The 411

Baby is due mid-September. I'm only 9 weeks along. This is pretty early to be telling people but 1) Everyone in my family could use a reason to be joyous right now  b) Life is precious, even if something happened and we lost this baby, I would still be glad for the time I had with him/her. And you're never truly safe even if you can breathe a tiny bit more after 12 weeks. A friend recently lost her baby at 21 weeks and I've known people that have gone to the hospital at term expecting to come home with a baby and instead come home arms empty and hearts broken. I can't even imagine that pain and I don't mean to be depressing but I'm gonna rejoice with this because I don't know that the future holds. III)  I feel a lot less lame about not returning phone calls, emails, being behind with thank you cards, etc when people know that I'm spending most of my time in bed trying not to throw up.

Speaking of throwing up, I've been asked if the morning sickness is as better this time around. (For those of you who weren't around last time, I don't really "do" pregnancy very well.) The answer: Yes - and No. Yes, it's better in the sense that I'm actually keeping things down this time and I've not lost any weight. By this time with Lucy I'd already a few of the 12 pounds I would lose before I finally started gaining some, and looking at the very few pictures we have from them, I just looked awful - bags under my eyes, grey skin, etc. I won't say I'm glowing right now, but I don't look ill. And it started later this pregnancy, so maybe it will end earlier than the 4-5 months I had to go through last time. A girl can hope.

I haven't weaned Lucy and I actually think that is the reason my morning sickness is that smidgen better - my body knows it can't let go of the few calories I can take in. But my supply has decreased and she's noticed. In fact, just a couple days after we found out about baby, she threw a 30 minute tantrum, running around the house hystericaly signing to herself "milk-milk"+"all gone" until she collapsed on my lap and fell asleep. After that first week, she more or less got used to the lower supply and started eating more at meal time and being content with what she's got but she's not giving up completely and that's great with me. It is nice to have a way to give her attention while still being able to rest and if that is what is keeping me from moving from bad morning sickness to full blown HG, I'll take it. 

The bad: I still feel as bad as I did last time and my meals consist of a lot of Nutella sandwiches and Sierra Mist. Not exactly "real foods" but it gets the job done. The only time I'm not nauseous is when I'm asleep, taking a bath or lying perfectly flat and still. None of these things are easy to do with a toddler so taking care of Lucy is really challenging. At least last time my job involved a lot of sitting and reading or lab work at a bench. It also involved less bodily fluids and smells. And I was able to stop work at 5 and go to sleep.

Luckily, I still have the same super husband I did last time. He's taken over all laundry, dishes, dinner prep, basic house maintenance, and  we are finding ways to make it work when he is at work. We've basically moved all Lucy's fun stuff into our bedroom and we spend our days playing, reading, coloring, etc in bed. I've also resorted to movies but I save those for the first 30 minutes after I eat when I really really do have to lay down and be still.

So, that's what is up with me. I'll probably be kinda scarce around the blogosphere for a little while but who knows, maybe this will all be over in 2-3 weeks and I'll be back to my old chipper self.