The 1st Trimester

So, what were the 1st 14 weeks like? I tried a little experiment and sat down and just typed what came to my mind when I thought about my 1st trimester:

I felt everything. I felt my skin stretching and my uterus pulling. I felt my breasts harden, my hips widen, my organs shifting and my belly button popping. Every tweak, tickle, tug and sharpie got my attention. I noticed dull aches in my lower back and slight twinges in my lower abdomen. I had violent hunger pangs in my stomach and got light headed when I stood. It doesn’t stop there. I felt every emotion and sympathized with everyone else’s tears – happy or sad. I wanted to be sentimental. I wanted to be angry. I couldn't stop remarking how cute my dog was and I wanted to hear about everyone’s babies – did they coo, did they smile, are they walking yet? Everything smelled bad and all I wanted to do was sleep. I loved everyone and I hated them all. 26 weeks to go.

A lot of this is still going on but my emotions are leveling off and my energy is starting to get better. The smells aren't as bad either. Before I would vomit at the smell of black coffee and eggs. Now I can stand to be around coffee and have even started eating eggs again. One thing that hasn't come back yet is my sweet tooth. This bothers me a lot because I love sweets and I was really getting into baking them over the summer. At one point I was even eating a different Crumbs cupcake a week because cupcakes are one of God's many gifts to Man. But this lack of enthusiasm for sugar is probably a good thing since my Midwife put the fear of God in me to not develop Gestational Diabetes and this morning I realized my butt and hips are visably spreading to a width I am not comfortable with.  

How we told Mom:

James and I found out we were pregnant a week before my Mom came for her visit. I peed on a stick after my period was late and sat on the toilet for about an hour waiting for the result to change but it didn't. After we calmed down we decided to be cute about it and wait until my mom got to NY to tell her. We bought a little bib that said "I Love My Grandma" and put it on a onesie and just handed it to her. She thought it was for the dog, of course. Once she understood it was for a human baby she said "Finally!!! My baby is having a baby!!!" and got really excited. I think she started planning the baptism the next day. BTW she keeps calling it a wedding if that gives any indication to what kind of party this is going to be.

Telling people: 

I couldn't keep it in. I was talking all kinds of smack before that if we ever got pregnant we weren't telling anyone until the 2nd trimester blah blah. Most of who you read this will laugh since you probably knew at week 5. I get why people want to wait. It is nice to keep it private and a lot can happen in the 1st trimester so you don't want to say anything until you pass certain milestones. All these worries kept me up at night and made me sick because I was so scared I would do something wrong. I was afraid of sudden movements it was so bad. And reading "What to Expect When Your Expecting" made it worse. That book is aweful. 1st it told me it would take me 6 months to a year to get pregnant (took two months folks) then it made it seem like I needed to eat a cow every day or my baby will have two heads (I'm supposed to be a vegetarian). So it was comforting to be able to talk about all this with my Mom and my girlfriends and know they were supportive and praying for me. They talked me off the ledge many times and I appreciated it. How else would I have known all those tugs and pains and weird feelings were normal and it is okay to walk for more than 5 minutes? 

As for my coworkers well that got out pretty early. It started when I was worried about something I was feeling and I asked a coworker a hypothetical question. This coworker is like the mom of the office and she has a baby herself. She took one look at me and told me I was pregnant and shoved the very test I would take 4 days later that confirmed it into my pants pocket. I "officially" told people in the office the week we got our 1st picture of the baby and the fetal nuchal something something test came back negative (the one for genetic stuff and Downs).

And now...

Anyway so here we are officially in the 2nd trimester. James and I call the baby Dash (no not after the Kardashians) since we aren't finding out if it is a boy or girl and figure the name sounds gender neutral enough. The last two days I have actually felt pretty good. I'm going to start working out again next week to "stop the spread" and my appetite is getting better and no longer just want to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and pizza. I'll post pictures of the bump that I just noticed yesterday when I tried to bend forward to put my socks on. Literally just noticed it was there. Oh yeah...due date is July 14th.