Week 10

I'm in my 10th week of pregnancy, and it has been quite the ride. I swear I don't know how so many women keep popping babies, because being pregnant is hard work.

The Nausea
Forget the so-called "morning" sickness. Yeah...try feeling queasy ALL THE FREAKING TIME!!! The first few weeks were really bad, where I had these really weird food aversions. It wasn't so much that eating certain foods made me puke. Rather, it was the THOUGHT of eating certain foods which made me feel a bit nauseous. So for a few weeks, the only things I could stomach were pasta, pizza, and bread. Definitely not the best diet in the world. The good news is that this weird food aversion has largely subsided, and I can return to a healthier diet. Yay! :) The other weird side-effect of this is that I have a COMPLETE shopping aversion (that includes buying shoes...). It's weird, I know. I think it's because in the weeks leading to Christmas, I spent most of my lunch hours walking in a zombie-like trance to the Eaton Center while feeling like crap. I think my brain just put two and two together and decided that shopping = pukey feeling.

Cravings
I swear that I think about food all the time, even when I'm feeling nauseous. Fortunately, my cravings tend to be healthy...otherwise, I'd be royally screwed. My cravings at the moment are: French baguettes, kalamata olives, anchovies, sardines, and tuna (flaked light tuna, not that white tuna crap), and fresh-squeezed OJ. I used to be fine with Tropicana. Heck, anything's better than that concentrate crap. Now, however, only fresh-squeezed will do. Oh, and I've taken to eating oranges too. Like I said, at least the cravings are healthy. :)

Ultrasounds
Ultrasounds have got to be one of the most annoying experiences EVER. During my first ultrasound in late December, I thought my bladder was going to explode. I had to go so badly by the time they called me in for my ultrasound that I thought I was going to lose it right there in the change room. Then the ultrasound technician started prodding my belly, and I thought I was really going to lose it on the table. I tried to think of non-liquidy thoughts while staring intently at the ceiling. Then I heard those wonderful words: "you can go pee now". I never in my life thought I would ever be so happy to hear those words. On top of that, the technician ended up doing a transvaginal ultrasound anyway. Why put me through all this pain??? I tell you, I'd rather have a transvaginal ultrasound any day over a regular ultrasound. At least I don't have to worry about bladder control.

All things aside though, it all became completely irrelevant once I saw the teensy little gray blob and the even teensier little gray blip that was my baby and its heartbeat. I swear I shed a tear... The hubby was called in to see it too, and I swear I've never seen him so giddy before. I think he'll make a great dad. :)

Exercise Routine
This pregnancy is totally messing up my exercise routine. I am normally an active and energetic person. These days, all I think about is sleep. Come 5pm, I feel like I've been sat on by a sumo wrestler, because my entire body feels heavy. Moving becomes very difficult, which is a problem for me because I need to haul my pregnant butt home.

I am determined NOT to become one of those gigantically fat pregnant chicks, so I force myself to exercise every single bloody day, even when all I want to do is sleep. I've had to take my workout down a notch since becoming pregnant. For example, I've cut out chin-ups and push-ups. Every time I got to the basement, I stare longingly at the hangboard, thinking of how much training I'd done to be able to do some hard-core sets of chin-ups. Ditto for push-ups. After I started rock climbing, I had finally developed my pectoral muscles nicely enough to the point where I was able to go from girlie push-ups to normal "manly" push-ups. But no longer. I stay away from those. I've also been staying away from any crunches or plank exercises to strengthen my abs. Too bad...I was on such a roll... That's okay though...I'll get back to it once junior pops right out. Or so I delude myself into believing that... :)

As for exercises I CAN do...I walk A LOT. I walk partway to work, and partway home from work. When I don't get a walk in, I've got a mini-stepper at home that I use for cardio. Hopefully we'll get a treadmill soon, so I don't have to always go outside to get a walk in. Finally, I've got a set of Therabands for muscle toning. Hopefully that'll keep me more or less in shape until I can get back into chin-ups and push-ups. I'm also hoping to find a community center that offers pre-natal exercise classes. So far, the only one I've found that offers that is the JCC, which of course is funny because a) I was born Catholic and b) I'm now an atheist. I figure it's probably the same diff as a YMCA. Like they really care about your religion...

I guess that's it in a nutshell. Hats off to women to have more than one kid. Seriously. There is a lot of emotional and physical investment in this. I feel like a sacrificial vessel sometimes. I just hope that the next few months will be less nauseating, as I'm told they *should* be. As for men out there...you will never ever ever ever ever understand or appreciate what it's like to carry a child. I'm sure expectant fathers out there probably feel helpless as a result. I can offer no advice on that. Maybe the hubby will start a blog and dole some out. :)