There are several things I expected from pregnancy after hearing about it and reading about it from so many others. As it turns out, most of them have not been true for me, or at least have manifest themselves in ways I did not expect.
EXPECTED - "Morning sickness" and nausea
THE UNEXPECTED - While I have a generally contstant feeling of "blah", I rarely feel more sick in the mornings. Usually I start feeling the worst in the early evening time. Also to my surprise, I have not thrown up once (sorry to all you other ladies who saw nothing but the toilet during your first trimester)! The closest I ever come to throwing up is when I brush my teeth. My gag reflex has become hyper-sensitive and I can barely make it through brushing without dry heaving.
EXPECTED - Cravings
THE UNEXPECTED - Maybe this comes later on in pregnancy, but I haven't really experienced any cravings. There are things that sound better to me than others, but I haven't yet had that feeling of "I absolutely MUST have ____ right now!"
EXPECTED - Food aversions
THE UNEXPECTED - I thought foods that were generally "big offenders" (onions, tomatoes, etc.) would be the ones that would not sound appetizing to me. I never ever ever would have thought that I would have aversions to things like toasted almonds or smoothies, but I do! I absolutely love whole toasted almonds (we had just bought a big bucket of them at Sam's Club before we knew I was pregnant) and home-made smoothies and would never have imagined that they would sound absolutely disgusting to me while I was pregnant! Maybe it is because I ate a lot of them during the first two weeks of my pregnancy. All I know is that I can barely even think about a toasted almond without gagging!
Also along with food aversions, I never expected that I would actually develop allergies to certain foods. I am pretty sure that I have developed an allergy to dairy, at least milk and cheese. This has been really hard because I eat cereal almost everyday and I LOVE cheese!
EXPECTED - Sensitivity to smell
THE UNEXPECTED - I really haven't been bothered too much by smells. I have noticed that the smell of coffee in the break room at work really bothers me, but that doesn't really surprise me as I have never really liked that smell much any way. The worst offender thus far has turned out to be Jayson's body wash! Before I thought it smelled delicious, like you were standing in an evergreen forest. After pregnancy I could barely even walk in the bathroom because I could still smell it emanating from the body scrubber hanging in the shower. Thankfully I have a very sweet and understanding husband who was kind enough to change shower gels for the next few months.
In relation to smell I have noticed that my sniffer has become "super-sonic" (as Jayson put it) these days. Like I said, I am not really bothered by many smells, but it seems like I can smell EVERYTHING!!! A few weeks ago Jayson was brushing his teeth while I was in the shower. We have a dark curtain on our shower so I couldn't see him and I didn't know that he was even in there. All the sudden I got a huge whiff of mint and asked if he was brushing his teeth. Sure enough he was. He was amazed that I could smell it all the way in the shower, it is almost like I have a super-power!
EXPECTED - "Inexplicable weepiness" (as one of my pregnancy books called it)
THE UNEXPECTED - I thought you were supposed to be an emotional basket-case when you were pregnant, but generally I really don't feel like I have been that much more emotional than would be normal for me. There have been a few expections. A couple weeks ago I watched Mary Poppins and I was full on bawling for the last 15 minutes of the movie!!! I have also teared up a couple of times while watching a car commercial on TV :)
EXPECTED - Clumsiness
THE UNEXPECTED - I imagine my clumsiness will increase as I get bigger, but what I have noticed is that I cannot seem to type anymore! I always considered myself a pretty good typist; quick, without many mistakes. Now it seems that I can't type a single line without using the backspace button at least once. Not only is my typing clumsy, but my spelling has become terrible! So I apologize if there are any glaring typos in this post, I will use spell check but that doesn't always catch them all.
Congrats if you made it through this whole post, sorry there weren't any pictures to spice it up!
May Overview
3 months ago
14 comments:
That's great that things are going so smoothly for you! That was the case for me as well; I almost felt guilty because I had such a wonderful pregnancy! I hope it continues to go wonderfully for you!!
I didn't have any cravings in my first pregnancy, but my second, all I wanted was lemonade in the third trimester! Maybe it varies pregnancy to pregnancy or between the genders. The clumsiness will increase with your size. I hope you don't wear high heels regularly. I am glad to hear things are going well for you so far!
I want to add too, it is great that things are going well for you. Especially being your first. I can relate to the whole super power of a sniffer...for me it stayed. David can't believe the things I can smell from far away. BUT on a negative note ... I HATE being pregnant. Hate how my body felt, grew, disabled as I got bigger and all this I probably shouldn't be telling you. But every pregnancy is different, hope yours stays happy and healthy!
Oh, the memories that brings back! Your pregnancy seems similar to mine. I had a time at work (before I announced I was expecting) that I could smell something from an office up in the front, while I was in the back of the building. I know at least one keen co-worker began to wonder from my sense of smell. Okay, that and me crying over a phone conversation with Randy.
Oh Lara, what fun. I loved being pregnant. I didn't really have morning sickness or cravings either. But I ended up hating cooked broccoli and scrambled eggs for the duration of my pregnancy, and before, they were some of my favorite foods! Enjoy your lovely second trimester. :)
Isn't pregnancy strange! It's even funny how things were different if both of my pregnancies.
And don't worry about crying in Mary Poppins. I think I cried too when I watched it as an adult. You don't think about the lesson that movie is teaching when you are little. That it is most important to spend time with your children while they are little. Love that movie!
That's funny that you can't stand smoothies. Especially in my first pregnancy, that is all I wanted! Sorry about the milk allergy. I hope that is only temporary while you are pregnant!
this was a fun post to read. I wasn't ever more sick in the morning - I felt yucky all day. I didn't have immediate cravings, but I ate cinnamon raisin english muffins every morning for about 3 weeks, and peanut butter toast for a long time etc. I went in phases.
I will add...I lost my mind. Not that I went crazy but I had a harder time coming up with words (yes, I had word finding issues), and I was very forgetful! If I didn't write it down I had no recollection! =) The sad thing is that it never came back fully!
I'm excited for you and like I said this was a fun post to read!
Sounds like the pregnancy is treating you really well. I hope things continue this way thoughout the pregnancy :)
Pregnancy, with it's quirks and joys, is worth all it brings when all is said and done. Just look what I got from it...the blessing of YOU and the five that followed. Life was never the same again, and I would not change a thing -- well, other than the clear mind business. My theory on that is that we're just tired from the first pregnancy until...I don't know, I'm still tired :) But, my children bring me joy that I could find in no other way!
I'm so glad you are healthy and happy. There are a lot of "expected" things about newborns too. Like I expected newborns to spend most of their time asleep... hah! Mine sure doesn't!
haha. a car commercial. that's funny.
wow.. we must be related... the only difference is i have become more emotional... haha the other day we were in the Albertsons parking lot and we stopped to let an old man cross in front of us and he tried to be nice and hurry (even thought he didn't need to) and he sorta had a limp and I just looked at nate and tears filled my eyes and i said... man i am SO pregnant! haha it was really funny. other than that I threw up when we went to CO with you guys and other than that it is just the whole brushing your teeth reflex that has almost got me. BTW this i have only caught myself crazy emotional like 5 times other than that it really hasn't made me much different. Man we are just so excited for you guys! keep up the good work of making that baby!
You forgot my favorite:
Expected: "Pregnancy Brain"
Unexpected: Not only do I become extremely forgetful and wander through the rooms of my house trying to figure out what I was doing, I also can't learn anything. Need to show me how something works in the office? Too bad - it will go in one ear and right out the other. Did we have a conversation about this just last night? Sorry - I was there, but I wasn't THERE. Making a recipe I've had memorized for years? Sorry - I have no idea what goes into those cookies. It's very bizarre. I'm very much looking forward to getting my brain back! At least the parts that remain.
Great post! I ditto almost everything there!
Hey you! I just entered a gerber drawing and had the opportunity to add 4 people's email addresses. I added yours, I hope you don't mind :)
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