Whoa.

So I know in a few months I'll look back at this and laugh, wondering how I ever thought *this* was big or that *this* was a big change. But at the moment, it is - and since I wore the same trendy comfy outfit for my 9 week photo and my 12 week photo, I thought I'd share the fact that you I can tell a difference in my belly's appearance.

I offer you exhibit A:


It looks like the photo from 12 weeks is crooked, but that was just Mario poking in to open the blinds. Alas, ugly white belly has grown! I can definitely feel and see the difference, even from head-on, as my normal weight gain patterns (i.e. alllllll around the middle) are definitely concentrated in a more central area where one might carry a baby!

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I also wanted to note some things - ahem - important items from my experiences as a pregnant lady that I hope to not forget in the future. For the three days before I got the positive pregnancy test, I was going to the bathroom a lot more often. Then it kind of died down, although I did go an additional time every night. In the last week, I've found that I go to the bathroom at least 2-3 times a night. And the cats are going to have to learn to stay out of my way, because last night Mario almost tripped me in my 6 a.m. stupor.

I've had a hard time keeping up my water intake. Why? For the most part, water tastes disgusting to me. Nice, huh? I've turned to flavoring it and mixing in vitamin waters. That has helped a lot. Which also is contributing to the above problem. Blah.

I've had vivid dreams for the last few weeks. Dreams, nightmares, you name it. Last night I had a dream about cross-stitch samplers. (True story.) Probably more on dreams in a later post.

The extra saliva crap? Finally over. But for the first month or so, I was spitting like a trucker. Absolutely disgusting. And if I didn't spit it out, it made me gag. Especially fun when it flared up on my drives home from work.

The exhaustion. I've touched on this, but since I *think* my energy is finally starting to return slowly, I'll just say I have no idea how I managed two jobs, continuing to develop my business and doing anything else (including sending Christmas presents and cards) during these first few weeks. I'm taking my final class for my Web design certificate this spring and am not sure how much longer I'll work the part-time job (I have some financial goals in mind and really do enjoy the people and work 90% of the time, so it's not a job I'm DYING to get rid of at this point), but I think if more of my energy returns, I'll be golden. The part-time job has been great working with my schedule and new-found pregnant needs. I went from working 5 a.m. to noon three or four days a week when I was hired to working 8-10 hours a week when they found out I was pregnant. My shifts now usually start at 9 or 10 a.m. When I asked for reduced hours, my manager also suggested later shifts. Just another reason to like that job. I don't think I would have survived the exhaustion if I was still working the early shifts and more hours.