There are many women who will tell you that being pregnant is the best thing ever. There are others that will tell you that they would be OK with never having to go through the agony of pregnancy again.

I wondered how I would be.

So far, I'm pretty OK with the whole thing. I'm not loving it (that is, shouting from the rooftops and yelling "I want to be pregnant all the time!") and I'm not hating it (that is, complaining all the time). Of course, I haven't gone through labor yet, so that, I'm sure, will give me a good idea on which side of the fence I sit.

Right now I'm just amazed with the whole thing, it's just really surreal to me, having my body create this entirely new being. It's so weird to look at my stomach and see the baby move around, I wonder what the heck is going on in there. I so much want to communicate with him, ask him how he's feeling, if he's comfortable, etc.

Other than the amazement and anticipation, I don't have the euphoric feeling that some women have experienced, nor do I have a lot of medical complaints that others have had.

However, there ARE a couple things that I need to let you know. Beware, I'm getting into the realms of "Ewww, Christine, I didn't need to know that!" so stop reading now if you're squeamish.

- When I was in college and years after, I'd play in a football tournament called Ricebowl. They were really physical football games and the day after I'd usually end up really sore and unable to move. Last week, that's the way my groin felt - as if my vagina had just played a full day of football. Dave asked if it was contractions, but it only happened when I got up from a sitting position and walked. I talked to the doctor about it and he said that my ligaments were stretching and I'll be having this football vagina fun for the rest of my pregnancy - some days better than others.

- With all the vitamins I've been taking, my hair has grown so fast and it's super shiny. However, that means that my nails have been growing at an alarming rate, too. That's no problem for my fingernails, but I can't stand to walk around with talon toenails. Cutting my toenails has been a cirque du soliel test of my limberness and dexterity. In a couple weeks, I'm making Dave cut 'em.

- I've got this weird, dry rash on my face. I had horrible acne as a teen, and had thanked god that he gave me a good skin complexion after that, I thought I wouldn't have to worry anymore. However, I've got this dry red patch on my chin and it just won't go away, even though I've been putting on gobs of moisturizer on it.

- Sometimes when I sneeze, I pee a little. I need to up my kegel exercises. Actually, I'm doing them right now, as I'm typing. Don't you feel a little dirty right now?

- My belly button is pretty sensitive. I don't think it's going to pop, but it's stretching out and parts that have never seen full light are now exposed. My sister stuck her finger in my belly button and I felt really violated, I don't know why. It was just weird.

So that's that. The pregnancy is going well, outside of the 38lbs and counting that I've gained. There's still more than 2 months left of this, and I'm starting to get antsy...

Posted by Yano at February 21, 2006 10:36 AM

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