A few weeks ago, Mr. Dick's sportsmen's club hosted their annual crab feast at Patapsco State Park. The crab feast is always held in mid-August, and Billy's family members from both sides come. This year I attended for my seventh time (Billy and I missed the crab feast once for a wedding out of town), but it is the first time the event hasn't signaled back-to-school time for me. I used to eat a few crabs so I could participate in the experience, but for the past few years, I haven't really felt like putting in all the work it takes to pick them. I don't feel so bad, though, because Mr. Dick has never eaten one! Billy said the crabs this year might have been the best ever, though.
Here, Billy and his cousin Chuckie are selecting crabs out of the bushel to put in the boxes they use to serve them on the table.
Brian and Billy go to work on their crabs while Mr. Dick watches over the festivities.
Everyone who saw me at the crab feast finally agreed that I look pregnant! And Patti and Chuck got to feel her move for the first time.
After I wrote up my post about the baby shower, Billy's cousin Heather shared a few of the photos she took throughout the day.
While the women supervised the opening of the gifts, the men hung out in the yard and played tailgate games. I was so glad that everyone was invited and found ways to have a good time!
(Picture This is a novel by Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22, that builds an nonlinear, temporally experimental narrative around a single painting. I haven't read it, but to me it sounds so quintessentially late 1980s!)
Liz - you make pregnancy look good! You've managed to get big only in the belly, which is just downright adorable. You say you've experienced every negative symptom, but I would never guess form the outside. How have you managed to keep it all together? And if you've felt like crap on and off, how is it you've managed to regularly hit the gym? Meanwhile, working/schooling fulltime, being a wife and a doggie-mama, etc?!? I can seem to only get one thing done per day. Sometimes that's the gym. Sometimes that's simply getting the mail. I envy your productivity! What's your secret??
ReplyDeleteHey Jo! Thanks for the comment, but you're giving me a bit too much credit. I have done all of these things at various points in my pregnancy, but none of them all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteMy "secrets" include the following, though: the world's most supportive husband, family, and friends, anti-nausea medication (Zofran), work that I find stimulating and rewarding followed by a lot of time off, trying to avoid feeling sorry for myself, and finding a workout regimen that does not wear me out or burn too many calories but satisfies my absolute needs to exercise and get out of the house. Even my dog helps, really, because we've had him so long that his behavior is completely predictable and he dotes on me when I feel like garbage.
All that said, I don't write about it on the blog a lot, but I've still been plagued by plenty of self-doubt throughout my pregnancy. It has been hard for me to go from knowing exactly how to take good care of myself to learning how to take care of and adjust to the demands of a pregnant body. At various stages it has been: Am I working too hard? If everyone else struggles with weight gain, why is it so hard for me to force myself to eat enough? Why can't I get through a day without this medication I don't want to be taking? Why does everyone have to keep telling me I don't look pregnant when I've gained all this weight in my belly? etc.
If I could go back in time to when I first found out and give myself some advice, I'd tell myself 3 things: a) do the best you can and be kind to yourself about the results, b) remember that you're doing the best you can when other peoples' well-intentioned questions make you feel like you're not measuring up, and c) drink as much water as you possibly can.
I hope it'll get better for you, as it did for me... I definitely felt much better after about week 15, and that has made everything easier to handle.