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!