I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar

While I was pregnant I did alot of research.. I'd spend time on a specific baby website that covered every single thing you could think of. They even sent weekly emails with special info in them that explained developements your baby was making that week. They also explained everything I needed to know for myself like, why I craved what I did, how to prevent stretch marks for as long as possible, how to exercise properly etc. It was SO helpful! I still get emails each week which is pretty awesome, but now its all postpardum stuff. After the baby comes articles like, how to deal with excessive crying from your baby, as well as yourself, how to deal with your man when he hasn't gotten any in months, how to minimize stretch marks, lose weight, breastfeed and heal your pooch when it looks and feels like it survived a war. All while looking pretty and wearing a smile on your face. ha. So of course there are articles that have tips on how to help your self esteem cause not only was your precious pooch beaten to death, your stomach was stretched out and your ankles became kankles.. ya gotta pretty up your inside before your outside can look good and thats when this article caught my attention. A dr. explained that when you hit that low a few months after pregnancy, make a list of all the things you are proud of that you did from the time you were prego until now. Sounds pretty conceited, especially because I know its only by the grace of God that I survived haha but after a sweet little 1st grader decided to tell me that she was concerned I had another baby that I needed to take out of my belly, I hit my low and decided to make my list. So here goes..

I am proud that I:

Chose life.
Survived morning sickness for the first 16 weeks.
Packed up & drove my sisters through the santa cruz mountains to get them to the relay on time and didn't puke til I got there.
Continued doing hair throughout my entire pregnancy.
Exercised daily up until 8 months.. then I got a liiiittle lazy.
Never made Kyle go buy me food in the middle of the night, no matter how bad I needed it.
Wore a bikini and didn't care.
Made a 2 teir graduation cake for my sister in-law.
Wore makeup and did my hair 75% of my pregnancy.
Shaved everything.. yes. everything.. up until the week I gave birth.
Gave myself a pedicure at 32 weeks along.
Never slapped anyone in the face, now matter how bad I wanted to, for telling me how huge I was.
Gave two haircuts the night I went into labor.
Never ate an entire apple pie in one sitting. I made it last over a 2 day period AND shared some with Kyle.
Never gave in and satisfied my craving for dirt.
Walked up and down the hospital for 2 hours after labor started without any medication.
Didn't cry when the nurse pulled out my first epidural needle and stuck me on attempt #2.
Never screamed at Kyle, even when he ate multiple meals in front of me and then offered me a bite of ice chips during labor.
Never told my mom to stop looking so stinkin happy about me feeling like I was dying. The smiles, they get irritating as your contractions worsen.
Was in labor for 24 hours and pushed for 2 1/2 of it.
Gave birth to an 8.10lb baby who was mostly head.
Never gave up on breastfeeding.
Got my son through his first bad cold at only 4 wks old. Its terrifying, trust me.
Lost 30 of my 35lbs of prego weight in 7 weeks.
Never yelled at Kyle for getting 9+ hours of sleep every night since Joey was born.
Worked my butt off to get my baby on a schedule so that he would be happy and sleep through the night.

Have cleaned up my dirty mouth and didn't even have to chew Orbit.

Have continued exercising so I can be a healthy mom.

Can look at my stretch marks as something that only makes you a prettier woman, no matter what the magazines say.
Am ok with the fact that your hips stay wider after birth. Its so you can balance a baby and a laundry basket on each side.

Survived. :)

Yeah, still feels very conceited but who would have thought.. that Dr. knows what she's talking about! Sitting back and looking at everything makes me feel so much better. Looking at my sweet little family that I don't deserve makes me feel more than better, it makes me feel blessed! <3 I love you my sweet boys!