I'm also daily appreciative for how mild my complaints are compared to some of the complications that can arise.  I've so far been blessed with a fairly straightforward and healthy pregnancy, and I am thankful for that.

So instead this week, I will catch you up on what exciting things I've been up to!  Mainly my beach holiday!  (I know it was actually two weeks ago, but the two weeks since have consisted of the following: unpacking, sleeping, returning to work, getting food poisoning and vomiting uncontrollably, sleeping, and returning to work... so... I'm gonna stick with the beach!).  The beach holiday was so so good and I had an amazing time.  It was made so much better by the fact that I got to spend it with so much of my family and I loved every minute.  I could blog a book about all the fun things we did and experiences we had - but this blog is meant to be about being pregnant so luckily that narrows it down a bit!

There were quite a few good things about having a beach bump - and quite a few bad things as well...

Good: 

I've never been so confident in the way my body looks than I am now.  Well, I don't know if it's confidence really or just a lack of caring... but either way I love my big fat belly.  I'm happy to walk around in a bathing suit, I don't even think about whether the way I'm sitting makes me look bigger or smaller or whether I should try sucking my gut in.  I look the way I look and I have no control over it, the end!  That being said - I do think I look a bit silly in the pictures!  A pregnant belly is just so round and out of place that I can't help but giggle at it - and my personal bump sometimes pokes so straight out that it's odd looking (a woman at my work called it "abstract" which humoured me).  But no matter what, I'm happy in my body which is not something the beach usually brings out in me.  And it's a joy! 

Bad:
Being happily in a two piece bathing suit without worrying about how your sticky-outy belly looks is one thing.  But forgetting that a sticky-outy belly is going to get a lot more sun than you anticipate is another!  Luckily I realised quick enough that the top of my belly was slightly redder than the rest of me, and I managed to avoid badly burning my bump.  But it did get a bit too much sun!  And a bit too much sun on skin that is already stretched and itchy and tight is NOT a good addition.  Thankfully, my sister could step in with buckets of aloe so it never actually turned into a burn.  And, better still, she had brought her old maternity swimsuit that covered everything up nicely (and looked pretty cool in the meantime).  So thankful for that!  I learned my lesson the very first day and was very careful from then on.


Good:

This might have been one of my favorite things to discover!  I really really miss being able to sleep on my stomach.  It's the only position I feel like I can really properly relax in.  I can still get surprisingly close, but it's just not the same.  So when I had a sunbathing brainstorm, I felt like I'd hit the jackpot!
I realised that sand is a very easily manipulated sleeping surface - meaning, basically, that I could dig a hole!  So a dug out a perfect bump sized hole in the sand, put my towel on top, and voila!  I was on my stomach!  Never has such a simple pleasure filled me with such joy.  I was comfortable, I could push and dig until the sand was exactly right for my exact shape, and I could relax as if I wasn't smuggling a watermelon under my shirt.  It was fantastic.




Bad:

As much as I loved laying out in the sand, and playing in the sand, and sitting in the waves, I had to make the deliberate choice that that was what I was going to be doing for the next chunk of time...
Because getting down was one thing, and getting back up again was another!  Turns out there is absolutely no graceful way of getting up off the beach.  It involves rolling over to all fours, sticking your bum out every which way, and pushing yourself up into a semi-standing-just-let-me-find-my-balance position.  So once I was down, I was down!  Chairs available?  Now you tell me.  Never mind - the effort of standing up to get a chair outweighs the benefits of sitting in it.  I'll just stay here on the sand, thanks.


Good:

Being on the beach is a fun place to be when you're pregnant!  I thought it might hold me back a bit but it really didn't.  Being in the water is fantastic when you're big - it takes the weight off and makes you forget any aches or pains you're carrying around.  So I loved the access to the pool just for hanging out and being relaxed.  And the ocean worked just as well, assuming you could get out past the waves.  I loved loved loved taking a raft out and just being in the water under the sun listening to the waves.  But even when the waves were too much to get past, it was still fun!  The raft could bend to accommodate my belly and I could still get on it enough to catch a wave and ride it in.  I looked a bit silly rolling off once I got back to the shore, but it was worth it for the joy of riding in.  Loved it!  And when all that was said and done, just as much joy was to be had sitting on the edge of the waves and letting them wash over me, and as much as the wee one moved after each wave, he seemed to like it too.  Overall, the beach is just fun.

Bad:

As many fun things as there were to do, it was so so HOT.  I can not reiterate how hot it was.  The US was in the midst of a heat wave and it was in the high 30s (90s) and even into 40s (100s) a bit.  I'm at that stage in my pregnancy when I am hot all the time anyway.  I can't handle any covers on at night, I keep the windows open all the time, and I am constantly fanning myself.  And that's in cool temperate Britain!  So you take that and jack up the thermometer and I felt like I was in constant meltdown.  So I wore as little clothing as possible and kept a Nalgene full of ice permanently by my side.  And it was alright.  But the heat is one thing that I can say I 100% did NOT enjoy.  (I love this picture by the way - I think it looks like we're all standing around with no clue how to play golf... hehehe).




So that's my run-down of the beach!  Overall, a fantastic time and so many happy memories were made.  I am so thankful that I was able to be there and share in that time with so many amazing people.  I am a lucky, lucky person indeed.