I think I'm taking this whole thing too seriously...

:-)

After the great Trip and Fall of 2007, I've been thinking that maybe I'm being a touch too paranoid, even for being a first-time pregger. It may be because my mood is improving as the holidays approach, but I'm finding that I have increasing urges to just run around the room and make funny noises and freak everyone out ;-)

I decided to take stock of how I've been feeling lately, and what things are changing, versus the things that stay the same. **WARNING - May be too much information for many people; feel free to skip it**

Changes:

1. The belly, obviously. My waist is now measuring nearly 10" more than pre-pregnancy.
2. The breasticles. Oh, my good, the boobage. I didn't think it could get worse, but it did. And the funniest thing - they don't look bigger compared to the belly. My little brother, who has been following my progress through weekly online photos, commented last week "Boobies so small!" when, in actual fact, they're probably nearly a full cup size bigger.
3. My belly button is starting to become shallow, which is the weirdest thing to be vain about. Normally I have a very nice innie, if I do say so myself, and I hate to think that it's going to pop out like a turkey timer. That just creeps me out.
4. The back pain. It's not really that bad, but it means I sit (and sleep) funny, and now I'm dealing with my usual consequence of that - the painful, swollen sit-bone. (Yes, my ass hurts. Deal with it.) It's interfering with my knitting time, because I can't sit the way I want to, but since I didn't promise anyone any Christmas gifts, it's all good.
5. The *ahem* gaseousness. So far the only person it affects is me (because my entire family knows that I can fall into a vat of crap and come out smelling like a rose!), but my suffering does affect Hubby indirectly. Some days (though thankfully there are fewer) I'm completely sidelined by the pain, and I can tell it's hard on him to see me hurting. It's also hard to explain to people why you look like you're going to roll over and die when in that state.
6. The *ahem* potty parade. I haven't slept more than an hour at a time since August. I figure it's just training for the next 18 years.
7. The constant low-level nausea. I've learned to adapt, drink fizzy things to settle it, and make it through most work-days incident free.
8. I, the consumate coffee connoisseur, can't stand the stuff anymore, even though I'm allowed a cup a day. We're coffee snobs, and only grind and drink the good stuff, but I just have no interest in it. (Star$$ peppermint mochas, on the other hand, are juuuuuust fine.)
   

Things that haven't changed:

1. I am still a night owl, even though I do need 10 hours of rest. Makes my days very weird.
2. I still enjoy most of the foods that I did pre-pregnancy, now that the nausea is under control. It sucks that I'm not allowed many of my faves, though (blue cheese, sushi, imported fresh cheese, it's all about the cheese).
3. The obsession with cooking. Even when I feel crappy, and don't want to eat, I still love to cook. As long as it isn't shrimp curry, the smell of which always turns my stomach.
4. The emotional episodes. I thought about it, and for the last number of years, I've had emotional outbreaks, including wanting to cry for no reason, at about the same frequency. Most of the time before it was due to PMS, or just really stressful periods at work, and now it's hormonal, but the frequency is about the same.
5. I'm still a procrastinator. I know I should be planning out some furniture rearrangements, start thinking about babyproofing the living room (and getting rid of some of our crap), and make lists of what we need. I also know that versions of those lists can be found on the internet, the furniture is sparse enough that it can be rearranged in an hour, and that the crap in the livingroom is Hubby's, and therefore his job ;-)

Next Monday will be the halfway mark... woo-hoo!