I gave birth 4 weeks ago and I can’t believe it’s been that long since baby girl made her entrance in the world! Adjusting from pregnancy to motherhood has definitely been a challenge but it’s 100% true that you really don’t fully understand until you’ve gone through it. It’s so hard to believe that I grew this tiny human in my body for 40 weeks!
I was always worried about all the changes my body would go through while pregnant but the female body really is amazing. Your body goes through so much physically, mentally, and emotionally during pregnancy – it’s wild. I’m fully aware that so many women have a difficult time being pregnant and looking back at my own, I’m SO grateful that I was healthy the whole time with no major issues.
Like a lot of women, I have body images issues and I’ve always been worried about what pregnancy would do to me physically and mentally so I did my best to be healthy and active the entire pregnancy and I really think it helped a lot. After giving birth, I just have so much more appreciation for the female body and everything that it’s capable of. Here’s a look back at my bump over the last 9 – 10 months:
I found out I was pregnant on Mother’s Day last year (May 14, 2023). I had a work trip to NYC already planned a week after. It was still really early and I didn’t have any pregnancy symptoms but I couldn’t participate in happy hour and it was definitely still too early to tell people! I did have one last amazing sushi dinner though.
I’m terrible at taking pictures because I never think they’re good enough but I wanted to make sure I took them anyway to see how much my baby bump grew.
I think my dog, Yeyo, knew I was pregnant right away. The week I found out he would not leave my side and he always came to check on me.
6/18 – Grand Canyon – 8 weeks pregnant
I took a trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with my parents and Aunt 8 weeks pregnant. It was the first time I had to be sober in Vegas! I didn’t tell my parents yet.
We told my family when they came to visit us in Dallas. Their reaction was hilarious!
We unfortunately lost Yeyo shortly after these pictures. He would’ve been the best big brother.
The first 5 months/20 weeks of my pregnancy I felt like I wasn’t showing at all! I kind of wanted my bump to show already but at the same time, I was glad that I was still pretty small. The only symptoms I had up until this point were headaches, sore breasts, feeling bloated, and some cramping.
We took a trip to La Jolla and San Diego when I was 16 weeks pregnant. This was my 3rd trip being pregnant, but first time flying on a smaller plane with JSX and I remember having these massive headaches whenever we were landing!
The weeks were kind of off because my OB at the time kept going back and forth on my due date for either January 17th or the 24th because of how I was measuring. We ended up just calling the 24th my due date since it was the original date.
Around 22 weeks (5.5 months) is when I felt like I finally obviously had a baby bump! I know they say your bump shows up later with your first but I didn’t expect it to me more than halfway through the pregnancy.
I went to the Texas State Fair with some friends at 23 weeks pregnant. It was so hot, I don’t know how women who are in their third trimester in the summer in Texas manage!
We went to the Dallas Cowboys vs New England Patriots game at 23 weeks pregnant. When I tell you I was active, I was active!
At around 24 weeks (6 months) is when I felt like I was REALLY pregnant. It freaked me out a little how big my bump was and this is around the time my back started hurting.
At 26 weeks, I made my last work trip to NYC until I gave birth. I was wearing a belly band everyday but this point and omg it was so rough being in the office for 8 hours! I don’t know how women who have to be in the office every single day do it, I felt really lucky that I work from home! (I worked until a week before my due date!)
My very last trip was 27 weeks (almost 7 months) pregnant to Hawai’i for a baby shower with my side of the family. The 8 hour flight going there wasn’t bad, but I was really uncomfortable on the way back – even with a premium seat!
After 30 weeks (7.5 months) the back pain just wouldn’t go away. At this point it was harder to get up when I was laying down, my body temperature was running really hot, and my ribs started to hurt too!
Around this point is when I started getting ‘lightning crotch’. It’s such a weird feeling but getting up and moving anywhere was hard. I was still going to the gym to get my stretches in and walk but I couldn’t be up for very long.
The third trimester was definitely the hardest for me overall. Just being uncomfortable all the time and feeling like all my symptoms decided to show up! I was getting carpal tunnel at night and felt like a beached whale trying to get out of bed!
I gave birth at 40 weeks and 2 days, baby girl did not want to come out I almost thought we were gonna make it to 41 weeks! My birth story is a whole other post in itself, but I’m grateful my body was able to carry a healthy baby to full term. <3
