Now that I have license to post about my pregnancy, I can barely contain myself with all the stuff I want to blog about. I definitely have to write a post about how I first found out I was pregnant; I'll get to that this week.
Being the overachiever that I am, I've been charting my symptoms and keeping track of what I can tell of Baby's development very carefully (Type A...). And I've been enjoying comparing it to what I recall of my pregnancy with Hank. Here we go:
(1) "Morning" sickness/Nausea - Didn't really have much with Hank. I got nauseous a handful of times, and it came in short waves, and faded quickly. This time, I'm nauseous every single day, from morning until dinner time. Eating will stave it off temporarily. At times, the nausea is so bad that I don't get up for fear of something very untoward occurring. So, what does this mean? I need your feedback, people :) In fact, I demand this. The conventional wisdom is that more nausea means girl. Did those of you with girls have lots of morning sickness? With boys, nada? I know, I know, it's an old wives tale, but I can't help it. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW.
Oh, and just so you know, we're old fashioned. We don't find out the baby's gender until birth. So, we have 7 months ahead of us of fun guessing games :)
(2) Honed scent abilities of a finely trained Bloodhound - I had this last time too. I can smell a candle still burning from a story up in our house. Perfume can nearly knock me off my feet. And food? Whoa, baby. It's usually good, but not always.
(3) Cravings - MEAT. Fritos. Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato slices. Salted (I kid you not) cucumbers. And somehow, always fast food.
With Hank, I craved Taco Bell. I mean, ok. If it was the only way I could get my hands on it, I would have stormed in with a shotgun and demanded that they hand over all the taco meat. I mean, I HAD to have it. And once again, I'm experiencing that "*burning sensation* Gotta have it, gotta have it!" feeling. Taco Bell holds no allure this time, though. This time, ARBY's. Come to mama...
I had an Arby's sandwich on Friday, and the thing is, I haven't had one in, oh, 10 years? Maybe 15. I haven't had Taco Bell in 5 years, since I was pregnant with Hank. But oh, I tell you, it was SO GOOD. SO GOOD. Right. I don't even like roast beef. Really, I don't eat that much meat. But pregnancy turns me into a gigantic carnivore. Except for pork. That never sounds good. But beef? Oh, oh yes. Pepperoni. *drools* And SAUSAGE! *squeals* Yes, yes definitely. Oh. I suppose that's pork. Right? Ah well, no matter. I do like sausage. But pork chops? *shudder* No thank you.
So, what else? Again with the grilled cheese. And this time, TOMATOES. Tomatoes like you've never seen them consumed before. I make tomato salad daily. Last week, I stopped off at the grocery store on my way home from work for my fix of tomatoes. And I wanted big, juicy Beefsteak tomatoes. With salt and pepper. And feta cheese. I procured 2 huge ones, along with a couple of also coveted cucumbers, and impatiently waited in line. As soon as I got up to the register, the teenager working there asked me:
"Oh. You know, everyone has been buying these big tomatoes. But they cost more. Plum tomatoes are on sale, you know. Do you want..."
"NO. I mean, no thank you. I want these."
"Are you sure? These are $2.99 a pound. I could go grab..."
"NO. Just put the tomatoes in the bag, and no one gets hurt..."
Ah, good times. The tomato salad was particularly good that night. I also had a slice on my grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. Gotta have it.
(4) Sore... "things" - It's like they think they're about to be pressed into service at any instant. We have time, really. We'll just leave that one right there.
(5) Extreme exhaustion - I remember this so vividly with Hank. This time, I think because I knew to expect it, it doesn't seem so bad to me. Well, also, I routinely go to bed by 9:30 anyway , so going up at 8:30 or 9 just doesn't seem like that big of a leap. With Hank, I was still very newly married, and just coming off a regular routine of staying up til midnight watching Golden Girls on Lifetime every night. Now, I've been beaten into a submissive routine of "my sleep may get interrupted at any SECOND! Better grab it now!"
That pretty much sums up my life for the past 2 months. Yesterday evening, I was running late, and didn't get home, Hank in tow, until a few minutes after 5 pm. I was tired, I was nauseous, I had a headache, and I felt harried. I walked in the door, and hark! What's that I smell? TACO BEEF!!!! OH, sweet, sweet husband. Mike had made burritos, and they were on the table, waiting for us. This, I tell you, is what keeps your marriage passionate and happy for the duration. Not smoking hot date nights, although those certainly help too. It's this. Burritos on the table for your tired pregnant wife when she comes home from work. Suddenly, Husband's cuteness factor has been elevated well past its already cute status. That type of thoughtful consideration is what turns a woman on. As well as throwing the garbage and doing the dishes. Mike does those too. Garbage juice is definitely not on my list of currently approved smells for a happy, non-nauseous Catholic Librarian. Life is good.
Let' s see. Morning sickness. I had it severely and ended up loosing weight in the beginning. I was put on a motion sickness drug and started leaving crackers and water next to my bed for in the middle of the night and when I first woke up. He's a boy.
ReplyDeleteMy friend has the disorder where you vomit constantly and uncontrollably. She ended up with an IV. It happened with ever pregnancy and almost instantly. She has two girls and one boy.
Smells. Those were awful. I was working at a day care so food and poop while strong didn't make me want to hurl. Anything perfume scent (like cat litter), made me queasy. I made Hubby keep changing brands of cat litter until we found one that was livable.
Also had problems with metal mouth. My mouth always felt like I was eating a bar of metal. This was often in the morning.
Cravings. Didn't have any. I figured since it was common then I would end up with that one too, but no.
Sore things. Nope. Had to pee a lot throughout. Would get out of bed four or five times even though I had just gone and nothing was coming out. sucked.
Extreme exhastion. Yeah, I slept like 12-14 hours and was always tired by 7pm. But that was at the beginning. In the middle I got the energy boast and was cleaning like crazy until I was too huge to move and was too tired.
Also had severe hot flashes. Those were terrible. Ended up sitting in the tub and hosing myself off with the shower.
Hope that helps.