Froggy likes cupcakes

Since the first two or three weeks I haven't had any real food cravings. The first few weeks I wanted pickles, olives, and licorice. It was hot out, I was sweating a lot, so the salty foods made sense. Also, licorice is a folk remedy for nausea, so perhaps that made sense too.

In the last week I've started wanting odd foods again. On Thursday I made Matt pick me up some double chocolate cake mix on the way home from school and since then I have eaten an absolutely criminal number of cupcakes. Mmmmmm... delicious.

I read yesterday in one of my pregnancy books that cravings often intensify in the 4th month. Ah ha. I see now. Would that also account for why I bought and ate 1/4 lb of licorice on Friday? Yes, yes it would.

By the way, that wasn't a good idea. I did suffer some indigestion and regretted my actions. Next time I'll stick to about a 1/8 lb of licorice, I think. A quarter pound really was a lot. Or maybe I'll just eat more cupcakes.

Things just keep growing

I know that you are supposed to get bigger in a lot of ways while you are pregnant, but I have to say this boob thing is really getting out of hand.

Recently I've been having this weird sensation that something is sticking to my ribs late at night. It wasn't comfortable and I could not figure out what was going on. After a few days of pondering it, I discovered that when I'm not wearing a bra my boobs are now, when I slouch in front of the computer, slightly sagging and touching my ribs. Not any other time- like not when I'm sitting up straight (at dinner, etc, not a problem) but when I'm sitting like a Neanderthal late at night. Geez. I've never had this problem before.

So I decided to look through the array of nursing bras that have been lent to me by friends to see if different ones fit now, considering my obvious growth lately. And lo and behold... I am now a 36 C. Oh yeah, in 4 months I've covered 34 A to 36 C. Rumor has it this is only bound to get more impressive in the next 5 months.

WARNING: vulgar story comes in this next paragraph!

Recently I brought this topic up with Matt as follows,
Leigh, "Honey, this boob growth thing is insane."
Matt, "I know, sweetie. It has to be weird for you."
Leigh, "Can you imagine how it would feel if part of YOUR anatomy suddenly tripled in size?"
(Matt shows a sly grin)
Matt, "Well, give me 5 minutes and we'll see."
(Leigh thinks about that for a second)
Leigh, "AAaaww that is NOT what I meant!"

So I am left with giant hooters, a belly button that is increasingly distorted, and a belly that I don't care about right now. The belly doesn't bother me- that is the point, after all- you gotta grow one to grow a baby. But the boob thing just is crazy. Couldn't we stop here? I don't need any more boob to carry around. Noone ever starved a baby with 36 Cs!

I gotta go shopping for bras again. Sigh...

Tough day ends well

Yesterday was a weird day. I had a long day at work planned- lots of things to get done. I almost always bring lunch so that it is cheaper and healthier than buying something downtown, so I didn't really have any reason to leave the office.

By about 2pm my hips were sore, I was hungry (needed more lunch, I guess) and I had a headache. Lately I've been headache prone- which I have read is common so I generally ignore them and drink more water. Around 2:30 I got excessively annoyed at myself and decided to run some quick errands downtown to clear my head, exercise my legs and hips, and get a second lunch on the go. On the way back from the bank to the place I was going to eat lunch, I was lost in thought (headache had finally lifted) walking on the sidewalk when I heard a bloodcurdling scream. I looked up and saw, about 50 feet away from me, that a bicyclist had been hit by an SUV and thrown about 20 feet across the street. People rushed in to help and before I could do anything, passerbys had already called 911, stopped traffic, and were keeping the poor injured bicyclist calm and still.

With nothing left to do and the distinct feeling that I'd probably be getting in the way if I tried to help, I simply (cautiously) crossed the street. I was less than a half a block away when the ambulance pulled up with a fire truck and a police car. I took a few deep breaths and went to get my second lunch. I had been totally stunned into silence, and then the nice girl at the counter asked me how my day was going I blurted out the whole thing and almost started crying. She was sympathetic and said nice things like, "Well I'm sure that they are doing everything they can to help that person... how terrible for everyone...(awkward pause)... what can I make for you?"

I ate my second lunch at the office and settled back into work. My hips felt better after the walk but honestly I could not concentrate for the rest of the day. Just before I was leaving my sister called with a wonderful piece of news.

She has learned the name of the ruffly-garter-belt thing that people put on infant girl's heads. This thing is a terrible invention, in my opinion, and anyone who feels like their daughter, dressed in a pink dress, needs to look MORE feminine by putting a lacey garter belt on their head is someone that I definitely cannot relate to.

It is know as a "Fruffle." I think this is short for forehead-ruffle. I want to start a campaign against fruffles- they are hideous.

My hips feel better today. I don't know if the bicyclist is OK- they haven't reported on the accident in the news. It is hard to get the images out of my head of that bike crushed under the tire of the SUV, the bicyclist crumpled on the ground, everyone running into the intersection to try to help. And I can't help but feel sorry for the woman that was driving the SUV, either. She was in tears and everyone was ignoring her. Even if it was her fault- it is not like she did it on purpose. It is a high price to pay for a moment of inattention or stupidity.

Attack of the round-ligament

I started looking pregnant on Monday. I know this is a funny statement- wouldn't you think it would just creep up? Well, maybe. But on Monday about 5 people told me I was "starting to actually look pregnant." And I looked in a full length mirror at school and thought- "Huh. They are right! I do look pregnant." And just on Sunday I had been thinking how I still looked pudgy. So long pudgy!

Oh course, most people are far too nice to tell me that I look pregnant. They are just thinking that I gained a lot of weight over the summer. These are the people that I have not yet bothered to tell that I am pregnant. They'll figure it out any day now, especially at this rate.

Last night my body wised up to the fact that I've started to look pregnant. At about 10pm I started having uncomfortable stabbing type pains in my left lower hip. These pains were kind of like bad gas pains, but not really. Doing certain things (like walking) made it feel better, but other things (like rolling onto my right side) made it worse. This continued all night, which was really not fun and kept me from sleeping very well.

In the morning I was pretty displeased. I set up an appointment (by now the pains were not nearly as annoying) for later in the day. The nurse was nice on the phone. She said I either had a ligament strain, or an ovarian cyst. Hmmmm... neither or those sounded that bad. She said she was glad it was left side, because right side is scarier (think appendix).

Sure enough, after my doctor thoroughly examined me, dopplered our Froggy, poked and prodded, she pronounced my left round ligament to be... grumpy. So what does this mean, doc? It means that my uterus weighs enough to anger the ligaments than hold it in check. It means that I can expect more of this pain in the future, and there is nothing to avoid it. Most importantly, it means that if I just ignore it, it will eventually go away! Perfect! Also, warm compresses are said to be helpful.

Pants are the enemy

I am running out of pant options.

I bought this nice pair of capris in late August while we were in Boise. They are comfortable, lightweight, and cute. They even still fit, thanks to a somewhat unique cut in the waist and rear. Problem? It is getting into the 30s at night here, and days are getting chilly. I can't wear lightweight beige nylon capris forever, and certainly not in the early frigid fall mornings. Besides, dog hair sticks to them really, really badly.

So I've been rummaging through my pants to find a pair that I will still fit. I even got a nice friend of mine to loan me a whole bunch of pairs of pants that are 1 size bigger than my usual size. These pants, too, are starting to not fit very well most of the time.

The rubberband through the buttonholes trick works great if I'm standing or walking, but as soon as I sit down...
a) the zipper gaps unattractively
b) the whole setup becomes rapidly uncomfortable

So I am forced to undo and redo my rubberbanded pants constantly, and this is not fun when you reliably pee once an hour. Or when I'm at home I just give up and wear them unbuttoned and unzipped, which is a great option UNTIL you go out into the yard to toss a bunch of wilted flowers on the compost and your slightly odd middle aged male neighbor accosts you from across the fence wanting to talk about your trip to New Zealand and your chickens. Did I zip and button? Heck no. Did he see my undies? I doubt it, but possible. Lately I've been trying to only wear undies that match my pants, so I was wearing navy blue undies with navy blue pants. Smart, eh? More subtle that way, I figure. Matt has not yet caught on to this but I do expect him to be rather amused.

I've been recommended by a friend a product called the Bella Band. I will look into this- a local boutique (read: grossly overpriced) maternity store carries this product and it supposedly is great for the enlarged but not yet enormous belly. $26 might be a worthwhile investment if it gets me through at least another month. And their website makes it look oooooh so temptingly useful.

YES! They carry this lovely product on Amazon. It is now on my new baby registry, along with the carrot hat I am coveting and the car seat that had really good reviews. MMMMmmmm mmmm baby carrot hat.

I suppose I could just wear my brilliant red high school track sweatpants for the next half of a year. GO FOXES!!!

Quit touching me!

I'm discovering that many things that the baby-prep literature says will happen, despite seeming unlikely, do happen.

1) The queasy sensations did mysteriously disappear almost overnight. My food-weirdness and overly sensitive sense of smell, however, lives on.

2) Friends keep touching me!!!

I'm not anti-touching. I like to hug, pat people's shoulders, hold hands, etc. I don't have an overdeveloped sense of personal space, and I am not weirded out by more clinical touching (masseuses, doctor's annual exams, funky ultrasound wanding, and that sort of thing). But people keep poking and patting me! Matt, of course, is allowed. But seriously, three of my female friends have already thoroughly felt my belly. And they are so quick- it happens before I can do anything about it, despite my reassurance to them that really, it isn't any different yet.

Which is a lie. It is different. I am getting noticeable pudgy from just above my hips to just below my ribline, especially if I wear thin, fitted clothing like a lightweight stylish tee-shirt. In a broadcloth short, or a tunic-style shirt, there is no way you can see this pudginess. But put me in a form fitting tee and I look rotund in the belly region.

I think the best thing for me to do is to get over the touching, right now. I'm sure it will only get more insistent once I look actually pregnant (as opposed to plumply overstuffed). Swatting people's hands is very rude, and being all upset about it will only hurt everyone's feelings. Maybe I should start just inviting people to touch, so that it is marginally a situation in my control.

I can see it now:

"I'm X months/weeks pregnant. It IS really exciting! You wanna touch my uncomfortably bloated torso?"

Techno-naming

I have found the coooooolest website. It is this crazy interactive colored chart of all the American baby names for the last 150-ish years.

It is called the Name Voyager and if you are expecting (or just bored and intrigued) you should definitely go there. I am totally enthralled by it. I wish they had something like that for dog names, too!

Matt and I went through some baby names last night and I was quite pleased at our relatively similar tastes. We first discussed groundrules- no poking fun at the other person's choices, no names in the top 10 list for the last 3 years (being a Matt in a sea of Matts was difficult), names in the top 20 are immediately suspect but not necessarily rejected, nothing with a non-traditional spelling (for instance- Amy but not Aimee) , and no comments like, "I knew an ugly fat kid named that once." Then we went through and each picked out roughly 5 names for each gender, giving us a starting pool of 20 names to discuss. These are not the only names we will try, but they were a nice beginning.

It is interesting that I found it easier to find girl names that I liked, and Matt found it easier to find boy names that he liked. I wonder if that is typical.

We also talked about how we would come to our final decision. I voted for lengthy discussion and agreement, and no bargaining. The whole "you pick the first name, I get the middle name" to me sounds odd and inherently unfair. Matt thought about this and agreed to lengthy discussion and agreement as our technique.

That said, it might come down to coin tosses. :)

Freckles

I tried to wash a freckle off my arm last week. Twice. Then I inspected it- why would I be trying to wash off a freckle? Ahh... because it is a new freckle.

Now, before all you skin-cancer freaks get too excited, it is extremely common for pale skinned women to develop extra freckles while pregnant, and these freckles are not associated with skin cancer. Obviously, you could mistake a cancer-freck for a pregger-freck and thus, I am keeping tabs on the new freckles just in case. But they are not cause for alarm unto themselves and they usually go away post-partum.

I've been meaning to write about this freckle, and I have some downtime today waiting for meetings at school. But now that I look- it is gone! The freckle, which looked just like a tiny smear of dirt on my pasty white forearm, has disappeared as quickly as it arrived. I wonder if it will come back?

On a separate note, turns out a friend of mine from school's wife has almost the same due date as me. Funny! She is apparently feeling very upset and disappointed with being pregnant. I'm glad that I never felt that way... ambivalent on occasion, concerned for sure, but never upset or disappointed. I hope things go smoother as time moves forward- she, like me, is going to start looking pregnant really soon and that could be really hard on someone that isn't in a good mental place.

And I visited the new friend baby (Reuben). Very sweet. Looks a lot like his dad, but with his mom's hair. Sleepy, which was great. He is a little bit small (just under 7 lbs) and that was kinda fun to see- tiny hands! His mom and I got to talk about a whole bunch of baby/labor/pregnancy things, which felt good for me. Matt can't relate to much, clearly, so I like talking to female friends whenever it seems like a good idea. I think I learn a lot that way. Matt spent the time talking about cars, beer, and carpentry with Reuben's dad. Terribly appropriate.

We're having a... frog!

I love this image. I'm not having a baby after all- I'm having a frog that is diving into a hole!