Catching Up

Thank you so much for the well wishes on our big news; the boy and I are both thrilled and so grateful for the support. We've known that I'm pregnant for almost a month now, which puts me well into my seventh week. Those first couple days I was holding my breath and trying not to make any rapid movements, for fear something might happen. The whole thing was so huge that we had to have little goals. At first it was literally making it through one day. If I was still pregnant at the end of the day, we were doing good. Then, when I was having blood tests every couple days, the goal stretched out to the next test. We're now to the point where I feel comfortable talking in weeks. We're still taking it day by day, but every week that passes makes me more and more comfortable thinking about the possibility of having a baby in our arms come June. There's still a lot of worry and uncertainty, clearly, but we're in a good place today and that's all we can ask for.

Over the past couple weeks, I've had a handful of early pregnancy symptoms--some I was expecting and others that were complete surprises. (I thought I knew what pregnancy was all about, but there are some things you mamas aren't talking about!) Its been amazing to witness my body making these changes and taking the first couple steps in nurturing a whole person inside me. (A whole person! I can't get over how wonderful and amazing it all is.)

I had some queasiness early on, but morning sickness started full force in week 6 and has gotten steadily worse. Even this is strange and exciting. I've never had nausea without all the accompanying flu or hangover symptoms. And I've never before felt hungry and nauseous at the same time, that's interesting. I'm trying all the tricks I've read about to lessen the severity (eating frequent, small meals and lots of saltines). Even though morning sickness is my near-constant companion, I've already started having cravings. The last week, all I've wanted to eat is mexican food. Dried fruit, nuts, and beans (prepregnancy staples of my diet) are revolting to me. And I've spent the majority of my life to this point detesting avocados, but now? I cannot get enough guacamole. I would eat it all day if we could keep enough in the house.

I've been tearing through all the pregnancy books I was too superstitious to read before I got pregnant and eyeing the labor and delivery books with some trepidation. We're working through the long list of things to do that has been filed under the category of "to do after we get pregnant, before baby comes." Aside from you all, we've told a few close family members and are waiting a few more weeks to make a general announcement. (I'm still deciding if I'm superstitious about that too.)

And that, dear readers, should get us all caught up.