Remembering this day last year...

One year ago today, I was feeling HUGE and in pain.

My baby, Bump, was growing nicely and I had recently learned that Bump was growing nicely in an "olympic sized swimming pool!" HUH? Yea, that's what I thought. All I knew was that this baby was moving around and seemed as fine as all the others. I was, however, suffering from the weight of my growing belly. A growing belly with lots and lots and lots of amniotic fluid! Do you know how much a gallon of water weighs? (I do... about 8 lbs. and there were a couple gallons pulling my back out of alignment!) My back was aching, my legs were weary, did I mention that my back was aching?

My belly had gotten so big that I could no longer walk up to the kitchen sink, turn on the water and wash my hands (or an apple or whatever else). I had to turn to the side and have my hip up against the counter. This "baby" was getting BIG! Well, it wasn't really the baby that was so big, after all! After much discussion and a few tests... we decided it would be safest for all if we gave baby an eviction notice and helped him pack, so to speak!

So, off to the hospital we pranced and got all ready for baby's arrival. When we arrived (late in the evening) I realized that I hadn't had a picture taken with baby still in his first home and with the enormity of the size of said home, I couldn't pass on that final picture! So, here it is - even with my tired eyes...

I wish I would have had the where-with-all to think to have Pops take my picture AGAIN while I was in labor - AFTER my lovely midwife opened up the fire hydrant broke my water and I had what appeared to be a more normal sized pregnant belly for an 8 lb. baby! It was soooo funny, I actually felt so much better that I could have carried that baby for another month. My body felt so much better with that pressure relieved.

I guess now I know... but I can't go back. You just have to TRUST me. It was a spectacular and amazing sight. And there are only four people in this world who witnessed that spectacle! Me, Pops, My Marvelous Midwife and a nurse (her name which I negligently forgot) will have to be believed about the size of my stomach pre-pop and post-pop! It was really something. Anyone else ever experience "polyhydramnios"?