Good Morning (well for me at least!!!)

Hope all is well out there. Life is good here. I can't believe March is already almost over. February seemed to go by so slowly but March has flown by. I have been very busy this month at work and that will likely be the case thru May. It is pretty normal to have super highs and lows in terms of experiment and administrative loads in research land, so I am not surprised but a little overwhelmed. In order to catch my breath during the day, I actually have to consciously force myself to sit down and drink a cup of tea or leave the lab at lunchtime rather than just cramming food down my face while writing an email.

So I have decided to use this blog entry to reminisce about the pregnancy so far. Of course when I became pregant I had hoped that I would be organized and collected enough to keep a hand-written journal chronicaling the whole adventure, writing about food cravings and mood swings but no such luck. It turns out that I am just not that kind of prson at this point in my life and forcing myself to do it does not work. However I have been keeping relatively faithful to this blog, so this place will have to be the record of my experience so far and all of you (whether you like it or not) will get read it.

I think the one thing that stands out to me the strongest and that surprised me the most about the first trimester of pregnancy is how very different I felt and how complete and quick this change was. I did not feel like myself at all and this started almost before my first skipped period. I knew something was not right so I was not at all surprised when the home pregnancy test read "+". Like most other women, I felt nauseous often but never I actually puked. I was totally surprised how often I need to eat-I could not eat alot of food (never a normal meal) but I had to have something in my stomach almost all the time. I was amazed that this happened so early (at 5-7 weeks)- it seemed totally ridiculous that a dividing blastocyst needed so many nutrients. I also was exceedingly tired and found this too be really irritating. I slept past 9am regularly and this is not normal at all for me. During the 6-11 weeks I was pretty paranoid about eating the right food & staying away from anything remotely harmful b/c I knew that the most important brain & heart development was happening at this time. But I also was aware of the high miscarriage possibility during this time, so I only allowed myself to be cautiously optimistic about the pregnancy. Bill & the rest of my family thought I was being over-concerned and weird about things but this is my first pregnancy so I decided to let myself be however I wanted even if it wasn't completely rational. I felt alot better about the pregnancy once I saw that 9 week ultrasound and heard the baby's heart beat. I would strongly recommend that all 1st time moms-to-be try to get an early ultrasound if they can.

Overall during the first 12 weeks, I felt weird but tried not to worry, I ate an exceedingly large amount of oranges, green apples, orange juice, lemonade, cherry yogurt, frosted mini wheats and raisin bran cereal, and peanut butter-covered toast. Sadly, I had no desire for certain things I normally really like including coffee, salad, pad thai, hummus, nachos, good cheese, and bean burritos. Foods I did not care for before pregnancy such as eggs, most meats, I REALLY did not like at all and hated to even look at them. Also much to my chagrin, during this time I could not and would not do any extra physical activity. This really baffled me and irritated me. I quit doing the yoga completely and barely wanted to walk the dog more than a few blocks. I knew I was being ridiculous and I knew I had sworn that I would be one of those really active, healthy pregnant women but NO, my body totally refused and then I really knew that I was not myself at all.

Then for me 11 weeks-14 weeks were transitional. I was feeling better but not normal. The tiredness and need for oranges started to let up and thankfully I wasn't feeling sick anymore. Then over the last 2 or 3 weeks I have felt pretty damn good. YEAH! I hope this continues for the rest of the pregnancy. I had pad thai and falafel this week and both were excellent. I started drinking my morning coffee again. It's great. Bill & I have been taking the dog for long walks on some nearby forest trails and now I just need to get back to the gym.

So for all you ladies who have not yet been pregnant. My only piece of advice so far is... Don't be surprised if you feel like a completely different person very early in the pregnancy and yet you will be surprised by everything. Funny, I just laughed at myself when I read what I just wrote b/c I bet the statment will probably apply to the rest of my pregnancy and motherhood as well. We shall see.....

Wow this blog entry is long. but I am afraid that if I don't write it down here then I will forget it all. Did I mention the forgetfullness of pregnancy? yes it has struck me BAD. Oh I almost forgot to mention this-maternity clothes SUCK!!!!!!! Despite what every NON-pregnant person will emphatically tell you-maternity clothes are NOT cute and it is NOT fun shopping for them and Target does NOT have TONS of cute maternity clothes. This may be my bad attitude bubbling up and I am sorry if I have offended some of you but I have found the experience of maternity clothes shopping to be loathesome. Much of it is expensive yet the fabric is low end and the cut of the clothes is weird, bunchy, and dorky or on the otherhand some of the styles seemed so wrong-like denim mini skirts??? Bad, bad for my pregnant ass. I finally had some luck at the Mimi Maternity and the Motherhood stores but that was only after trying on about 55 items (not kidding). Here are 2 examples of cute items I purchased and hope I continue to like as I get larger: dress, shirt I left the store $200 poorer and with a bad taste in my mouth. However I now have a few maternity clothing items that I can mix & match with my normal clothes-hopefully it all lasts long enough to get me into summer when I will probably turn to simply wearing some sort of cross between a towel and a moomoo type dress all day, everyday. It wil be really great I am sure.

Well I guess I should wrap this up. Today we are going out to my parents' for party to celebrate March birthdays for Kelly, Mike, Leah, Hannah, my Dad, and Georgia! wow. many beautful people born in the month of March. My dog, Kaia will be happy too. She loves going to my parents' house b/c she gets lots of extra attention, also my brother will be there and Kaia just loves him-I mean really I think the dog is in love with my brother and wishes they could have babies together. HA! what a thought-it is so wrong in so many ways.

I will leave you with a few music suggestions b/c as always Bill still supplies me with a wonderful collection of new music. The new Neko Case is an awesome addition to all of her work that I love! She also sings with the New Pornographers and Mass Romantics album is excellent rock music. Also for those of you who do not already know of Sufjan Stevens-you should. Illinois is my favorite of his albums and I get the msuic stuck in my head all the time. Also check out Devendra_Banhart and the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-I just love it!!!!

Here is info on the baby at 17 weeks. Take care,
Sarah