Being Pregnant with Levi

This pregnancy has been very similar but also very different than my pregnancy with Evie. The similarities are that I have only thrown up once with Levi and that was the same with Evelyn. Also I was only nauseous for a short time at the beginning of both pregnancies. And very luckily both pregnancies have been risk free and completely normal, no blood pressure/gestational diabetes/etc issues with either pregnancy. And now for the differences, I will just put my observations in bullet form:

- I have craved cucumber almost my entire pregnancy. Like I eat an entire seedless cucumber in 2 days by myself (that's a lot of cucumber).

- I also have been craving oranges at this late state of pregnancy. I have been eating an orange a day for the last 2 weeks. It's funny because the one time I threw up this whole pregnancy it was the morning after I had drank a very large glass of orange juice so since then I have been avoiding all things orangey. And now I can't get enough.

- My moods, whooey! Just ask my In Laws, they can attest to my very strong mood swings and emotional outbursts (sorry Mom and Dad!). The mood swings were especially hardcore at the very early stages of pregnancy. I actually stormed off after yelling at Mike over something minute. Let me correct that, I didn't just storm off, I walked almost 3 miles down the beach and had him out looking for me and worried about me. Yeah, that was a proud moment right there. And then when I did come back I cried for about an hour afterwards. And that was just the beginning. I have had some very moody days since then. And in the last 3 months I had what I like to call "Hell Week". It was a perfect storm type situation where my pregnant hormones were high and mighty, Evelyn was sick and whiny, and Bailey was hitting a whole new level of hormonal development too. Yeah a few highlights from that week included Evelyn puking in the Chik Fil A bathroom on family night while I was alone with both kids and me taking every toy out of Bailey's room (including her gerbils) and telling her she could earn a toy back per hour that she was nice and didn't talk to me with attitude. Oh yes, that week definitely lived up to its name. Thank GOD we haven't had anymore days or weeks like that. Actually my moods seem to have really settled down since then. I still have my occasional crazy mood moments but usually they can be contributed to hunger or lack of sleep. Suffice it to say that being pregnant when you already have 2 other kids is A LOT harder than being pregnant without any other kids.

- I have craved anything and everything salty this whole pregnancy. Levi is really living up to his name! I really haven't craved chocolate or sweets at all.

- Every other utterance out of me is a burp. For real, ask my poor coworkers. I have burped more in the last 8 months than I have my entire life.

- Apparently when I am falling asleep now I moan. And it freaked Mike out the first time it happened, he thought something was wrong.

- My belly button has actually popped out with Levi. Like a turkey thermometer this belly button is gaging the "doneness" of the baby.

- I pulled my back out really badly a few weeks ago. So bad that I had to take muscle relaxers and go to the chiropractor for the first time in order to be able to stand up straight or walk without pain.

- I walked around with a stain on the bottom of my shirt for an entire day and didn't know it because I couldn't see it.  Also I knocked down an entire shelf display in Evie's pre-k class with my belly and didn't even notice.

- I take a nap everyday now. Usually I can't nap to save my life, now I can barely function without a nap.

- I own only one item of maternity clothing and I don't wear it very often. I am very proud of the fact that I haven't gained nearly as much weight with this pregnancy.

- Levi is the most active in-the-womb baby I have ever experienced in real life. My life is like an alien movie all the time now. I swear that he is trying to kick and punch his way out of my stomach. It is really neat but also very different, Evie moved around but she was not nearly as active.

- Before we knew we were having a boy I had a very vivid dream that I was holding my blond-haired, blue-eyed son with a big smile on his face and super long legs and arms. The day we found we were having a boy I literally cried for an hour afterwards, all tears of joy and thankfulness. I feel extremely honored/blessed/lucky that I get to experience being the mother of girls and a boy. And to make the dream even more amazing, last month at our ultrasound our doctor said that Levi's legs were in the 90th percentile for length and that he had never seen such a long baby in the womb.

These are just some of the many memories we have already made with Levi. And Mike wanted me to make sure that everyone knew that he helped compile this list.

***Edited to Add***

 - I have also had heartburn for the first time in my life with this pregnancy and it only started about a month ago. I ate some spicy soup from Panera and that night around 11PM I started having the urge to burp and throw up at the same time and I had no clue what was wrong with me. Mike asked if he shoud get me some medicine and I tried to tough it out for about 30 minutes and then finally sent him to the store around mindnight to get me TUMS. And they worked fast! And now every once in a while I will wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn. I am trying to be mindful of not eating spicy food but it's hard because I like spicy Mexican dishes.