As my belly began to bulge from the baby, I attempted some quick fixes before I could shop for some maternity pants. I apologize to all my co-workers who had no idea I was doing this as I approached my 2nd trimester.

One of our friends swore by the Snoogle so I had to try it when I was pregnant. It definitely surpassed all expectations. The Snoogle wasn’t just a hit with me, but with our dog…and my husband.

Our bike camping trip was 2 nights, and we didn’t have any cell service. We hadn’t told anyone aside from our parents on both sides that I was pregnant. This baby would be the 1st grandchild on my side of the family, so needless to say the “Lola (“grandma” in Tagalog)-to-be” was getting very worried when she hadn’t heard back from me all weekend.

I was about 8 weeks pregnant, just ran the Hood To Coast Relay, and thought it would be a great idea if my husband and I did one last bike camping trip before the baby. What I didn’t count on was having a tiny pregnancy bladder, and I hated walking in the woods in the dark of night.

I remember reading how one of the pregnancy symptoms are your feet start to loosen up due to relaxin, a hormone that allows your bones to loosen and spread out to accommodate the growing baby. I did not have flexi-feet, but I know I would abuse its power if I did.

During Inktober 2018, I drew a handful of journal comics while I was pregnant. They seemed to resonate with people, so I had every intention to keep it going during my pregnancy…but…I was pregnant and physically not feeling my best. As a compromise, I kept a notebook of comic ideas as they popped into my head as my baby grew from 10 weeks, to 17, to 24, onwards. I vowed that I would return to them and actually draw them. 2 years later, here we are. 😉

I have a handful already drawn and am slowly chipping away at the remainder of my list. It’s been fun revisiting that exciting, tumultuous, and incredible time in my life. There are so many things in life you truly don’t know about until you go through it: having kids is definitely one of them.

By the way, did you know every week your growing baby is compared to a piece of fruit to give you a size reference of what’s growing inside you? 40 weeks equals “a small watermelon”.