Sick, Sick, Sick

I am just plain tired of feeling sick all the time. I thought I was through the worst of it after having a pretty good week last week. It was not a trend. That was proven this morning. When oh when will this mythical wonderful 2nd trimester be upon me?

Growing human life is HARD.

Au Naturale

So last night, I talked to my mother about her birth experiences...and realized that I had never really done that before. Not in any real, meaningful way. I especially loved the part of her story where her labor with me lasted the longest...and she was only in the hospital for about ten hours before I was born! She had my sister after only an hour in the hospital (although laboring at home for about 6 hrs), and labored with my brother for about 4 hours total. Why did I like that part of the story? Because the number one predictor for what a woman's labor will be like is the previous experience of her female relatives. After hearing the story of my mother-in-law's 39 hour labor with my husband, I am hopeful my mother's experience bodes very well for me. And when she told me that she gave birth to me, my sister and brother completely drug-free (no pain meds, no epidural), my first thought was "damn, that woman is a super-hero." My second thought was "If my mom did this three times, I can totally do this."

My husband often teases me about how loathe I am to take medication. I don't like taking something unless I have passed the point of uncomfortable sick, and into the truly sad sick phase -- this extends to both prescription and over the counter medication. The only thing I turn to pretty frequently without equivocation is Tums, after years of significant stomach/digestive system issues. But the fact of the matter is, I 100% come by this naturally, direct from my mother and father who both hold the same philosophy. I just feel like unless medication is necessary, why bother? Why potentially lower your future resistance to a potential drug if it's not going to actually cure what ails you? I'm not a martyr, just trying to be realistic about what modern medicine really means for us all.

So MJW doesn't really know how serious I am when I say I'm interested in trying to end this pregnancy early next year by having the most natural birth experience I can stand...but I think I'm still working that out for myself. I am going to buy this book soon - Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby, Naturally. I hope it will help me decide how to approach this particular part of my journey.

Complaining and Sleeping (...and Complaints About Sleeping)

I'm still waiting for the mythical second trimester to arrive (you know, the one where I stop feeling nauseous and get sudden bursts of energy...). In the meantime, I have been complaining...about my hip, about feeling sick, and about lack of sleep most of all. Now, I'm not saying I never usually complain, but I have truly felt like it's been non-stop about prenancy related symptoms these last few weeks. And hello? The whole reason for these complaints is just a 4 inch long little baby-fetus trying to come join our family -- he or she doesn't deserve the blame that's implicit in my constant complaints. I need to start limiting the complaints.

I read this article today, and am it had some interesting ideas for cutting down the complaints:
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/reinvent-your-life/articlegh.aspx?cp-documentid=20985140&page=0. We'll see how it goes.

Also, as a complete aside, someone I went to high school with posted this to Facebook and I got a big kick out of it. THIS is a gene mutation I would be down with having: http://digs.by/166.

No Joke

Almost exactly two months ago, my husband and I learned we would be parents early next year...and it was the most exciting, scary, and thrilling news we'd ever received...particularly from a test one urinates on. Over the last 8+ weeks, we've heard our baby's heartbeat and seen our baby's first pictures via ultrasound. We've made some really important decisions including how we're planning to wait until delivery day to find out whether a little girl or boy is joining our family...and we definitely need to replace our desktop computer with another laptop (goodbye office, hello nursury). And I've never felt more like a stranger in my own body. It's finally starting to sink in...we're really having a baby, no joke.