Goodbye, Curls; Hello, Sleeplessness (Sorta)

For those of you that are already sick of hearing me rattle on about pregnancy, I apologize in advance because this post is not going to excite you much.

I've found that each week I learn something new about pregnancy. And you know what makes it all so great and wonderful (sarcastically speaking) is that no one warned me about so many of these things. Or maybe they did, but I had it in my naive little head that I was going to be one of those women that had a problem-free, vacation-like pregnancy. Oh little child. Here are some of my more recent discoveries:

1. You will read something somewhere that tells you something "wonderful" you can look forward to about pregnancy...and you will experience the complete opposite.

Today!

     Exhibit A: "During pregnancy, less of your hair will fall out. In exchange, you'll be blessed with thick, luscious locks!" LIES. Since getting pregnant, my hair has gradually gotten thinner (not to the point that I'm worried about balding or anything, but still) and, the biggest surprise of all, I'm losing my curls! I spent the better part of my teenage years despising my curls. I frequently considered chemically straightening my hair and just being done with it. However, thanks to the pleadings of my mother, I kept the curls and eventually grew to like them. (Most days...) Once I mastered the art of styling curly hair, I no longer had a hate-hate relationship with my hair. Now I'm the first to admit that my hair was never ringlet, springy curly. It had a more wavy-curly combo thing going on. But either way, I knew how it worked. Now? Now my hair is oddly straight (with a slight little wave to it) and always seems to be full of static... though I don't know if the two are related. To help you understand my plight a bit more, I posted pictures for you.

Back when things used to be normal. ;)

Perhaps I'm making too big a deal of this. But now that I'm faced with the possibility of losing my curly hair forever, I feel a true sense of loss. Sigh. I suppose I just need to learn how to handle straight hair now. I still secretly have a plan to sneak out the curls by putting mousse in my damp hair in the morning, and then diffusing it. If that doesn't work.... I may shed a tear or two, but then it will be time to be a grown up and move on.





2. Women that choose to wear regular bras during pregnancy have my utmost confusion. (I apologize to any male readers out there for my candidness, but I'm just beyond some things now.) Regular bras are not comfortable. They're hardly comfortable when you're not pregnant, much less when you are. Sports bras are either too tight or offer no support. I have found that the only option that has kept me from bawling my eyes out on a daily basis is the "grow-with-you" nursing bras. I ordered them online (because the nursing bras in the store aren't big enough AND make the assumption that you will stay the same size--LIES!) and the day they arrived was a joyous day indeed.

3. The inability to stay full is a real thing. I cannot recall a time in my life where I needed to eat quite so frequently. Now, I am not of the group that feels hungry all day, every day. However, I have had a couple days where every hour and a half, my stomach started growling again and again and again. Back in my former life, I wasn't much of a snacker. I learned a while back that my downfall in terms of weight management is snacking. More often than not, whenever I snacked, it had far less to do with hunger and a lot to do with, "Mmm.. that sounds delicious!" Thus, I refrained from snacking. Or if I did snack, it was only when I knew for certain I was actually hungry. Now, however, I pretty much have to snack in between all my meals. If my stomach starts growling and I don't get ahold of some food pretty quickly, my gag reflex gets a bit out of hand and I instantly regret my hesitation to acquire some food. So far my snacks of choice are oranges, chips and salsa, or colby jack cheese.

4. I am completely incapable of sleeping through the night. I have to take a potty break at least once each night, but that's fairly minor at this point. I just wake up sporadically throughout the night, typically to adjust my sleeping position. If I don't sleep with a body pillow between my legs, I wake up because my back and hips hurt. If I do sleep with the body pillow, I have to move it back and forth as I switch sides during the night. It turns out I'm much more of a back-sleeper than I realized, so I often end up on my back and then I wake up because it's not all that comfortable for long periods of time. I've been able to go back to sleep pretty quickly so far, so here's to hoping that continues. And what worries me the most is that, from what I've heard, this isn't going to get any better.

5. Second trimester does not always mean ample energy. I waited for this supposed wave of energy to hit me. It never did. I occasionally get a sudden urge to clean the kitchen or living room, but I think that's fairly normal once the house gets a bit messy. I haven't been setting up the nursery or constantly moving or incessantly cleaning the house. I've still been tired every afternoon and I don't move as quickly (...which is something my husband pointed out to me. I used to be a pretty fast walker... not anymore!). However, I'm grateful the nausea/vomiting went away this trimester, so the burst of energy is completely second fiddle.

And that's that. It's past my bedtime. My puppies are on my sleeping schedule and they fell asleep a while ago, if that tells you anything. Hah. :) Tomorrow morning I have some laundry to fold (it seems like that's always the case, doesn't it?) and some homemade biscuits to eat.

Baby Kicks and A Lot of Girls

January has already been quite an eventful month. On the first day of the year, I was finally able to feel little baby kicks. It was a very exciting and somewhat emotional experience for me. My overall pregnancy experience has been filled with a lot more "downs" than "ups," so it was a big moment for me to come to terms with the little human life I'm nourishing and protecting inside my body, and how much of a gift and blessing and miracle it really is. There's definitely something about feeling movement that makes everything seem more real and amazing. Travis was able to feel a kick a few days later. He has to be patient, because not all the kicks are strong enough to feel from the outside. But I think he was pretty awed once he felt an actual kick. And even though I was told that the kicking can come and go at first, I have consistently felt kicks all throughout the day (whenever I'm sitting or lying down) everyday since January 1st. We have an active little one! Quite a way to welcome in the new year, huh?

Then on January 10th we had our big ultrasound to make sure baby is healthy and growing properly and, if we so pleased, to find out our baby's gender. Here's what you need to know about me. I have two little sisters. (I use the term "little" despite the fact that they're both in college and are both taller than me...) On one side of my extended family, my grandparents have ten granddaughters and one grandson. On the other side of my family, my grandparents have seven granddaughters and three grandsons. My husband has two sisters. Needless to say, I've been around far more girls than boys. I've really hardly been around any boys. And I feel that with my rather girly girl tendencies (I'm not a tomboy by any stretch of the imagination), having a baby girl would fit quite well. But see, I also know how much God loves to push me out of my comfort zone. He pushed me to go to college in a state where I didn't know anybody at all. He pushed me to explore theatre from behind the scenes instead of having to be onstage. And then, when I got really comfortable being backstage, He pushed me to take on the most time-consuming, enjoyable, challenging role I've ever done. He pushed me to move to another new city after I got married and start all over again. He pushed me to find a job to support my husband through his last two years of college. He pushed me to trust Him when we went for a month without a home or jobs over the summer. He pushed me to my limits when I battled morning sickness for my entire first trimester, as I wondered what I had gotten myself into and whether I could survive this phase of life. And as our ultrasound tech began looking at the little baby growing inside of me, she said, "I think I see a little boy part." And somehow, I wasn't surprised. God's asking me (though I really have no say in the matter) to once again step out of my comfort zone and learn how to raise a little boy. Nearly everything I know about the male species I've learned in the last two and a half years of marriage--and now it's time for me to learn a whole lot more! And even though it still scares me sometimes, I'm also so excited that God has entrusted me with a precious baby boy. It's going to be a crazy ride!

Despite the fact that I got a two hour nap today, I think it's very nearly time for bed. The dogs have already fallen asleep. My eyes are starting to hurt. And I have to pee (which isn't all that unusual).