A New Adventure

It's possible that most everyone who reads this already knows, but just in case, Dave and I are expecting our first baby! I am 13 weeks along and due in July (10th, they say, but who really knows?). I'll be sharing the adventure in this blog, so proceed carefully lest it's too much information for you.

My pregnancy calendar says this about the baby: "Your baby is now about the size of a lime, roughly three inches in length, and tips the scale at around three-quarters ounce. Your baby's eyes will begin moving from the side of his head towards the front as his face begins to develop. At the end of this week, little ears will move to their proper spot as well. Your baby even has fingerprints now!" This translates into: "Your baby is starting to look less alien and more human." A couple of weeks ago I shared a picture of what the baby looked like at the time with Dave and he said, "We are having an alien?" :) He is getting excited, I think. He bought the baby a blanket for Christmas and wrote it a letter. It made me cry. The baby will use that blanket to go home from the hospital. He keeps asking me when I will have uncontrollable gas, because that's the part he is looking forward to - and apparently, that's the bit of knowledge he has retained in all the things he's heard about pregnancy. He's such a boy. :)

To answer the question, "How are you feeling?", which I've been asked 10,000 times already, I feel pretty good right now. There was some morning sickness in the first couple of months, but it's gone now. I have also recovered from my energy crisis - I have NEVER been so tired in my life. The exhaustion was almost debilitating at times and I'm glad that is over; it is weird for me to be so tired and unable to keep up my normal activities. After coming back from Australia, I was on a serious cooking strike because food wasn't at all appealing to me (yet I still managed to gain 6 lbs. in one month?). Now, I can cook again, and that's wonderful because it's good therapy for me. What I canNOT do is eat steak - nor can I smell it or look at it. I'm almost gagging while writing about it. It was one of my favorite foods, but NOT right now. I am craving salty things, especially pickles, pickle juice (don't DARE throw away a jar of pickle juice in my house!), and olives. It was Mexican and fast food for a while - as in that's all that sounded remotely appealing - but now I can eat most things without pause. This is good because 6 lbs. is too much weight to gain in FOUR WEEKS so I really need to be making healthier food choices. I do not subscribe to the notion that I'm eating for two (it just isn't true - the baby is the size of a lime right now), so I'm trying to be smart and stamp out my guilty feelings because I ate all of my snacks before lunch today. After all, I should eat when I'm hungry, I just shouldn't eat tacos and nachos and Mexican pizzas from Taco Bell.

My boobs have grown a full size already, and judging by the pain, I'm guessing they aren't finished yet. While I admit that I am excited about this part, it presents a challenge that I didn't foresee: most of my regular shirts (not t-shirts) don't fit right now. Hmm. However, for my sister's wedding reception (oh yeah, she eloped on December 1st) I will be wearing a dress that shows my new cleavage since this is the only time in my life that I will have any. Someone said, "But you will have a big belly, too." To which I replied, "So."

Which brings me to another point, just this week I've noticed that I'm a bit moodier than normal. Now normally I have a tendency to get fired up about things when I have a strong opinion, but I'm generally pretty stoic with my moods. Not so lately; there haven't been any drastic mood swings, no throwing of silverware (though it sounds like fun and I'm wondering if I can allow myself to use pregnancy as an excuse to throw something? It's so out of character.), no random and uncontrollable crying, but my level of irritability has increased. I wonder how bad this will get?

There are other random aches and pains, that sometimes catch me off guard and make me worry, but nothing too serious at this point. Those are called "round ligament pain" and that's politically correct for anything from mild stretching in the lower belly to sharp, shooting pain. I just had my first sharp, shooting one and it was interesting. Made my breath catch. I do find it more difficult to get comfortable at night, but once I am, I sleep as well as normal (well, except for the bathroom trips, those are new). I had to steal Dave's pillow to get comfortable, but I figured this was a worthy cause considering he can sleep upright if necessary. My belly isn't big yet (it just looks like I've gained too much weight right now), but it sure does feel heavy in the evenings. I can't imagine what it will be like when it's really big.

The most adventurous part of this adventure so far has been the surprise puke attacks. I said my morning sickness was gone, but the puking is not. My gag reflex is VERY sensitive, so brushing my teeth is always a sketchy scenario - this is when the surprise attacks happen. That's okay though, because I'd rather puke and be done than feel like puking for hours on end.

We will not be finding out (on purpose, anyway) if the baby is a boy or a girl. We both want it to be a surprise at the end. At my last appointment, I got lectured about my weight and I got to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler. As soon as he stuck it my belly, you could hear it - he didn't even have to look for it. It was 150 beats per minute at the time, which is perfectly normal. So far, everything looks good and healthy. I'll have my big ultrasound in February, and they will measure the baby and make sure it is developing normally. I was offered a blood test for Spina Bifida and Downs Syndrome at my next appointment, but I will decline. I don't want to know and those tests aren't accurate enough for me to worry about the results for the rest of my pregnancy.

In other news...
My sister got married on December 1st. I'm ecstatic for her and we are planning her reception for February.

Squirt no longer lives with us. He came home while I was in Australia and left again. I haven't seen him since before I left. I've given up on him. I know someone is taking care of him because there have been sightings and he is quite fat these days.

Gypsy has learned to catch and kill birds. She DOES eat them, but she also leaves the feathers all over the house and they are the devil to clean up.

Georgia has been glued to me since I got back from Aussie land. I think this is normal for pets of pregnant women. I can't wait for her to meet her new sibling. The cats? I'm less enthusiastic about them meeting the baby. I foresee trouble on that front.

That's enough for now.