Symptoms

When people find out the big news one of the first thing they ask is “how are you feeling” (usually with a look of sympathy if they have been pregnant recently enough to remember). I have three stages: Hungry, Sleepy, and Gagy.  These are not mutually exclusive states of being and sometimes all co-exist at the same time creating a hybrid stage, Pregzilla.

Hungry

I seem to be hungry ALL THE TIME!  It doesn’t matter how often I eat or how much I eat.  My metabolism is in overdrive! Here is a typical day:

6:00am                 Big bowl of Special K

8:30am                 Wheat bagel with cream cheese at work

10:30am               I start getting snacky and have some almonds or Triscuts

11:30am               I am starving. Typical lunch choices are Subway and Chick-fil-a

2:30-3:00pm        I start getting snacky again and grab the popcorn 

4:00pm                 OMG is this workday over yet…reach for Triscuts or pb crackers

5:30pm                 Home and starving.  I eat a pre-dinner salad while I cook.

6:00pm                 Dinner

2:00am                 Yogurt (this isn’t an every night occurrence, but happens enough to bear mention)

This is my work stash (and doesn't even include what I have in the fridge)

Sleepy

The quality of my sleep is sucking up a storm right now.  I wake up too much in the night to either pee, eat, readjust, or all of the above to get a restful night’s sleep. So, I just feel tired all the time even though I now go to bed at 8:30pm. I spend the weekends taking naps to catch up and I finally feel human by Sundays.  This is pretty much what my first trimester has looked like:

Note: the puppies do not mind the extra naps or going to bed early

Gagy (yes, I’m allowed to make up words)

Nausea has been pretty mild and comes and goes. Contrary to the “morning sickness” designation, I feel good most mornings and start getting a little queasy in the late afternoons/evenings.  If my stomach gets too empty or if a strong smell comes my way I start getting gagy. Gaging is no fun so I try to eat consistently and avoid certain things that I know set me off (stinky trash, Fritz’s wet food, the break room at lunch when everyone is heating up their food).

We won't talk about Pregzilla stage. Just be aware that if you ever cross paths you should probably run the other way!