The symptoms

The first question I get when I tell people is "How are you feeling?". I shall explain that here. Here we go.

WARNING: This post contains gross stuff!

Boobs
This was the first sign I was pregnant. Same as before....except I was SURE this time. I used to get sore boobs before every period. Ever since the last pregnancy, my periods have been anything but normal. I haven't had sore boobs in 8 months....so when they showed up, I was positive...literally. Within the past weeks, I have already gone up 1 bra size and they don't look (or feel) like stoppin. I spend maybe 3 hours a day not in a bra. I sleep in a bra because I roll over on them. It's quite funny. The latest development is the extreme itching. It kicks in at night mostly even though I have made a trip to the bathroom at work just to scratch. It is the skin stretching to make room for more :). So in summary, my boobs hurt and itch...nuff said.

Progesterone Poisoning
When we first went to the doctor back in February, the doc recommended that I read this one book The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. While it is a hilarious book, it is also a great read on symptoms by other women...not doctors. I highly recommend. Anyways, she decided that since morning sickness is such a misleading term, that she would coin her own word to better explain. She calls it progesterone poisoning. It is actually very true. You get sick because your body is trying to get used to the high levels of HCG and progrestrone in your system. Now it affects everyone differently. I haven't got it very bad. I get nausous but I never have thrown up. I usually get a wave when I am getting ready in the morning before I have eaten. Then I get a wave before lunch...it doesn't seem to be food related though. Then at night it kicks into a higher gear. I get some heartburn but not too bad. I changed to taking my prenatals to night time and that has seemed to help.

Bloodhound Smelling Capabilities
Now while I can't smell everything in super human strengths, anything that will make me want to hurl, I can smell from a mile away. The worst yet was walking into Kilwins in Blowing Rock over Christmas. The smell of fudge and popcorn really about sent me running to a trash can. I turned around and left immediately. Last night even, we were sitting on the couch watching tv and I could smell the garbage like I was sticking my head in it. I made Kevin go and take it out right then.

Sniffle Sniffle
While pregnant, the membranes in your body secrete more of their usually bodily fluids to prepare for the baby. The main point is to loosen up your cervix and other lady parts but your body just starts to do it in other places. That includes your nose. So I am sniffly all day. Not like being sick but enough to make me sound like a 7 year old who won't blow her nose. THEN to top it all off, at night, the heat drys it up and I keep waking up to a whistling nose. Ugh. I set up the humidifier the other night and that seems to help. I can't wait for warmer weather.

Gas
Long story short, I have a lot. For you prego newbies, this is because your hormones slow down your digestive track to strip every nutrient out of your food. This also means your food sits in your stomach and intestines longer. They build up gas and BAM. Fun stuff.

Anyway, there are other minor symptoms but nothing really worth noting. I have stretching and bloating in the belly region, but that is just exciting. I would like to say that I LOVE all these symptoms. Everytime I get a wave of nausea, I wince for a second but then I smile ear to ear. Thumper and I had a talk the other day on the work (alright I didn't all the talkin) and I told him/her that it was ok to make mommy sick. The more sick I am, the better I think Thumper is doing. Some studies have said that more sickness means the pregnancy is going well. Who knows if this is true, but I take it as some kind of external sign that things are going well. Well 1.5 more weeks to go until we get to see the little bean again!