The pros and cons of pregnancy

One of the first times I knew that things were changing and were out of my control very early in my pregnancy was at one of Jeff's hockey games. Anyone who knows Jeff, knows that he might have the most minutes spent in the penalty box for both of his teams. He is very calculated about how he earns those minutes and many times creates "friends" on the other team throughout the game as he takes his defensive role quite seriously. I happened to be sitting behind our goal at this game and was watching Jeff and the other guy push and shove in front of the net. Apparently the other guy pushed Jeff harder than my developing mom brain thought he should and "Get off him" escaped my mouth. A few heads turned to look at me as I sat shocked at my volume. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not very loud. Jeff mentioned later that it's a little embarrassing when everyone can hear your wife yelling over the game...oops.

I am normally a pretty sentimental person and might cry at the occasional television show or commercial so I had prepared myself for an increase in this. I have been surprised, but I actually cry less now. I have definitely been more irritable, which is a little frustrating, but mostly I feel my protective side coming through. I was mentioning to Jeff about how proud I was of myself to not be very emotional during pregnancy when he recalled me crying during an episode of the Office. I'm not sure this is true, but then again memory has become somewhat of an issue as well.

I had not experienced the nice pregnancy hair, but it was growing super fast. It had only been 2 months since my last haircut when Russ had to come to my rescue and cut 6 inches off! I am now getting to experience good pregnancy hair and much stronger nails that everyone talks about. The mask of pregnancy isn't so fun, but it's not a big deal. It is so strange to be pretty much out of control of your own body but a little bit freeing at the same time to not worry about it and know that a little miracle is causing all of these strange things, most of which will go away.

I really have not had many cravings. Early on, I experienced mostly food aversion except for salads (with Ranch), lemonade, and fruit were the only things that sounded appetizing, especially strawberries and pineapple. Of course, there is the occasional pickle, which isn't strange for me, or pizza. I have had a few days of feeling like a bottomless pit but otherwise still haven't been that hungry. Jeff and I have developed a tradition consisting of going to check on the house progress and stopping at Pluckers for dinner. I have never been able to turn down their fried pickles (with Ranch), and I recently discovered their very delicious strawberry lemonade.