My Body is a Babyland.

In nine days time, I will give birth to my third son. Any one that knows me, or follows me on Facebook, knows this. I'm sure there are some of them that are quite sick of hearing about my aches, pains, anxiousness, and the million other thoughts and feelings that go along with being a pregnant woman. That's fine. Some have never had a baby, so they can't really relate. Others have children who were spaced out well or they only had one, so they can't really relate either. Being pregnant is an experience for any woman. It places us all in a special group together where we can whine, complain, and cry about all that we went through and we all get it, we all understand. But me, being the type of person that I am, decided it would be a good idea to become a pregnant Olympian of sorts. To have all three of our children, close together, in an attempt to create a close-knit familial unit.
In theory, it sounded good.
Heck, it sounded easy.

Just get it over and done with...right?

Wrong. Oh-so very wrong.

Let's break down the math here:
My husband and I were married September 14, 2007.
We wanted to start trying right away, figuring it might take some time. Turns out, not so much time was needed. I was pregnant, literally, within two weeks of our wedding.
We will use this as our "pregnancy starting line" so to speak.

That was 4 years and 5 months ago.

In the last 4 years and 5 months, I have been pregnant for exactly 2 years and 5 months.
Half the time I have been married.
This is NOT including the fact that I will have healed from three cesarean sections as well.
So let's tack on another 4-8 weeks of healing for each baby.

That brings the grand total to 2.7-2.9 years of pregnancy and postpartum recovery in the last 4.5 years.

Someone please tell me what I was thinking? Haha.

     Now I know some of you are saying,"Well yeah, but you did it to yourself, you chose to do things that way" and you are absolutely right. I did choose to do it this way and given the opportunity, I would do it all over again. I have three beautiful children who will grow up together and have the experiences that I always wanted for them.
Mission accomplished.

    However, now that I can see the light at the end of that tunnel, my body is screaming for it. Every tiny little bit of me is dying to control my body again. I want it so badly sometimes that it brings me to tears. It's an amazing thing when you are pregnant, because your body is doing such amazing things; creating life, developing organs, keeping your baby safe. It's the most empowering thing that a person can feel. So it's always quite the paradox that most days I feel equally as empowered, as I do defeated. My husband has recently started his journey of weight-loss and he is just killing it. He has drastically changed his eating habits, wakes up every morning at 5 am and goes to the gym for 2-3 hours and in the last week alone, has lost almost 8 pounds. I've never been more proud of him...or more jealous. I know that I have at least another 7 weeks before I'm close enough to healthy to start my own journey. Then I will work toward losing 40 pounds for the third time in four years. All while re-learning how to sit-up, bend, go to the bathroom, lift, etc...

This time though, this time is going to be different.

    In the past, I've always lost the weight and been content with that, because I knew it was only a matter of time before another baby would come along and take over. I was happy enough knowing that I at least started at the same weight every time and was healthy enough to tackle the next 40 weeks. Now when all is said and done, my body will be mine again. To push, to strain, to take to levels it's never seen before. To some, this would sound awful. To me, it sounds glorious. I have already made my list of goals, things I've wanted to do for years that have always gotten pushed to the side. I am going to be doing my very first herbal detox, running in 10 degree weather with nothing other than my cold gear and weights, and implementing a family wide 100% natural and clean food regimen. All the while, pushing myself to a weight goal that I have had since I was 19.

 I want it all to happen by July 1st.

    For the last few years, I have devoted my body to my children. Now, mommy is going to devote her body to herself. They will get my mind, spirit, and time, while I transform myself into the kind of parent that they can look up to. To show them and teach them how a healthy lifestyle can benefit them in every aspect of their futures.

Nine days. It will be the end of the most important chapter in my life.
Nine days. The beginning of our whole family; growing, living, laughing.

Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit.  When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.  ~B.K.S. Iyengar