Bearing the Belly: 1st Tri in a Nutshell

Let's face it folks, I kind of belong in a nutshell. Am I right, or am I right? I do nutty stuff all the time and probably would be safest in a literal nutcase. But, they don't make them large enough for me -soooo, I have to go around living in my figurative nutcase - which, we all know, I rightfully belong.

Where am I going with all of this? That's a good question, I'm not really sure myself.

What I do know is that probably not everyone wants to hear about me being pregnant, but I'm going to share some of it anyways. I, for one, was shocked when I started going through the motions of being knocked up. There are things that just need to be shared, so that others won't be as surprised as I was.

Namely, the watery mouth, the sore ta-ta's, the constant nausea, the pregnancy sciatica, my new-found assertiveness, and my overall unstable emotional condition.

This is me today, I'm 13 weeks and 5 days along. I'm definitely starting to show. Also, for the record pictures like this seem to never be flattering. Blah.

Here's the front view. Not sure I will continue to post pictures like this, but we'll see.

PS Yeah I wear my pants low, what are you going to do about it? ;)

Let's start with the fun stuff, shall we?

Sore Ta-Ta's


This started back before we even went on our cruise, so in other words - not even a month into the pregnancy. I noticed that there was an overall soreness that I just couldn't explain. I mean, usually (and other woman know this) they get sore around that time of the month, but they were ridiculously sore this time.

They were so sore, in fact, that on one of the trips that Binderclips and I took I realized how serious it was:

We were at the Enterprise Rental Car counter. Binderclips was talking to the guy behind the counter about our reservation as I waited. While waiting I got kind of bored, so I decided to try to be more involved in their conversation. As I leaned forward my ta-ta's came in direct contact with the counter. Immediately I repelled away from the counter as if we were 2 positively charged magnets. Then my lip started to quiver - that's right I was holding back tears people, it hurt that bad. Binderclips stopped talking to the guy for a minute and looked at me, I think he could tell I was going to start crying. He said "Everything ok?" to me and all I could do was say "I don't want to talk about it" while holding my tears back and holding my chest like it was a safe. From that point on I have guarded my ta-ta's like they are a national treasure.

Watery Mouth

As I write this I'm experiencing a case of this, just so you know. This also started back before we went on our cruise. I started to notice that my mouth was watering constantly and especially if I was hungry and smelled some good food nearby. I kept telling Binderclips "My mouth will not stop watering, it's like a rainforest up in there." And, it was. You know how the rain forest is an ecosystem? Well, so is my mouth - but, it's an ecosystem for bacteria apparently. That's why soo many pregnant woman experience gum issues during pregnancy. The watery mouth causes excess bacteria to develop along the gum line, many times causing gingivitis. TMI? Probably, but this watery mouth issue also contributes (at least it did for me) to the constant nausea - which, I will get to next.

Constant Nausea

Whoever decided to call it morning sickness was a jackhole. Calling it morning sickness is like calling road kill that's been sitting in the sun for 8 hours a delicatessen....grossly misleading (in several ways, if you get my drift). It should be called Constant Nausea (I mean why not call a spade a spade?), because that's what it was for me. Was I nauseous in the morning? Yes. But, I was also nauseous in the afternoon, at night, and the entire time in between. Did I throw up? Yes. Interestingly, I only threw up select things that I ate though. One morning, while travelling I had a chicken biscuit, some hash browns, and an orange juice for breakfast. Apparently the baby no-likey orange juice because that's all that came back up.

The point is, for some, the nausea is constant. I was so nauseous that every time I went to the doctor I lost weight (which is not uncommon). This leads to the last item I'll discuss for today - my overall unstable emotional condition.

Overall Unstable Emotional Condition

I'm going to call this OUEC for short. The very last time I went to the doctor was on 4/4. Binderclips gave me a virus of some sort and I was feeling awful, so the doctor wanted to see me. The first thing they do when you get to my doctor's office is weigh you. Well, since I had been sick for a week my weight loss hit an all time low. I got on the scale to notice that I had lost 5-6 pounds total over the course of the 1st trimester. On my previous visit just a week before, I had lost 4 pounds total. Additionally, the day I got sick (consequently a week before the 4/4 appointment, in the evening and AFTER I had seen my doctor during the day) I was running a 102 degree temperature. 

I read in all my books that you do not want to let your temperature get over 102 because it can be harmful to the baby. The night I had the fever I called my doctor and she told me to take tylenol and drink lots of water - that I would be ok.

So, when I arrived at the doctor and had lost even more weight and I had such a high fever the week before and was hormonally imbalanced to boot - I was an emotional wreck. The nurse made the mistake of telling me "We'll listen to the heartbeat with the Doppler also while you're here." But what I heard was "We'll listen to the baby's heartbeat to make sure you haven't killed it with your weight loss and high fever..."

As soon as she left me alone in the exam room I started crying. When she came back in I was still crying. All I could say to her was "I'm sorry. I'm an emotional wreck, I was fine before I got here" while continuing to cry.  Even after we heard the baby's heartbeat I still continued to cry. I found out that not only did I have a virus, but I also had a sinus infection AND pink eye. As soon as I got out to the car I called Binderclips - sobbing. "What happened?!" he exclaimed. "Everything's fine. They did a Doppler and I heard the heartbeat, so I didn't kill the baby" I said then continued to sob. I eventually let him go because I just couldn't bare to talk about it any longer (I'm certain he thought I had officially lost it at this point). 

I could not stop crying and I had no idea why. Actually, I think the mere thought of me having accidentally killed our unborn child was overwhelming and I just could not get myself back together. I even cried the entire way home from the doctor's office.

Maybe I'll talk about the other items later...I really don't want to bore people with all this pregnancy stuff, but I do want to share how I'm feeling with you guys along the way.

Have a great day everyone! Later gators!

I Might Be Growing a Penis...

....or an extra vagina. At this point we're really not sure what it is, honestly. So, I have a growth, you see. Wait, maybe I should back up a little bit here...

You know when I went on that cruise back in February? Well, while I shared a very embarrassing story where 4 people embarrassed themselves at once, I kind of left out something else that happened. I think I shared that on the second day of the cruise we stopped in Freeport and went snorkeling and kayaking, didn't I? Well, if I didn't tell you before, I'm telling you now. The couple we went with and I had a great time doing these things, but Binderclips - not so much. He kind of hates water, so much so that when he gets into it, his main goal is to get out of it ASAP. Needless to say, he did not snorkel for very long (maybe 2 minutes max) and the picture of us kayaking is the only time he stopped paddling, otherwise he was full speed ahead in making it to land.

While snorkeling my foot touched some of the poisonous coral and that's where the growth came from. Errr, I mean, that's not right either. I think this growth is giving me memory loss...

So, where was I? Oh yeah, the second day we went to Nassau and went on a Pirates of Nassau and Historical Tour where I was attacked by a Pirate. No joke, check out the picture below.

On the third day, the cruise ship travelled back to Port Canaveral and so we were at sea all day. So, what did we decide to do? Spend the entire day in the hot tub or lounging in the sun, that's what! In doing so, we ran into the couple we had been having our formal dinner with every night...you know, the one we all embarrassed ourselves in front of on the first night? By the end of the cruise we had made great friends with them. They decided to hang out with us, which was awesome because they were a blast to hang out with.

Anyways, they decided to share some exciting news with us...they had went to take a pregnancy test in the Medical Center on the cruise ship and they were expecting!!!!! She went onto describe that the lady in the Medical Center had given her the test that was clearly positive because it had 2 lines on it.

We were all sooo excited for them but I began to think to myself 'My Aunt Dot is late, maybe I should just go take a test...' but (and this is a big BUT) I'm always late - I mean ALWAYS. At this point I was a week late, in the past I had been up to 10-15 days late. Also, I cannot even tell you how many pregnancy tests I had taken up to this point. Because I have endometriosis it's not uncommon for Aunt Dot to be late. Additionally, Binderclips and I were told that we could not conceive on our own - in fact, we had tried fertility drugs with no success. Our next step was to either do IUI or IVF per our doctor (I had already taken the class to learn how to give myself shots and everything).

So I ask Nancy "Will you go down to the Medical Center with me?" I continue by saying "It's going to be negative, it's ALWAYS negative." When she said yes we decided to head on down for a quick test.

So, I peed in a cup and we waited. Then finally the lady came out and showed me the test. She leaned over the counter and while holding it in paper towel like it was a baby bird or something, I looked over at it.

To my surprise, there were 2 lines. In my head I said 'there are 2 lines', well at least I thought I said it in my head, until the lady looked at me and said "Yep, there are 2 lines." In shock I said "That means positive" frantically to her...at this point, Nancy pointed out to me later that the lady was looking at me trying to figure out if it being positive was good or bad...She responded with "Yes" in a scared type of tone. That's when I lost it, I mean I lost it people, I started crying hysterically and so did Nancy.

After explaining that the hubs and I were told we couldn't conceive on our own and we had been trying for about a year at that point, she started crying too. We honestly thought we wouldn't be able to do it on our own, so you can imagine how surprised I was.

So, you see, I do kind of have a growth and it could have either a penis or a vagina. We'll find out around 20 weeks what we're having. We are very excited and I couldn't help but share this story with you all. Hopefully you guys can cut me some slack from not posting that much, I have been really sick. Whoever decided to call it morning sickness is an evil person....morning sickness many times lasts all day/night and it has for me. In fact, I've lost some weight during the 1st trimester, but they say it isn't that uncommon and that I'll start to put on weight soon enough. Baby Binderbuns (as my friend likes to call it) is set to arrive on (or around) October 20!

Any who, I hope this story brightens your day, it sure brightened ours! Later gators!