I’m as big as the moon right now. For about 2 months now people have been asking, “When are you gonna have that baby?”

I’m not due until mid-September, but I’m ALL BABY. It’s what happens when you eat healthy and take care of yourself. All the baby weight goes into the little person swimming around inside of you.

This is not a Hollywood pregnancy, it’s REAL. I waddle and keep knocking into things with my belly. Thankfully I can still see my own feet if I stretch enough. Heeheee

Tripping over myself is common. You’d think I would be used to it by now─this kid being my 4^th and all─but no. There’s always new insanity to deal with. And sometimes you forget (or block) certain weirdnesses. It’s why I keep a pregnancy journal for each kid. My daughters love reading about the silliness from before they were born.

This time around is very similar to the 2^nd pregnancy. The due dates are close. I’m “enjoying” the heat and swimming to keep the pressure off. And last week, just to keep with tradition, I fell down the stairs.

This was no tragic event. It wasn’t a full on trip to the basement like before either. I apparently couldn’t handle 4 measly steps to the front yard. And to add insult to maternity, I was carrying the puppy. (Don’t worry I cradled him to protect his little body and took the brunt of the force). It was like something out of a damn cartoon.

There I stood, walking out into the night holding a puppy and I just forgot that stairs exist. My foot found gravity and as soon as I realized nothing would stop me I turned to at least bump down my back with my feet in the air.

My knee and one of my elbows got pretty scraped up, but the puppy was fine. Best of all, within minutes the baby was kicking as if to say: You alright out there mom?

I appreciated that most of all.

I’m no longer allowed to go near stairs without supervision, or so says my husband who insisted we wash out the little gashes and took care of me as soon as he found out what happened. I’m more of a, spit-on-it-and-move-on kind of gal, but I laid back and rested.

Pain is not a concern of mine. It’s a part of life I don’t shy away from. BUT falling while pregnant can be scary. Worrying about the baby is terrifying. Moms-to-be are clumsy. We need railings to hold onto and time to slow down. Rushing is never advised when your body changes so fast you can’t keep up with it.

7 years ago when I was pregnant with my second child, I was carrying laundry down the stairs, my foot slipped and I went flying down a long hard staircase to land on a concrete floor. My eldest was a toddler. She stood at the top of the stairs and asked: Are you okay, mommy?

I was laying there just happy that my reflexes rolled me onto my back instead of my belly. I told her: Go get daddy.

My ex-husband was still asleep and didn’t get up. No amount of shouting woke him. I had to take my time to assess the pain, sit up, and get back on my feet. Nothing was majorly injured, but it was a rough go.

I attribute the lack of injury, and last week’s okayness, to the year I took of acrobatics when I was 12. It may sound silly, but I learned how to take a fall. My palms are always ready to catch the ground and when they can’t, I get my ass down haha

Knowing how to tuck and roll helps. As silly as it sounds, all the sports and physical activities I practiced throughout my life prepared me for this. Being an active person has a lot of benefits. It’s not always easy, but the tornado in my uterus is still rolling around in there, healthy and almost ready for delivery because of good physicality.

Even just taking walks and stretching keeps the body ready for these crazy moments. I’m a bit extreme, I know that. Most women have to work just to find the motivation to move around a bit and I commend all of them who do.

My husband and kids are used to me by now. I keep apologizing for being so clumsy and slow to which my husband responds: Good. You’re down to a normal speed now.

We’ll see how long that lasts.