26 Weeks & 3 Days! Thoughts on Pregnancy, Motherhood and NYC

Our little mango is 26 weeks! B is up to 2 pounds, can open his/her eyes, has a strong grip, and can even cry now. And of course is packing on the pounds even more so. Yay baby fat!This was Upfront week (where the networks release their new shows for next year) so mango and I partied it up... kind of. Mango definitely got his/her share of cocktail appetizers and we (me) got to see a few celebrities (J Lo, Mario Lopez, Jamie King- also rocking a bump!- the hot guy from Friday Night Lights, no, not Tim Riggins but his friend, and more that I didn't recognize). It's always a fun time of year but also heralds the start of the busy season, mainly affecting Bill though. So there might be some late nights for him in the upcoming weeks, but at least it's out of the way right before B comes.

Gansevoort Hotel Rooftop

And I just want to say how I've been very blessed so far in this pregnancy. Despite having PUPPs and the whole Cystic Fibrosis scare, I still don't have stretch marks, have a fair amount of energy (provided I get a good night's sleep or can work in a mid-day nap) and am just in love with my pregnant body. I'm definitely starting to feel many more aches, can't stand nearly as long, and climbing stairs (the dozens of stairs I have to climb every day) is exhausting. On the plus side though I was able to go through the VIP line at one of the upfronts, had my own personal bouncer checking in with me at another, and almost always now get a seat on the subway.

26 weeks- 5/14/2013

2 days later and almost 20 degrees warmer.
Mango will have to get used to these crazy NYC weather changes

Bill has also been exceptional, really more than I could ask for. Always checking to make sure we're ok, feeling good, asking if there's anything he can do. As a small Mother's Day treat he took me out for a lovely dinner in our neighborhood and even gave me the best present of all, a few sips of his beer. I was never a big beer drinker, and maybe it's the shift in weather toward spring and summer for good, but I've been craving beer like none other. We're still getting things in order for the big kitchen renovation, there's been a lot on his plate the past couple weeks with work and we want to make sure we're getting the best price, but I'm confident it'll all get done on time. Like I do for so many other things during this pregnancy, my worry about that has been given to God.

Last night I took a cab from the Meatpacking District back down to the most eastern part of the LES (i.e. completely across town and then down some) where we live. It was 80 degrees, sunny, a perfect NYC day really and with the sun about to go down it was especially beautiful. And as we crossed through all the neighborhoods I love, chelsea, west village, east village, lower east side it really hit me that I'm on an unofficial countdown of no longer being a NYC resident. Sure, I will likely still work in the city after we move to the suburbs, but it's not the same. And it'll be especially hard to leave now that this city has been so much a part of my favorite time of my life, being pregnant, and will also be the place where so many of my Baby's firsts take place.

We have a 1 bedroom apartment, and the cost of living here is too ridiculous to discuss, let alone the cost of living + baby so our suburban move is inevitable, and I'm sure will be a welcome change in many ways when it comes, but leaving this city that I've had such a love and hate (and now love again) relationship with for nearly the past decade will be hard. Nights like the ones I've had this week will be a once in a blue moon occasion, and honestly, will not compare to getting back home to see my child's face. I always knew that motherhood and parenting would change EVERYTHING but now it's here, right at my doorstep and there's no turning back. And we're so very excited, and wouldn't trade this for the world but it's also saying goodbye forever to another part of my life, and eventually to this city. But until that day comes I can't wait to introduce my child to the Manhattan (and Brooklyn) that I love. It took getting pregnant to discover how child-friendly this city really was and I want to take full advantage of that until we're tucked away in Westchester or Connecticut or the like.