16 weeks

My mom spent the last two months of her life in a hospital, and for those two months I spent every day by her side. She passed away shortly before I hit the 20 week mark of my first pregnancy.

Needless to say, there aren’t many pictures of me in my first trimester (or my second trimester) when I was pregnant with baby #1.

[That son’s first year was subsequently (overly) documented in a scrapbook the width of an encyclopedia].

In an effort to make up for the less-than-perfect circumstances surrounding my first pregnancy, I was very determined to create an entire scrapbook dedicated to my second pregnancy. I wanted to have a book that would show me growing into a maternity shirt and growing out of a “regular” shirt …along with a monthly detailed record of my weight gain, baby’s heart rate, and any sentiments I thought might be appropriate to share.

I was very diligent every month and it was looking fantastic!
…but I never made it past the fourth month.

[My second son’s first year was subsequently under-documented].

So now I have a third go at it.
…and I have zero pictures of my first trimester.

But better late than never, right? We got the camera out the other day and hubby snapped a few pics of me at 16 weeks.

Now for most women, 16 weeks is still early. Most women aren’t really showing much at this point. But due to scoliosis and an abnormally short torso, that‘s not the case for me…

I am obviously not the type of woman who could ever hide a pregnancy for long. At three months, I look six months. At 6 months, people start asking how many days I have left. And 9 months, for the most part, eludes me… I don’t think my body was made to carry babies that long. Both of my guys came early. I can only assume they ran out of room.

From what I hear, those last couple weeks suck, so I’ll count myself lucky.