Coffee spoons

I know I’m pregnant when… (cont.):

7.  At the top of my grocery list are: raw ginger root, frozen blueberries, and string cheese.

8.  I stack cheese and chocolate chip cookies.

9.  I actually want to eat a hamburger (grass-fed, of course).

10.  I have to look ahead on the TV guide to see what they’ll be making on Food Network Star so I can go ahead and make it myself instead of crying that I don’t have it while watching the episode.

11.  The smell of bacon is repulsive.  The taste of bacon is divine.

12.  Isaiah’s nap time becomes mommy’s nap time (and she won’t make it through the day without it).

I didn’t realize it but almost my entire list is related to food.  That’s pregnancy for you.

Last night, Gabriel made homemade ice cream and gluten-free brownies, which we took to Bradley and Jordyn Dean’s house down the street.  Jordyn is in her last trimester of pregnancy.  She’s a beauty.  And they have a magazine-worthy house.  Spending time with them was really good for me, considering Jordyn and I both are dancers AND mommies.  I’m sure we would never run out of things to talk about, and all of them would be interesting to me.  Talking to another dancer who is also loving motherhood was very encouraging.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day! This year, Gabriel is a father of 2.

I’m 7 weeks along today, which is about the time morning (all-day) sickness kicks in full swing for me.  I kept a detailed outline/journal of my pregnancy with Isaiah and vividly remember my effective nausea remedies I discovered through trial and error.  This time I felt well prepared.  Armed with vitamin B6 and raw ginger root, I confidently face my first trimester (which is halfway over – that’s encouraging).  B6 turns off the nausea center in the brain and was my miracle cure the first time around.  Now I’m taking 50mg in the morning and 50mg in the afternoon/evening and so far it has worked like a charm!  Once I started taking it, my nausea completely subsided and I could barely tell I was preggo except for the bloatedness and exhaustion (well, I guess those are pretty tell-tale).  However, today I was outsmarted.  I’ve been waking up starving, and I think I ate a little too much which set off the day on the wrong foot. Sick. All. Day.  Lying in my bed, paralyzed with exhaustion and a fragile stomach, all the 1st trimester woes came rushing back to me.  Even my acupressure bracelets weren’t doing the trick, which surprised me because they’ve been super effective so far.  I think I just did a number on myself by starting out the day by shocking my poor belly.  Oh and did I mention we had another sleepless night?  A teething toddler is a tragic thing in the midnight hours.  I’m always sicker if I’m not well-rested.  Thank God I had the day off work.

Gabe is my saving grace.  He takes really good care of me by keeping Isaiah occupied, pretending that my whining doesn’t bother him, and waits on me while I’m confined to the bed.  The day also started out with catastrophic sinus pain throughout my face and that was my first challenge of the day to add to the sourness in my gut, and I know that my groaning had to be flat out irritating.  Instead of exhibiting annoyance, Gabe asked me what he could get for me.  “Soy sauce! No, teriyaki! Teriyaki chicken!”  And he took the child with him to retrieve some boneless teriyaki wings from BWW.  My hero.  I couldn’t get much down, but what I did truly eased my craving and brought enough peace to my body that I could fall asleep with my napping firstborn.  After awakening, a spot of iced coffee, some gatorade and string cheese made me feel like it was a new day.  I had a pleasant pregnant mama convo with Emily over the phone, which also gave me renewed determination that even these challenging days are for the joy that’s set before us.  She and I are only one week apart in our pregnancies (this is her first), and I can’t tell you how excited I am to have a friend that is walking the same journey as me at the same time.  It makes it so much easier and more fun.  Hooray for babies!

Ah, it’s all coming back to me. And I LOVE it!  Even the morning sickness isn’t phasing me quite so bad because I know how to deal with it better this time.  Each day, something happens that makes me laugh as I recall having the same experience with my first pregnancy.  It becomes real when:

1. I’m washing my hands at someone else’s house and think, “Hm, this soap smells nice… wait… no, no, NO it doesn‘t! I’m gonna hurl!”
2. I’m checking babysteals.com and say “Gosh it really pisses me off when the daily deal is some frikkin stupid blanket.”
3. I insist that I’ll die without a pepperoni pizza in the middle of the night, and by the time my hubby heroically returns with one, I’ve already fallen asleep.
4. (This is a new one) I feel like it’s the end of the world when Isaiah has a poopy diaper, and I proceed to shriek and gag.
5. When I watch a commercial for cotton and start crying, saying “I love that song!” (The touch, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives…)
6. I’m so desperate for something green to eat that I devour an entire package of way outdated dried seaweed. And love it.

The list goes on. I’ll add to it later.  In other news, I’ve been pretty sick this week, and not just morning sickness (throughout the day, though well managed so far), but also with some sort of respiratory illness that has really taken its toll.  I become quite asthmatic while trying to sleep, which puts me in the difficult position to choose whether or not to use an inhaler.  It’s known to cause birth defects in mice, but seriously, it’s probably important that I breathe and take a small risk rather than cease to breathe and know we all die defect-less.  I’m just continuing to pray.  Last night was a little easier.  I actually got a little sleep.  Between hacking/wheezing, the placental development hogging my energy resources, nausea, and an above-average athletic toddler… I’m feeling more like a survivor than a conqueror, but I’m happy.  So very happy.  And excited.  If I were to go the doctor right now I’d be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  It has a heartbeat!  It’s about to get real, y’all.