Written 3/8/2016
I'm up to four meals a day.
I knew I'd be eating more. It's that old joke: eating for two. But everything I read said you're not actually eating that much more. Only about 300 additional calories in the first trimester, which is practically nothing. I certainly didn't expect to be adding an additional meal. But it turns out that I've become completely unable to go six hours between meals, like I did pre-pregnancy. I'm hard pressed to go four hours, which leads to an extra meal.
Instead of breakfast (7 AM), lunch (12:30 PM), dinner (6:30 PM), my schedule now includes a meal at 10:30 or 11 and a second one around 3 in the afternoon. And even then I'm starving by the time dinner rolls around. Although my meals have been smaller. The simple fact is that I just can't eat as much in a single sitting. I get full much more quickly. So I probably am only eating 300 extra calories. I guess the uterus starts pushing on the stomach (and the bladder and everything else), which makes it smaller.
This actually started a couple of weeks ago. On the train home from work I was suddenly hit by such a strong sense of hunger that I was almost worried I'd faint during the walk home. Instead of the meal I'd planned to cook that night, I barely had the patience to heat up leftovers. And so I learned that I needed to start planning around my new appetite better.
The problem with this is that I'm not a snacker. I eat three meals a day, and that's all I eat (unless I'm continuously grazing at a party or something). But I've had to start buying snack foods, like granola bars and yogurt. I've had to remember that I have those snacks, so that when I get hungry I'm not just flopping around in misery. Even harder is remembering to take those snacks to work. And I'm honestly a little surprised that none of my coworkers have commented on the fact that my eating schedule has shifted so dramatically.
I'm also figuring out smaller meals. Peanut butter and apple sandwiches are fast becoming a staple. As are quesadillas, stuffed with onions or spinach or whatever veggies happen to be in the fridge. I'm trying to get into yogurt, but it just doesn't sit in my stomach right. Smoothies, however, seem to be working. Maybe because they have less dairy?
This has been the biggest and most deliberate change in my life since I found out I was pregnant. I'm hoping it calms down somewhat in the coming months, though I'm not terribly optimistic about that happening. It's more likely that I'll be eating 6 meals a day by the time this is all over with. I'm mostly worried about how this will affect me during travel. We're going to NYC in April and Las Vegas in June, and it's harder to find healthy snack food on the road. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for some decent sandwich places.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Early Pregnancy: Exhaustion
Written 3/3/2015
It figures that the week the fatigue really hit me was also the week we had a house guest. And a house guest that we weren't entirely prepared to tell about the pregnancy at that.
The exhaustion began last weekend. I got over 10 hours of sleep on Friday night and close to 10 more on Saturday night. But I was still dragging all day on Sunday and ended up taking a mid-afternoon nap. I'm not prone to naps, and I was worried that it would make it hard for me to get to sleep that night. It turns out that it didn't impact my sleep at all.
Thus began a week when I was sleeping more than usual, close to nine hours a night. But I was having a hard time waking up in the morning, and I was dragging my butt through work. I'd almost managed to kick my caffeine habit completely at this point. I was down to a single cup of green tea a day. With my new found exhaustion, I was right back to my pre-pregnancy caffeine intake. At least I never really drank that much caffeine to begin with, preferring tea to coffee.
I did my best to pass this off as somewhat normal to my cousin. But between the early bedtimes, my refusal to drink any alcohol at all (she even bought a special bottle of wine as a thank you for letting her stay; I felt really bad when I didn't drink any), and constantly running to the bathroom, I'm surprised she didn't say anything about me being pregnant. Connor eventually did at his birthday dinner, but he accepted that I was on a diet. Somehow.
After a week of this, I was starting to wonder if it might be worth taking a sick day, just to stay in bed and sleep. I was at least planning to get a lot of sleep in over the weekend. But then I miraculously woke up refreshed one morning. I even woke up a couple of minutes before my alarm clock, which had become pretty standard for me. It's a nice sign that I'm getting enough sleep and I was so glad to get back to this routine.
Of course, my sleep is probably going to be all over the place for the rest of the pregnancy. I'm sure there will be more bouts of exhaustion, and theoretically insomnia will kick in at some point in the second trimester. As pregnancy symptoms go it isn't terrible - at least I haven't puked yet - but it's been the most annoying one so far. I hate feeling tired all the time.
It figures that the week the fatigue really hit me was also the week we had a house guest. And a house guest that we weren't entirely prepared to tell about the pregnancy at that.
The exhaustion began last weekend. I got over 10 hours of sleep on Friday night and close to 10 more on Saturday night. But I was still dragging all day on Sunday and ended up taking a mid-afternoon nap. I'm not prone to naps, and I was worried that it would make it hard for me to get to sleep that night. It turns out that it didn't impact my sleep at all.
Thus began a week when I was sleeping more than usual, close to nine hours a night. But I was having a hard time waking up in the morning, and I was dragging my butt through work. I'd almost managed to kick my caffeine habit completely at this point. I was down to a single cup of green tea a day. With my new found exhaustion, I was right back to my pre-pregnancy caffeine intake. At least I never really drank that much caffeine to begin with, preferring tea to coffee.
I did my best to pass this off as somewhat normal to my cousin. But between the early bedtimes, my refusal to drink any alcohol at all (she even bought a special bottle of wine as a thank you for letting her stay; I felt really bad when I didn't drink any), and constantly running to the bathroom, I'm surprised she didn't say anything about me being pregnant. Connor eventually did at his birthday dinner, but he accepted that I was on a diet. Somehow.
After a week of this, I was starting to wonder if it might be worth taking a sick day, just to stay in bed and sleep. I was at least planning to get a lot of sleep in over the weekend. But then I miraculously woke up refreshed one morning. I even woke up a couple of minutes before my alarm clock, which had become pretty standard for me. It's a nice sign that I'm getting enough sleep and I was so glad to get back to this routine.
Of course, my sleep is probably going to be all over the place for the rest of the pregnancy. I'm sure there will be more bouts of exhaustion, and theoretically insomnia will kick in at some point in the second trimester. As pregnancy symptoms go it isn't terrible - at least I haven't puked yet - but it's been the most annoying one so far. I hate feeling tired all the time.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Early Pregnancy: Food Aversions
Written 2/24/16
This morning my body finally decided to start acting pregnant. I shouldn't say finally. I'm still only 6 weeks pregnant. I've known for less than two weeks. This is all very early. But up until this morning, I was exhibiting exactly zero of the early pregnancy symptoms the books and the internet and other women and my doctor said I should already be experiencing. No morning sickness or nausea. No breast tenderness. No fatigue. I was starting to wonder if I was really pregnant.
And it's not like I wanted to be nauseous or tired or in pain. But I was starting to wonder if I was actually pregnant. Sure, my period was12 days late. Sure, I'd taken two pregnancy tests and both had come up positive. Albeit faintly; I'm supposed to take a third later this week to really confirm things. But here I was changing my diet and doing all sorts of research and nothing really seemed to be changing.
That all changed this morning.
Well I suppose it actually changed last night. On my way home from work, I was suddenly hit by an overwhelming feeling of hunger. I had to scrap my plans to make dinner, because I couldn't wait the half hour it would have taken to cook. Thank god for leftovers.
I was, I'll admit, testy. Hunger is not something I deal with well. But after a few bites of reheated lasagna, I was back to normal. Minus some cramping, which could honestly be from the cheese in the lasagna. My lactaid pills are not always foolproof.
This morning I still had the cramps and my whole lower back ached. While I was laying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off I did some googling. It turns out that minor cramping is normal, it's when you start bleeding that you have to go to the doctor. And the lower back pain, something I've dealt with most of my life and which has finally gone away since we bought the Sleep Number mattress, is going to be with me for the entire pregnancy. I should really get back into yoga; I bet it would help.
But the real surprise came over breakfast. I scrambled some eggs with onion, cottage cheese (for extra protein, and because we had some leftover from making the lasagna) and spinach (my doctor said more leafy greens). I took about two bites, and then I just couldn't eat anymore. I could barely look at it. Nausea isn't really the right word. The eggs didn't make me feel sick. I just could not bring myself to take another bite of them.
This isn't really something I expected. I'd heard about food cravings and aversions, sure. But cravings are the side of that that gets played up. My biggest concern was that I would suddenly develop a taste for pickles, because there's no way I'd live something like that down. I didn't expect to be unable to eat one of my breakfast staples.
After Kevin finished my eggs, I spent the rest of the day feeling nauseous off and on. It turns out eggs is one of the more common food aversions, after the things you aren't supposed to be consuming (coffee, alcohol). I don't know why this is, and I don't think anyone else does either. All I know is that it's disorienting to suddenly feel this way about a food I've eaten regularly for years. It has me anxious about what else I'll suddenly start hating. On the bright side, it should go away once the pregnancy is over. A year from now I'll be back to cheesy scrambled eggs. In the meantime, I need to try not to think too much about them.
This morning my body finally decided to start acting pregnant. I shouldn't say finally. I'm still only 6 weeks pregnant. I've known for less than two weeks. This is all very early. But up until this morning, I was exhibiting exactly zero of the early pregnancy symptoms the books and the internet and other women and my doctor said I should already be experiencing. No morning sickness or nausea. No breast tenderness. No fatigue. I was starting to wonder if I was really pregnant.
And it's not like I wanted to be nauseous or tired or in pain. But I was starting to wonder if I was actually pregnant. Sure, my period was12 days late. Sure, I'd taken two pregnancy tests and both had come up positive. Albeit faintly; I'm supposed to take a third later this week to really confirm things. But here I was changing my diet and doing all sorts of research and nothing really seemed to be changing.
That all changed this morning.
Well I suppose it actually changed last night. On my way home from work, I was suddenly hit by an overwhelming feeling of hunger. I had to scrap my plans to make dinner, because I couldn't wait the half hour it would have taken to cook. Thank god for leftovers.
I was, I'll admit, testy. Hunger is not something I deal with well. But after a few bites of reheated lasagna, I was back to normal. Minus some cramping, which could honestly be from the cheese in the lasagna. My lactaid pills are not always foolproof.
This morning I still had the cramps and my whole lower back ached. While I was laying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off I did some googling. It turns out that minor cramping is normal, it's when you start bleeding that you have to go to the doctor. And the lower back pain, something I've dealt with most of my life and which has finally gone away since we bought the Sleep Number mattress, is going to be with me for the entire pregnancy. I should really get back into yoga; I bet it would help.
But the real surprise came over breakfast. I scrambled some eggs with onion, cottage cheese (for extra protein, and because we had some leftover from making the lasagna) and spinach (my doctor said more leafy greens). I took about two bites, and then I just couldn't eat anymore. I could barely look at it. Nausea isn't really the right word. The eggs didn't make me feel sick. I just could not bring myself to take another bite of them.
This isn't really something I expected. I'd heard about food cravings and aversions, sure. But cravings are the side of that that gets played up. My biggest concern was that I would suddenly develop a taste for pickles, because there's no way I'd live something like that down. I didn't expect to be unable to eat one of my breakfast staples.
After Kevin finished my eggs, I spent the rest of the day feeling nauseous off and on. It turns out eggs is one of the more common food aversions, after the things you aren't supposed to be consuming (coffee, alcohol). I don't know why this is, and I don't think anyone else does either. All I know is that it's disorienting to suddenly feel this way about a food I've eaten regularly for years. It has me anxious about what else I'll suddenly start hating. On the bright side, it should go away once the pregnancy is over. A year from now I'll be back to cheesy scrambled eggs. In the meantime, I need to try not to think too much about them.
Monday, April 11, 2016
I'm Pregnant!
The main reason for taking this blog private is to announce that I'm pregnant. We're keeping it off Facebook for another month or so, but I need this outlet or I'll burst. Especially with Kevin off in Hawaii.
Honestly, I was planning to do this before the kid came, one way or another. Trying to figure out what sort of digital life we want for the kid is complicated. It's less of an issue for Kevin, as he posts nothing at all on social media. But I do. It's going to be a challenge to find the balance between keeping distant friends and family informed and refraining from any pictures or stories that will later embarrass the kid. Especially since the internet is forever.
The good news is that we have a few more months to figure that out. In the meantime, this blog could get a little pregnancy-focused. Especially in the next few days. I've got five posts the I wrote in the past couple of months but have refrained from posting this far. Those will go up this week, mostly so I can look back and remember what things were like early on.
As for now, I'm currently 12 weeks along. I had my second appointment last week, during which I got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was neat, but I wasn't as moved as many people seem to be. I still hardly feel pregnant, especially since I haven't gained any weight for the past month. It's actually weird. For the past five years I've had to try really hard to avoid gaining weight. Then I switch into eating constantly and wanting to gain weight and it's suddenly become difficult. I'm sure that won't last much longer though.
This week I have the first trimester screen, which is a newer test. They do an ultrasound and a blood test to determine the kid's risk factor for Down's Syndrome and some other genetic disorders. If it's high enough I go through another test in the second trimester. But since that test carries a risk of miscarriage, they use this early screen to lower the number of women who take it.
The pregnancy is also the reason this blog has been so sparse these last few weeks. While I haven't suffered from any morning sickness (lucky me!), I have been utterly exhausted. It's beginning to pass now, but for a while there I was sleeping close to ten hours a night. This left little time for anything other than eating and going to work, and the blog suffered.
That's about to change, though. My energy is returning, and I have a ton of things to talk about. Most of them are pregnancy related (sorry to those of you who aren't interested). I'm sure I'll find other things to talk about in the coming weeks, though. Life is continuing to happen, and it's only going to happen moreso as the year goes on. I'm very excited!
Honestly, I was planning to do this before the kid came, one way or another. Trying to figure out what sort of digital life we want for the kid is complicated. It's less of an issue for Kevin, as he posts nothing at all on social media. But I do. It's going to be a challenge to find the balance between keeping distant friends and family informed and refraining from any pictures or stories that will later embarrass the kid. Especially since the internet is forever.
The good news is that we have a few more months to figure that out. In the meantime, this blog could get a little pregnancy-focused. Especially in the next few days. I've got five posts the I wrote in the past couple of months but have refrained from posting this far. Those will go up this week, mostly so I can look back and remember what things were like early on.
As for now, I'm currently 12 weeks along. I had my second appointment last week, during which I got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was neat, but I wasn't as moved as many people seem to be. I still hardly feel pregnant, especially since I haven't gained any weight for the past month. It's actually weird. For the past five years I've had to try really hard to avoid gaining weight. Then I switch into eating constantly and wanting to gain weight and it's suddenly become difficult. I'm sure that won't last much longer though.
This week I have the first trimester screen, which is a newer test. They do an ultrasound and a blood test to determine the kid's risk factor for Down's Syndrome and some other genetic disorders. If it's high enough I go through another test in the second trimester. But since that test carries a risk of miscarriage, they use this early screen to lower the number of women who take it.
The pregnancy is also the reason this blog has been so sparse these last few weeks. While I haven't suffered from any morning sickness (lucky me!), I have been utterly exhausted. It's beginning to pass now, but for a while there I was sleeping close to ten hours a night. This left little time for anything other than eating and going to work, and the blog suffered.
That's about to change, though. My energy is returning, and I have a ton of things to talk about. Most of them are pregnancy related (sorry to those of you who aren't interested). I'm sure I'll find other things to talk about in the coming weeks, though. Life is continuing to happen, and it's only going to happen moreso as the year goes on. I'm very excited!
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Making the Blog Private
Hi everyone.
I've decided to go ahead and make this blog private. My book blog and writing blog will still be public, but this one is going behind a wall. If you'd like to continue reading, it's an easy, 2-step process:
I'm planning to transition all of this this weekend, after which new posts will start going up again.
I've decided to go ahead and make this blog private. My book blog and writing blog will still be public, but this one is going behind a wall. If you'd like to continue reading, it's an easy, 2-step process:
- Sign up for a google account
- Tell me what your google user ID is
I'm planning to transition all of this this weekend, after which new posts will start going up again.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Leaving Vermont
While our weekend in Vermont was fun-filled and relaxing, the trip home was not. A snow storm hit Baltimore, which resulted in quite the adventure for us.
We set off for the three hour drive to the Boston airport in two cars: four people plus snowboarding gear in a van with Kevin and I following in an Elantra. Google pointed us to what should have been the fastest route. But we were quickly thwarted by a closed road. We pulled off to get gas and directions to the airport and elected to head south to the highway instead of trusting to the back roads.
It wasn't long before we reached the highway. And shortly after that we got the message that our flight had been canceled due to snow in Baltimore. We pulled off to get lunch and figure out what to do.
By the time we were looking up flights, the soonest available ones were three days out. None of us could afford to miss that much work, so we decided to try and drive. It's only eight hours from Boston to DC under normal circumstances, and we were sure this plan would get us home sooner and cheaper than attempting to find another flight. Next came a series of phone calls as we attempted to change our car rental reservations to carry out these plans.
The end result was that Jen and Steve drove the van and all the gear back to Boston, where they already had a flight for the following morning. Kevin attempted to find something bigger or better suited to the snow than the Elantra, but we had no luck with the next three Enterprise locations on our route. So Sarah and Zach joined us in the dinky car.
It was as we were attempting to get back on the highway that we realized Vermont didn't want to let us go. The on ramp was under construction and we got sent on a detour through some back roads in pursuit of the next highway on-ramp. We did eventually make it, and we all cheered when we finally crossed into Massachusetts, certain that the journey would be easy-going from then.
In Connecticut, I took over driving from Kevin. The weather had been up to then, and I was still naively confident that we might make it home that night. Then it started snowing, and I was sure we would at least be able to make it past New York City and get an early start the next morning. Then it got worse and worse. Somehow I survived one of the more harrowing driving experiences of my life, going 10 miles an hour and refusing to change lanes. We eventually found a place where I could pull of and let Kevin take over. But we only made it one more mile before we found a hotel and stopped for the night in Yonkers.
The next morning it was almost like the storm had never happened. The weather had warmed up enough that the snow had turned to rain. The roads had been plowed. We waited for the sun to come up fully, to make sure that the parking lot was clear, then hit the road again.
Kevin took the first driving shift and got us through New York and into New Jersey. After a couple of hours we switched so he could take a nap and, once again, I got hit with awful weather. This time it was rain instead of snow, so it wasn't as bad, but visibility was nearly non-existent. It didn't let up until shortly before we got to Baltimore and found our car at the airport.
We eventually made it home about 18 hours after we had planned to, safe and sound and with almost no evidence of the snow that had thrown such a wrench in our plans. Vermont wasn't able to keep us there permanently. And now there's enough distance that I can look back on this trip and see an adventure and a good story, rather than the most stressful drive of my life.
We set off for the three hour drive to the Boston airport in two cars: four people plus snowboarding gear in a van with Kevin and I following in an Elantra. Google pointed us to what should have been the fastest route. But we were quickly thwarted by a closed road. We pulled off to get gas and directions to the airport and elected to head south to the highway instead of trusting to the back roads.
It wasn't long before we reached the highway. And shortly after that we got the message that our flight had been canceled due to snow in Baltimore. We pulled off to get lunch and figure out what to do.
By the time we were looking up flights, the soonest available ones were three days out. None of us could afford to miss that much work, so we decided to try and drive. It's only eight hours from Boston to DC under normal circumstances, and we were sure this plan would get us home sooner and cheaper than attempting to find another flight. Next came a series of phone calls as we attempted to change our car rental reservations to carry out these plans.
The end result was that Jen and Steve drove the van and all the gear back to Boston, where they already had a flight for the following morning. Kevin attempted to find something bigger or better suited to the snow than the Elantra, but we had no luck with the next three Enterprise locations on our route. So Sarah and Zach joined us in the dinky car.
It was as we were attempting to get back on the highway that we realized Vermont didn't want to let us go. The on ramp was under construction and we got sent on a detour through some back roads in pursuit of the next highway on-ramp. We did eventually make it, and we all cheered when we finally crossed into Massachusetts, certain that the journey would be easy-going from then.
In Connecticut, I took over driving from Kevin. The weather had been up to then, and I was still naively confident that we might make it home that night. Then it started snowing, and I was sure we would at least be able to make it past New York City and get an early start the next morning. Then it got worse and worse. Somehow I survived one of the more harrowing driving experiences of my life, going 10 miles an hour and refusing to change lanes. We eventually found a place where I could pull of and let Kevin take over. But we only made it one more mile before we found a hotel and stopped for the night in Yonkers.
The next morning it was almost like the storm had never happened. The weather had warmed up enough that the snow had turned to rain. The roads had been plowed. We waited for the sun to come up fully, to make sure that the parking lot was clear, then hit the road again.
Kevin took the first driving shift and got us through New York and into New Jersey. After a couple of hours we switched so he could take a nap and, once again, I got hit with awful weather. This time it was rain instead of snow, so it wasn't as bad, but visibility was nearly non-existent. It didn't let up until shortly before we got to Baltimore and found our car at the airport.
We eventually made it home about 18 hours after we had planned to, safe and sound and with almost no evidence of the snow that had thrown such a wrench in our plans. Vermont wasn't able to keep us there permanently. And now there's enough distance that I can look back on this trip and see an adventure and a good story, rather than the most stressful drive of my life.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Team Chaos and the Murder Basement
Oh my god, it has been so long since I've written. I'm something like a month behind on this blog. I plead writer's block. I can't remember the last time it hit me so hard. Especially when I have things I want to talk about. But every time I sat down to write about this, I got completely stuck. Not one word would come out.
So journey with me, back to President's Day Weekend. We were still stuck in the grip of winter. That was probably the coldest weekend of the entire season this year. But we hadn't known it would be like that when we got a group of friends together to rent a house in Vermont for a ski weekend. I spent the entire time playing games in front of a roaring fire instead of skiing, but some people did brave the elements. Regardless, it ended up being a really fun weekend with lots of friends.
We were able to find a house that slept all fourteen of us near Ludlow, VT, pretty close to the Killington Ski Resort. But when you're trying to balance a group that large with a reasonable budget, you have to sacrifice other things, like a feeling of security. This house was basically a cabin in the woods, and there was some fear that we were all going to be murdered by an axe-wielding, mask-wearing villain. Especially when we saw the basement.
I say that, but the truth is that most of us only saw the dark staircase leading to the basement and decided to go no farther. It wasn't until the hot tub refused to heat up on the second night that a search for the circuit breaker led one of our members into the basement. I'm happy to report that he emerged unscathed, but with harrowing tales of loose wires and standing water. The breaker we needed ended up not being down there.
Other than that misadventure, which did eventually result in a working hot tub, no one came close to danger. A group of people went skiing on Saturday (when the high was 7*F) and snowshoeing on Sunday (I think it was marginally warmer). But as I said, I stayed inside, only venturing out for food and firewood. We had a great variety of games, though with fourteen people it's hard to include everyone all the time. Which led to some people interacting with the games from the outside with the goal of increasing chaos. It was a great use of everyone's talents.
I'm looking forward to getting together with this group again. Which, since it took me so long to write this post, is going to happen very soon! The weather should be nicer this time around.
So journey with me, back to President's Day Weekend. We were still stuck in the grip of winter. That was probably the coldest weekend of the entire season this year. But we hadn't known it would be like that when we got a group of friends together to rent a house in Vermont for a ski weekend. I spent the entire time playing games in front of a roaring fire instead of skiing, but some people did brave the elements. Regardless, it ended up being a really fun weekend with lots of friends.
We were able to find a house that slept all fourteen of us near Ludlow, VT, pretty close to the Killington Ski Resort. But when you're trying to balance a group that large with a reasonable budget, you have to sacrifice other things, like a feeling of security. This house was basically a cabin in the woods, and there was some fear that we were all going to be murdered by an axe-wielding, mask-wearing villain. Especially when we saw the basement.
I say that, but the truth is that most of us only saw the dark staircase leading to the basement and decided to go no farther. It wasn't until the hot tub refused to heat up on the second night that a search for the circuit breaker led one of our members into the basement. I'm happy to report that he emerged unscathed, but with harrowing tales of loose wires and standing water. The breaker we needed ended up not being down there.
Other than that misadventure, which did eventually result in a working hot tub, no one came close to danger. A group of people went skiing on Saturday (when the high was 7*F) and snowshoeing on Sunday (I think it was marginally warmer). But as I said, I stayed inside, only venturing out for food and firewood. We had a great variety of games, though with fourteen people it's hard to include everyone all the time. Which led to some people interacting with the games from the outside with the goal of increasing chaos. It was a great use of everyone's talents.
I'm looking forward to getting together with this group again. Which, since it took me so long to write this post, is going to happen very soon! The weather should be nicer this time around.
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