Thursday, June 9, 2011

On the 1st Third of Pregnancy...

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch."
-- E.B. White, Charlotte's Web
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Ok - so that "resuming daily blogging" thing didn't go so smoothly.  Oh well.  I actually don't mind.  Not much anyhow.  Must be the gad-zillion percent increase of Progesterone coursing through my body these days.  Makes me very chill.  And sleepy!  Speaking of which, I totally slept all afternoon.  Odd, no?  Well, I hadn't slept last night - so my consolation prize (for surviving a morning of teaching gymnastics, and running hectic errands, plus making a hot lunch for Husband, in spite of recurrent exhaustion-induced nausea) was lying down on the couch after lunch.  For a quick rest.  And waking up just in time to start dinner.  Awesome.  BUT, this is really all ok with me.  Thanks to the Progesterone.  Mmm.

Also amusing is my this whole "smelling the whole world at 1000%" symptom.  (And by "amusing," I mean it causes mild insanity - which I'm whitewashing with the positive, catch-all adjective "amusing."  Even tho' it really is NOT terribly amusing.)  Yesterday, during a sober military retirement ceremony, all that my brain could process was the under-someone's-uniform Calamine lotion, the nearby incessant Chive and Onion Pringles breath, and three different kinds of cologne/perfume.  No kidding.  I thought I might die.  On the upside, I have never (ev-er) been so deliriously happy as when the landscapers mow the greenbelt behind our house, or when a rainstorm blows across the sky.  Ahh, the scents of HEAVEN!

Equally divine is my regained desire for food.  Healthy food!  Real food!  Tomatoes!  Oranges!  Green beans!  Rice!  Salmon!  Yams!  Hard boiled eggs!  Gone are the inexplicable, infuriating desires for Hot Pockets and Mozarella sticks - desires which, if resisted, result in vomiting, and if indulged, result in... vomiting.  Marvelous.  Now I can eat baked potatoes, with sour cream and cheese!  Parmesan breaded pork chops, with corn on the cob!  And I seriously consumed three containers of raspberries in 24 hours.  No idea what raspberry-bound nutrient my body wanted so badly, but hey - who can refuse raspberries?!

My doctor would attribute this vast improvement to the hormonal/placental transitions that occur around this time - but, I'm crediting my sushi.  Yes, I know it's on the "Do Not Consume!!" list, which (naturally) makes a pregnant woman's brain DREAM about it, constantly.  I finally got so batty that I Googled "Sushi and Pregnancy" to see if there was an acceptable alternative (I can't be the only pregnant woman whose cravings are tied directly to the forbidden-ness, or inaccessibility of an item) and I discovered.... ohmylands, I can eat California rolls!  Duh, because they're COOKED!  It's actually safer than a Subway sandwich, turns out.  So I rushed to the commissary, and begged the nice sushi man to use a clean knife, and make me a box of California rolls.  I didn't even cringe at the price for a 13.25 ounce box of completely commercial, fake-crab and sugary-rice.  It was divine.  And I have been better ever since.  See?  It's the sushi.  Really.

And I am so happy to be back in the kitchen.  Husband is pretty happy to have me back in the kitchen, too - tho' he did a marvelous job substituting while I was gone.  I offered him the job permanently, but he declined.  Ah well.

And with that, I need some more green beans now.  With butter and salt, yum.  This must be why women love the 2nd Trimester.  We've got calories-thresholds to meet!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

12 weeks, 4 days, and all's well!

Hallo, again.  So sorry I abruptly dropped off the edge of the blogosphere.  See, I got pregnant, and then I (rapidly/consequently) got sick.  Very sick.  But, I'm once again capable of typing, so with the help of Zofran and whatever bizarre-but-effective-food-of-the-day my body desires, I resume.  (Did-ya-miss-me?!)

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Since food is not so much my friend right now, I'm not posting a recipe today.  Also, this is due to the Husband cooking dinner tonight (Dutch Baby Pancakes) and, well, he was super-hungry and we didn't take pictures.  Our sincere apology. 

But, they tasted amazing, with Nutella.  (Sidenote: Husband is now amazing at cooking.  No joke.  AMAZING.)  We'll post the recipe someday.

However, in lieu of today's food blog - since most of the world seems to be interested in the same essential questions/answers, let me set the record(s) straight here.  Then, you'll be SO in-the-know. 

(And I can refer inquiring relatives to this URL.)

Random Oft-Asked-For Details:

- No, we aren't finding out Little One's gender – we’re excited to wait, and be surprised.  =)  But, we're not fans of the standard Idaho sobriquet for gender-unknown babies ("Spud"), so we're compromising and calling him/her "Tater Tot."  Cute, no?

- Tater Tot is due in early December.  Yay, a Christmas-music baby!!

- Our gender-neutral color of choice is mint green.  (And white, but.... y'know - that's hardly worth reporting.  And our entire house interior is white, so... we thought that was handy – one less color to register for...)

- We are pretty sure we're only having ONE child, but I'll admit to having many, many thoughts of twins.  (Maybe because I'm paranoid.  Maybe because of the immense pressure inside me, that does NOT seem to be one-lime-sized, but might just be two-limes-sized.  Or... maybe because I'm paranoid.)

- No, I haven't (yet) read that child-related book you're (enthusiastically) recommending - but I can likely recite the MayoClinic website results for any symptom you can query.  Maybe once I regain the ability to eat, say, vegetables - then I'll work on reading all the books I should.  Send me a list, k?

* * *

Things I Want To Remember:

(1)  Have a contigency plan for if both adults ever become deathly ill, simutaneously.  It gets awkward when one of you is clutching the toilet hysterically, and the other one has passed out and is now twitching, four feet away.  I mean, seriously - this could be a Driver's Ed question: Who is (less) safe driving to the hospital?

(2)  People who bring meals are angels.

(3)  Never again will I sweetly sympathize with a terribly-sick, pregnant woman from afar.  I will go to her house, do her laundry, and clean her bathroom.

(4)  You will eat strange things when pregnant.  Me, health-fanatic that I am, craved bowling-alley hotdogs, double-cheeseburgers, and *gag* Kraft Mac-N-Cheese (with mustard on top), in spite of myself.  No joke.

Evidently, it’s truly ineluctable.  May I never judge again...