It’s bizarre to me to think that one week from today (if not sooner, hoping not sooner!), I will no longer be pregnant.

For nearly 39 weeks (Sunday marks the start of my 39th week) I’ve been incubating Maya –giving her everything she needs to grow. As the author of The Happiest Baby on the Block puts it so eloquently in a section devoted to new dads :

“Mothers are great heroes! When it comes to making babies,  we men chip in a sperm while our wives essentially pull a dog sled from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, except for your 23 chromosomes, every single molecule of your baby was individually carried through your wife’s body. It’s almost as if each cell should carry a little tag that reads INSPECTED BY MOM.”

Amen!

And now … a week from today … she will be born. I won’t give birth in the traditional sense (i.e., naturally), but I will have a baby and become a mom vs. a vessel. It’s a bizarre feeling to know that soon my belly will go from hard and life-sustaining back to a piece of flesh as it was 9 months ago (though likely bumpy and no longer flat)–and that my baby will be IN MY ARMS!!

So I thought this might be a good time — while it’s top of mind — to reminisce about the things I will — and won’t — miss about pregnancy. Since I’ve had a physically great pregnancy overall, I feel very blessed … I can still touch my toes, shave my legs, wear my rings, be active. So you won’t hear me complain about any of those things! But there ARE some things I won’t miss.

Namely, I won’t miss:

1) The constant urge to pee
2) The dull lower back-aches
3) Being unable to sleep on my stomach if I so desire
4) My hips widening and my ribs and collarbone slowly fading into extra flesh
5) The jagged linea negra that now marks my belly
6) Seeing the scale go up, up, up (even though I only gained what my OB recommended I gain, it’s still mentally hard sometimes to see the number!)
7) Having to buy bigger sizes and then, eventually, maternity stuff ($$$$)
8) The insatiable appetite and fatigue I’ve had the past few weeks
9) The anxiety/stress of prenatal testing
10) The sharp pain of sudden Braxton-Hicks contractions

And to end on a positive note, here’s what I will miss:

1) The excitement of sharing such wonderful news
2) Having fun letting people guess how far along I am
3) Sitting in pure silence just rubbing my belly and wondering what she’ll be like
4) Feeling flutters, then swishes, then kicks and punches
5) Concern from family and friends (it’s nice to feel extra-loved!)
6) Feeling OK with cutting down on my workouts, even though I was eating more
7) Being able to eat things I typically wouldn’t … without any remorse (hoping to take this progress post-pregnancy!)
8) We always spooned when we slept, but I love waking to my hubby’s arms around my big belly
9) Reading every baby book I can get my hands on and playing on the BabyCenter boards
10) The sweet anticipation of what’s to come

So there are a lot of things I’ll miss about pregnancy, but the end reward–our baby girl — will make all those things I WON’T miss absolutely worth it.