twenty weeks + a thrifty threads challenge

Well, here we are… halfway there!

Is it too early to say I’m ready for July?
Because I’ve been ready for July since about… December.

I haven’t posted weekly updates or a lot of bump photos, pretty much for the same shameful reason. I’m embarrassed to answer the how have you been feeling question. It’s bad, y’all. I’m not sure why, since I’ve never dealt with these specific symptoms before. I also never thought a pregnancy could more difficult or uncomfortable than the sisters’. I was very, very wrong.

For starters, I’ve had a cold since the first week of January. Not my typical pregnancy congestion issues. I’ve got a full-blown cold, and it hasn’t let up at all. I’m also having some wicked painful circulation problems in my legs, complete with varicose veins and numbness and throbbing. I’ve never struggled with this before, and it literally takes up chunks of my day… I brainstorm ways to make my legs stop hurting and what in the heck am I going to wear this summer if I can’t show my legs? And then just this week, the itching started. I wake up each morning with scratches on my arms from the night. I’ve started sleeping in long pants and long sleeves, which only makes the sweating worse.

Glamorous, right? I told you, it’s bad. I’ve always prided myself on being a hardy pregnant woman. I made it full-term with both Ames and the sisters, while working full-time. I’ve been blessed with straightforward pregnancies, the kind that progress normally without complications. Puking my brains out and soaking my soreness away in the bathtub are literally the extent of my gestational woes. This time, I’m licking my wounds and feeling a bit down in the dumps, like my body and my spirit are failing me this time around.

I know that I’m busy with a lot on my plate, and that I’ve been pregnant a lot in a short amount of time, and that every pregnancy is different. That doesn’t make the suffering any easier. So for the sake of flying my usual blogger banner of being transparent and vulnerable, I’m letting y’all in on a bit of what my husband sees every day. I’m discouraged. I hate complaining and feeling ungrateful. I’m ready to feel better, inside & out. I promise, this is the first and the last of my pregnancy lament!

To jumpstart myself out of this funk, I’ve given myself a little thrifty threads challenge…
no buying new clothes for Momma in 2013.

I toyed around with the idea back in the fall, after reading about friends’ and other bloggers’ similar quests. But then I thought about how much self-control that would take, and what will it look like if I go back on my word to the whole Internet? But January came, and I made it a month. And then another month. And then I gave in and went shopping for leggings at two stores, to no avail. I stopped by the thrift store on the way home and promptly found two pairs. Thanks, Jesus! I can totally do this.

To get through the rest of this pregnancy, I’ll combine my current wardrobe with thrifted pieces, Instagram shop goodies, and my friends’ hand-me-downs. After that, I’ll just sort through what I have and make things work while my body does its postpartum thing and the year comes to a close. I’m excited about the time and money this will free up for the ever-changing wardrobes of these growing kids of mine. It will also inspire force a bit of creativity on my end, something that doesn’t always come naturally to me.

Send me your IG shop links!
Send me your pregnancy relief stories!
Happy Monday.