Last Day of NaBloPoMo!

30 posts in 30 days. It was very different from how I thought it would be. It is clear to me now that if I want the type of blog that Emily, Heather, or Linda have I will have to change a lot of things. That's a decision I haven't made yet, and I'm okay with that.

Okay, on to the "content" (such as it is)!

Yesterday after work I went to the naturopath. The last time I saw her was October 17th, when I was about 11 weeks pregnant. Now I'm nearly 18 weeks. Being back in her office brought back a lot of memories. She always gets out her notes from the last visit and reviews them with me to see what's changed, so the contrast between how I felt at 11 weeks and how I feel now at 18 weeks was very clear to me. What a great way to remind me of how crappy I *don't* feel anymore!

For example:

At 11 weeks I was about to return to full-time work after 4 weeks of only working part-time due to exhaustion and stress. I was considering quitting choir and/or other outside commitments because I just couldn't keep up.

At 18 weeks I am working full-time, meeting my out-of-work commitments and even enjoying everything that's filling my time.

At 11 weeks I was so tired I needed to nap on the couch for 1-2 hours every day as well as my usual 8+ hours of sleep. I couldn't climb all the stairs in the house at one go, but had to pause on the landing to catch my breath.

At 18 weeks I have only 10-20% less energy than I remember having pre-pregnancy, but I am hauling around 20 extra pounds after all. I can climb the stairs (multiple times even!) without a pause, I can get through the day without a nap, and I can even do 30 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical a couple of times a week.

At 11 weeks I was terrified of losing the baby. Every time I went to the bathroom I half-expected to see blood.

At 18 weeks I am no longer terrified. Sure I worry sometimes, but it is not the primary emotion of my day-to-day life.

At 11 weeks I was so grouchy and stressed and hormonal that I barked and argued with my husband every single day. How he tolerated me, I don't know.

At 18 weeks, I am no longer grouchy or stressed, and my hormones are much more balanced. I'm no longer miserable and angry, and am (so I believe) a much more pleasant person to be around.

What a difference six weeks makes! I wonder what the next six will bring?

The Girls

Sue, a friend whose daughter is now four months old, graciously dropped off a bag of maternity clothes for me the other day, which was very kind and quite appreciated. As I unpacked the contents of the bag, I found a few surprises. Most of the items I took out, held up against my body, and wondered aloud if I would really be big enough to fit them someday. I mean, they were huge. I'm already quite a lot larger than I like to be, and I'm sure I could still fit two of me in most of these pairs of pants. It's a disquieting thing, to be sure, to know I ain't done growin yet, not by a long - or perhaps wide - shot.

But one item in particular had me a bit flummoxed. A bra. Not usually the sort of thing one woman loans to another. On the other hand, it looked quite new, barely worn, so maybe she hadn't really used it and thought I might have better luck. Like every other item in the bag, it seemed gigantic, but next to all those other giantess clothes it was hard to really get perspective, so I searched out the tag.

40D.

40D.

Lord almighty. Is that actually within the realm of possibility, that I will become a D-cup at some point in the proceedings? I'm generally a B, and could probably even wear an A if it wouldn't kill my ego to do so. My pre-pregnancy bra still fits just fine, though the girls have definitely changed and grown, probably because it's a B when it really ought to have been an A. I already had room to grow. But my goodness. A D? Really? That could happen? I'm still in shock.

Anyone else want to weigh in on how much their boobage changed during pregnancy?

100 things about me

Definitely a better post than yesterday's (it wouldn't take much) but also not terribly pregnancy-related. I've seen this on other blogger's info pages and decided I wanted to create my own. It took a long time because I was pretty picky about what got included and what didn't, and also about making each item interesting and worth reading. I wonder if I succeeded? (Don't answer that.)

I fail to see the appeal of Harry Potter.
I really don't want you to explain it to me.
I very much dislike The Simpsons.
I think JAWS is the greatest movie ever made.
I will tell you why if you have a couple hours to spare.
I once opened for Trooper.
I once walked (yes, you can do that) a marathon in Rome.
I can't stand the music of Bruce Springsteen.
Though I am a child of the 80s, I missed most of the great pop culture stuff due to not having a TV.
Due to this I have excellent pop culture osmosis, and often know more about music/TV shows/movies I haven't heard or seen than many people who have.
I am about as OCD as you can be without ever having been diagnosed with OCD.
I once lost fifty pounds, and have kept about 90% of it off (until pregnancy).
I have problems with binge eating. I never had these problems when I weighed 200+ pounds.
I am not good at keeping in touch with faraway friends.
I have never(yet) owned a dog.
I love ice cream, and always will.
I believe that there is value in every life experience, though we are often unaware of what it is.
I got married at Butterfly World.
My favourite robot is Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I love the English language and hate to see it violated.
I despise being lied to.
I hold ridiculous grudges against businesses/services/corporations.
I will forgive my friends nearly anything.
However, I write off acquaintances pretty easily.
That doesn't mean I despise them, it just means I stop caring.
I have an ex-husband.
At the age of 31, I paid a lot of money to legally change my first name. I have no intention of telling my mother.
I have a lifelong hate-hate relationship with my hair. If I had a prettier face, I'd shave it off.
It kind of irks me that it matters how pretty my face and hair are.
I don't wear makeup; not because I'm a feminist, but because I don't know how.
Also, I can't afford it and I don't really want to spend the time and energy.
I own a house.
I have a wonderful husband, who sometimes makes me crazy but most often makes me very very happy.
I have a younger sister whom I completely adore. She drives me crazy sometimes too.
I am a distance education student at Athabasca University.
I want to have a child.
I am a talented singer.
I like to take photographs of things that amuse me.
I don't usually enjoy doing things unless I am good at them.
I define my self-worth through my sense of accomplishment.
I am an impatient person. My dad used to say I had "all the patience of a boiling teakettle." He's right.
I am glad I'm a woman.
I am a Christian.
I am a feminist.
I am an arts person, and definitely not a science person.
I love to read. I think people who don't read are scary.
I am good at reading out loud.
I get uncomfortable at parties. I prefer more honest and intimate gatherings.
I will tell you pretty much anything you want to know about me - if you ask.
The best way to my heart is through my funny bone.
I have always known how to spell.
I don't like talking on the phone in front of other people. I don't know why.
My parents sent me to a psychiatrist when I was little. I have never asked them why - or why they stopped.
I think everyone in the world could benefit from some good counselling. It should be as accessible and de-stigmatized as massage or dentistry.
I don't have any secrets to send PostSecret, because I talk too much.
My best friend is a man. And he's not my husband.
I haven't slept with him, either.
I am a homebody.
I think people who complain that it's way past the year 2000 and we don't have any flying cars deserve a smack upside the head.
I love stand-up comedy.
I often offend people without meaning to.
I don't drink or smoke, and never have.
I have a strong aversion to the non-word "hubby".
I have just as strong an affection for actual sentences that contain juxtaposed opposites, such as "we were out in the garage" or "we're off on our vacation".
I have a rage reaction to misquoted idioms such as "for all intensive purposes" and "once and a while".
Practical jokes and gags make me very uncomfortable.
If I make a mistake while typing and don't notice it until I've typed a few more words, I won't use the mouse to selectively correct it. Instead, I use the backspace key and delete all the correct words back to the mistake.
I never get the fitted sheet aligned right on the first try.
I only use my left ear when talking on the phone.
I don't understand the need to call things other than what they are (Crappy Tire, compu-tor, etc.)
I believe that lifelong learning is the closest thing I've found to "the meaning of life".
I am scared of those weird inflatable flappity people they use to advertise sales at sports stores.
I give blood as often as possible.
I believe in vaccinations, and get my flu shot every year.
I once yelled at someone from the Health Authority because they wouldn't tell me where to get my flu shot.
Two weeks later, I had a job with the Health Authority.
I am planning to do another marathon.
I often parse made-up compound words incorrectly, like the SmartCar fortwo which I thought meant Fort Wo.
I get along a lot better with my dad than with my mom.
I lived in one house for my entire childhood until I moved out when I was 20.
My parents still live there.
My room is now a computer/sewing room.
I remember when we only had to dial 5 numbers on the phone.
I remember having a "party line".
I remember when modems had to be dialed, too.
I remember when you had to request a song on the radio instead of downloading it.
I remember when Michael Jackson was black.
I remember top-loading VCRs.
I think using the word "Huh?" makes even the most intelligent person sound like a drooling inbred.
I believe in global warming, and it scares me.
I believe in the power of prayer.
I believe in Santa Claus.
I think tasers should be outlawed.
I think children's rights should be revisited.
I am getting more open-minded the older I get.
I believe in way, way more than one right way to live.
I believe in the power of attitude.
I can't believe it took me 4 months to come up with this list.

Blogger + Pictures = Teh Suck

Today's post was meant to be about crib covers, and was going to be full of pictures. However, Blogger's tools for laying out text and pictures is truly, truly horrific. Good thing for me to know in the future when I am wishing to flood my blog with baby pictures.

So, I'm kind of out of ideas for what to write instead. There's not much going on in baby-land (aka my belly) this week. We forgot to take a belly picture on the weekend so we'll have to wait till next weekend. I got some more maternity clothes loaned to me by a few friends, which is wonderful. I found out another dear friend is pregnant, which is overwhelmingly exciting. Babies everywhere, I tell you!

Meh. Sorry for the crappy post. Better luck tomorrow.

17 weeks (and 2 days)

17 weeks pregnant, and I had the heaves again this morning. They seem to hit at a certain time - about 9:30 am - and since this is long enough after my breakfast to have mostly digested the food, nothing really comes up. But the heaves still need to happen, dammit, and they need to happen now, and I can't wait for the day when I'm on the phone with some important manager somewhere and I need to tell them to hold so I can go heave for a few minutes.

The good part is that about 10 minutes after the heave session, I feel great.

It doesn't happen every day, but it happens often enough (about once a week) that I am just too nervous to get off the Diclectin (anti-nausea medication). My midwife has reassured me that I can stay on the medication for the next 23 weeks if I want/need to. But I feel a little frustrated being dependent on drugs that way.