Changing Rules

Being pregnant is such an all- encompassing... experience. It's not just like a list of symptoms; it's a whole-body overhaul that demands a matching shift in thinking, as well as changes in habits and even emotional patterns (you don't get choices about those two)! The physical changes are the most obvious-- the bigger belly, the bigger appetite, the extra fluid, and all that goes with all that... but it's such a total package deal; I had no idea before the alien started taking over MY body! Since being an expectant mommy is such a part of my life (even when I forget I'm pregnant, which does still happen often, amazingly enough), I thought I'd jot down a list of things that I've had to learn to roll with... both so I won't forget (placenta brain is REAL! I honestly have trouble stringing coherent, gramatically correct sentences together at times), and so I won't drive Chris & Val up the wall talking about it while I'm with them. :)

Rules I Never Had to Live By Before (in no particular order)
-- sleeping is something you desperately crave, and yet often proves more elusive than even in college. It's just harder to lay comfortably, and then there's the guaranteed mid-night nature call, along with the requisite snack (or else deal with the adrenaline surge and accompanying shakes of low blood-sugar)...
-- Taco Bell's 4th Meal sounds awfully piddly. Hah! It's more like 6th meal for me!
-- eating must be done s-l-o-w-l-y. I don't get a choice about taking big bites, either (if I do, it comes up... and if I eat too quickly, it's called the scarf & barf routine. lovely, huh?)
-- large portions are a must... but they often will be eaten at several sittings
-- the phrases "seismic activity" and "Richter scale" often come to mind regarding my belly, especially when I sit in a reclined position. Yesterday it was so bad that she actually gave me an upset stomach! I don't know if she was using it as a punching bag or a trampoline, but yipes, girlie, settle down!
-- nausea no longer means "drink a little water, lay down, and don't eat much until you're better." It just might mean "go eat a ton," or "get up and move" or "stop drinking water- you're too full!"
-- I can't fit in spaces I thought I could. lol this often catches me off-guard when I'm getting up from the table and I don't bother to push a chair in all the way. Suddenly, my belly's caught!
-- going from sitting to standing or vice versa requires the extensive use of quads. I never realized how much I tend to "lift with my back," or how much in debt I am to my abs, until both were rather out of comission due to the bowling ball lodged in my midsection. At least I'm getting a good leg workout, huh?
-- I will ALWAYS get something on my shirt. Often multiple things. I look down at my belly and I'm shocked... no matter how careful I try to be, it's a catchall!!
-- single-digit bedtimes are advisable
-- food choices aren't just a matter of taste-- there's the pressure of eating for a being still being formed. She is what I eat. YIKES!! And, there's the questions of acid reflux, of calories, and lactose content...
-- in thinking long-term, there's the realization that there will be another little person to consider... for the rest of our lives!!!

And to close with Hannah's quip from yesterday, as I carried her to the car. "I'm sitting on Baby Eowyn's head!" =D