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I can't contribute to this discussion, except to say I was 11 lbs 5 1/2 oz! *Looks around smugly*

I'm gonna add mine here. Like Rogue, I did C-Section because I couldn't go into labor. As in no labor pains at all, whatsoever, for 24 hours after the water broke and they tried everything they could to induce it with nothing working. However, unlike what most here are describing, I was friggin' miserable for the whole term, all nine plus months of it (yeah, mini-me was two weeks late). I had morning sickness (read that all day long, every day) the whole time and i couldn't be around cooking hamburger unless I wanted to spend time in the bathroom. For the last two months, i couldn't wear shoes because my feet were so swollen. And I was huge though I gained no more than BW talked about. That had to do with the way I carried her. However, in contrast, my sisters can pop the lil buggers out quickly with no issue. My next youngest, she said the longest she was in labor with all hers was five hours. The first? She was in hard labor for about an hour, it. My other sister was the same way. They had no problems and no major complications when it came to their pregnancies. I was the exception. And, passed that exception onto the daughter because she had the same issues I did when she gave birth by C-Section as well And, yeah, she was it for me! We ain't doing that bit again, no way, no how, forget it!

Pregnancy food cravings: To be honest even I do not understand the twisted foods I was eating, or why I could not do the reasonable swap outs over the course of the day. I was driven batty until I ate these really revolting combinations. My now ex hubby would be the one running most often to the bathroom with the fits of nausea over the bizarre foods I was chowing down on incessantly. I've been told by other moms that I craved really strange food combinations, and I am not talking the often mentioned pickles and ice cream status quot. I did have the morning sickness, usually after the sun went down which tapered off around 3 am most nights. I was strangely obsessed with BBQ potato chips, licorice candy, and spaghetti sauce on ice cream. (yes at the same exact time as toppings for Butter pecan ice cream no less-Revolted yet?) I ate garlic pickles with berry flavored yogurt and peperchinis and funions brand chips (SP?) when not cramming the other down my throat as if my life depended upon it. The two biggest and weirdest food combo's never coincided for which I remain very grateful to this day. Another strange food combo I ate often was kippered snacks with mustard and orange marmalade on rye bread. Just typing that out is making me shudder. To this day, after my second son was born, I can not stomach BBQ flavored Potato Chips, and rarely can handle more than a coupe bites of BBQ smothered meat before I gag. Same goes with Butter pecan ice cream. Even spaghetti sauce is a very rare edible because I ate so much of it when I was pregnant both times. I had to switch out ice cream favorites and a lot of other items after my second son. ROFL. Both of my living children were discovered before I had any clue I was pregnant. I went in for regular medical check ups because I was on birth control. I have had seven miscarriages because of not having a medical check up. My second was discovered at 5 weeks, so I had to have medications changed. Luckily I was on a drug that required blood tests to make sure levels were fine. Like everyone else that has ever given birth is saying, each birth is a unique process. Some of us have nightmare labors, yet we do it all over again because we love our children so much that the temporary downsides can't possibly overcome the joys of watching our little ones grow, learn and change into remarkable human beings. The pregnancy & birth ordeal: I was completely bed ridden for seven months with my second child. He was mercifully smaller than the first. My first was 10 pounds 11 and 1/2 oz and a C section because my right hip was pinned together a year before, after a riding accident where the 1900 pound horse fell on top of me. The horse went down so fast I could not escape the saddle so his weight falling on top of me crushed a big chunk of my body. Both times I gave birth, I was over 4 weeks late for delivery, and had aged placenta break away before the actual births happened. One son was 10 and 1/2 months, the other a week shy of 11 months. My water never broke because the embryonic fluid bag was way too thick also. It was miserable being in active labor so long and the water not breaking to allow for the birthing process to progress. My second son was 6 pounds and 12 oz, so he was reasonable for natural birth once they managed to get my water bag busted and the birth progressed over many hours. Both labors wiped me out because I was in active for an insane number of hours. My first was 3 days of harder level labor pains without result, the second was 39 hours which ended with a baby in my arms. I had an epidural because they assumed I would need a second c section, but the hip had healed enough that it unlocked so I could have natural birth the second time around. I was one of those who showed nothing at all, not even a missed period until the 5th month with either pregnancy. I carried against my spine though. Having the babies against the spine can be difficult when they start kicking. If they are in the wrong position, you find yourself on the ground cause the spine gets hit and that can make a mess of your stride as I found out the hard way. Both my sons were football and soccer stars before birth. They kept me from sleeping for 4 months. I would sit in a rocking chair to get relief since the motion soothed them enough that they would sleep, even if I could not. I hear folks say that I am lucky to have survived either birth, and they are probably correct. However, I would not change anything I went through when I look at both my grown sons. Despite their flaws, they remain my greatest pride, joy, and heart break because they are both my precious babies. They grew up to be strong men. It was all worth it even if I do still have moments where I wonder how nuts I was to go through it twice. Chukles@myself.

My OB very pointedly asked me NOT to discuss my labor/delivery experience with the uninitiated. He was afraid I'd scare the women in the waiting room. I did not realize I was pregnant with #1 until I was nearly four months - the joys of irregularity and other issues masking it. I knew instantly with #2 - to the day. No one believed me but as I was working retail at Christmas at the time, there was only one window of opportunity that month, lol. I was not a screamer. The woman in the room across the hall was. I'm not sure what they gave her to shut her up but I was infinitely grateful for it. I did have the OB by the tie whispering very real threats at one point. Mel - go hug your mama.

Dean_Wax brought up an interesting point as well. The burst of activity isn't just to persuade your passenger to get on with it and come out, but because we all get a nesting urge the last couple weeks. Meaning there is a burst of activity DIRECTLY related to ensuring you've got all your ducks in a row, so to speak, for the arrival. I had 2 that went late (2 and 2 1/2 weeks, and yes, they were the large ones), and the other three were all early. I cannot begin to express how grateful I am that they were. Considering how big the overdue ones were, I shudder to think of how large the others would've been had they not been early. Considering that my middle girl was the earliest (she was 5 weeks early) and 8 pounds, 20 inches long at birth, she'd've been HUGE if I'd gone to term.

Every mother related to me in my generation has been overcome by some kind of furious determination at 38-39 weeks when they haven't gone into labour yet, going for walks up and down the beach etc. to try to trigger their water breaking because they were so fed up of being pregnant. Based on this, I can only assume the state of being heavily pregnant is very uncomfortable and/or unpleasant.

I was testing some watercolours on a rough concept image for a graphic design diploma illustration project in 2011. I like to keep this snippet around because it reminds me a little bit of one of my characters, Aure.

My avatar is based on my original character named Grandis. There are two design variants of Grandis, one that is referred to as Grandis MK II and has a more beast-like design, including a visible jaw on the helmet, while Grandis MK III, the one I'm using at my avatar, has no visible jaw present, and the design of it's eyes are entirely different by comparison. Grandis overall is a homage to the Pokemon Aggron, who Grandis used to look a bit more similar in design until I changed it when I realized Grandis looked a little too much like Aggron in it's older designs.

This is the first post of this thread. Yeah, so the reason nobody posts an "explain your avatar" thread is because avatar's change and then the post makes no sense. Plus the majority of the older posts are now "guest" with no avatar at all which makes even less sense. But I say, "Who cares?" Just put up a new post when it changes, which many have done. So mine was going to be the same as my FF.net account. It's my black cat, but the file was a smidge too large and I couldn't crop enough to get it smaller. I didn't want to fuss anymore and I happened to be writing a Renji/Byakuya story in the Bleach fandom which described both men with their hair down. This pic was just too sexy to resist, what with the tats. I was lucky enough to get permission from the artist on deviantart.com to use her "Renji". I have given her credit in my signature.