Nine Months

By Bianca Monzon-Cueva

No one could have adequately described to me just how amazing the experience of pregnancy is.  It has been such an unexplainably special journey for my husband and I over these past almost forty weeks. The best part of all is that, at the end of it, we receive the most incredible gift – our little baby girl.

Sure, it has not been smooth-sailing at all times – there are the sleepless nights, first-time mom anxieties, sporadic back pains, a sometimes muddled memory, and hormonal road bumps here and there.  But for these very minor and seemingly negligible inconveniences, you get to live everyday of these nine months knowing and feeling that your little one is moving and growing inside you and that, soon, this new life will come out and change your lives forever.

We have been blessed with a relatively smooth and seamless pregnancy – no nausea, extreme fatigue or big health complications, all tests/doctor’s visits came out normal and problem-free, our initially breech baby moved to the right position in time, and I have been able to function to my near-optimal level till my last few weeks, allowing me to get almost everything I need for the husband, home and baby taken care of before the big day.   It is truly a blessing too that I was not engrossed in a career during this time, as I was able to immerse myself fully in the pregnancy experience and enjoy every little moment it had to offer.

Among the many things I enjoyed during my pregnancy was trying different means of communicating, bonding and relaxing with the little one inside of me – from very Frenchy sessions of sophrologie, haptonomie and chant prenatal to prenatal yoga, massage, acupuncture and osteopathy.  I was able to enjoy a lot of moments in my favorite parts of the city, additionally finding out where I could get baby treats and discovering baby-friendly spots where I can soon take my little bundle of joy.  I successfully squeezed in a few sessions of French to make sure I could get around easily with the needs of my little one when she comes.  And finally, I was able to check off a lot of last just-us travels which I believe were very good for the pregnant soul and pre-baby family bonding – from driving around Spain with my dad and siblings, to hiking and eating away in Turkey, getting downtime with my girlfriends in London, celebrating my last pre-baby birthday around Bordeaux and spending a couple of long weekends in Normandy as just us two – we made sure to get all of that out of the way before we focus the next many months of our lives intently welcoming our new addition.

 

 

THE MOST FUN PART ABOUT BEING PREGNANT – The funnest part has been getting ready for the coming of our little one.  From picking her name, to getting her little nook, clothes and needs set up, attending intensive baby preparation sessions with the hubby and other parents-to-be (i.e., Childbirth, Early Care, Breastfeeding) and going through the different prenatal well-being classes I’ve mentioned above to make sure that our little girl enters a warm, welcoming home and environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE MOST EMOTIONAL PART ABOUT BEING PREGNANT – Perhaps the entire experience of carrying a life inside of me, feeling it grow and move, and knowing that this life will soon come out and join us is already in itself emotional enough, we would also add that every moment that we felt contact with our baby inside my tummy was a moving time for us.  We enjoyed the occassional ultrasounds where we get to see what she looks like, and most of all hear her little heart beating so quickly.  We loved feeling her move, kick and swish inside of me during quiet moments at home as we speak to her at night or play her some classics.  We were thrilled to feel her respond to our touches during haptonomie.  All these times that our little bean made herself felt and known to us have been extremely emotional and ecstatic moments.

For these simply wonderful nine months, my husband and I have been beyond thrilled with the entire experience.  To this day, we never take a single moment of it for granted, and we continue to thank the big guy up there everyday for blessing us with this wonderful gift.  We feel truly blessed, and cannot wait to meet our little one at the end of this beautiful journey!

Due Date: January 2012