All things pregnancy

Today I think I will write a little bit about pregnancy since I sort of neglected my "pregnancy journal" after about week 7 (I'm now beginning week 17).

So far, I have not enjoyed my pregnancy as much as I thought I would, although none of that will matter come February when I'm holding my little daughter in my arms. It will all be worth it. And I expected the first trimester to be unpleasant, so I am trying not to judge my entire pregnancy based on the first 12-14 weeks. (Although the symptoms that I have been experiencing are way outside the range of what you typically hear about, though not at all abnormal...you know, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, etc). My first clue that something was different was about a week before I found out (though I wasn't ready to attribute it to pregnancy at that early stage). I was SO tired that I felt like I was getting sick. I started going to bed at around 8:00 every night and sleeping pretty much straight through until I had to get up around 5:30. I also noticed that I was breaking out a little bit on my legs, which really is quite unusual for me. But I disregarded it as being from the heat or something. Then, a few days before, I started experiencing cramps, which felt like menstrual cramps. So, duh, I figured that was what they were. When that didn't pan out, I thought "maybe, just maybe". So when I took a pregnancy test and the little digital screen said "Yes," I ran to wake Mike up (this was before 6am, so you can imagine his confusion. And then excitement. =).

Anyway, for the next couple of weeks, the only symptoms I was experiencing were the exhaustion, nasal stuffiness and shortness of breath. This confused me because although I had heard of some women feeling like they had a cold early on in pregnancy, I didn't understand why and I certainly did not understand the shortness of breath. I now get that those two symptoms (the stuffiness and shortness of breath) are largely due to the increasing supply of blood running through my body. I have read that a pregnant woman increases her blood supply by 50% by the end of her pregnancy. I still have stuffiness and shortness of breath. The little blood vessels inside my nose started popping, so I was also experiencing a lot of dryness and bleeding, but I seem to have gotten that under controlwith saline nasal spray and Vaseline. Glamorous, I know.

Soon, the food and bathroom issues started. I was SUPER exhausted ALL the time and all I wanted to do was sleep, yet sleep is something that eluded me more and more. Pregnancy hormones caused me to have to pee all the time, which wasn't too much of a bother during the day, but getting up 3-4 times at night was a real problem (and still is). And of course, once I was awake, it was very hard to get back to sleep. So being exhausted and sleep deprived made a very grouchy- and surprised - Kelly. After all, wasn't the sleep deprivation supposed to come AFTER the baby was born? This caused me to reflect on all of the times that I gave my inexpert - and probably unwelcome - advice to those exhausted pregnant women. "Sleep now while you can, because once the baby comes, there will be no more sleep for you!" They would usually respond with a polite chuckle, but nobody was ever blunt enough to tell me to stop talking, you silly, silly girl.

And yes, the food issues. I never actually vomited (thank you, God!) but there were a couple of close calls as well as plenty of queasiness and food aversions. I went from mostly wanting vegetarian (pre-pregnancy) to becoming the biggest carnivore you ever met. And I wanted those down home meals...just fry me up a piece of steak and serve it with a side of mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, if you please!

"What's that you say, Mike? Broccoli? Oh, so you DO have a death wish? Get that out of my face!!!"

"Is that asparagus I smell? Oh you thought it would be healthy and nutritious for the baby? That's so sweet of you, but would you be so kind as to take it to the trash in the garage? And while you are out there, JUST SIT OUT THERE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!! Bringing anything green within 20 feet of me is a crime punishable by 9 months of hard labor, Mister, so get to work! This house needs to be vacuumed and the bathrooms are not going to clean themselves! Oh, and before you start mopping the floors, will you please be a dear bring me a glass of soy milk and a heating pad for my back and oh, here, I'm finished with my glass but I could really use some ice water with the bowl of cereal you are preparing for me NOT cheerios thank you okay now I am going to bed and you can finish up the dishes right? Please make sure you disinfect the counters and wash out the sink real well because if I see chunks of food in the sink when I get up at 2:30 this morning for a glass of orange juice I might just hurl thank you."

Did I mention that I was just a touch on the crabby side?

Food rules my day, every day. Before I go to work in the mornings, I load down my purse with bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, V8 (since I'm still not all that keen on fresh veggies), cheese snacks, yogurt...whatever I see. And when I get hungry, the most annoying thing happens. NOTHING sounds good to me! Fruit doesn't, V8 doesn't, yogurt doesn't, crackers don't, cookies don't.

Anyway, add to all this my chronic back troubles, you are looking at one uncomfortable pregnant lady! Though slowly, I am getting to the exciting stage of pregnancy. I think I may have felt the baby kick yesterday and we know it's a girl so we are starting to think about names. So all in all, things are looking up. Despite my food issues and the fact that I'm still getting up 2-3 times per night to pee, I am starting to feel a little bit more like myself, which is good because there is a lot to do around here to prepare!

I hope that I will take the time to write another update about my experience with Baby Darby. This has been fun.

xoxo
Kel