The First 9 Weeks

Pregnancy is the happiest reason for feeling like crap.
I can attest to that.

In a nutshell, it's miserable. Don't let those glowing skinny women on magazine covers fool you. It's flat out miserable. You are hungry all the time, but can't eat because you are afraid you'll vomit.
The one thing you LOVE to eat makes you gag. Crackers and ginger ale only go so far. After two - three days of nothing but that, you want a cheeseburger, but the thought of eating a cheeseburger makes you gag.

Exhaustion is something I've never actually experienced. And no, you probably haven't either, unless you've grown a human or two. I played sports in high school, and was always active, so I thought I knew what tired was. I didn't have a clue.

Being exhausted is sleeping 12 hours, leaving work early just to come home and sleep another 14 hours. No joke. I will end up using all of my sick days before the first trimester is even over.

At first I didn't understand why I was so tired, and then it dawned one me...Growing another life + an area to sustain that life is taking all my vitamins and nutrients and energy. Not to mention still working two jobs, and trying to maintain some sort of "normal life" with Tater and Norman.

Early pregnancy means getting up 3-4 times a night to empty your bladder. Even though the baby isn't even the size of a blueberry, it + the expanding uterus and all that jazz presses on the bladder - the need to pee is constant. Sleeping through the night doesn't happen.

Don't brush your tongue. You will throw up. Consider this the best advice ever.
Morning sickness. Nope. Try all day sickness. And then at the end of the day, when you are utterly exhausted from working at the real job, plus editing photos, plus cooking dinner, all you want to do is eat and go to sleep. But that dinner that you've been craving all day...nope. Your body completely rejects it, your husband eats all of it, while you are stuck ordering pizza once again, the only thing you can seem to keep down.

And once you finally lay down and decide to go to sleep (it's only 7:30), reflux and heartburn start up again. But, alas, you are wise to this and have TUMS in your nightstand - prepared, what?
But now, your TUMS, your saving grace from heartburn, makes you want to gag.

Technically, within the first trimester, you are only supposed to gain 2-6 pounds. Well guess what? The only way to keep me from throwing up involves pizza and we all know what that does to your waste line. Is 6 weeks too early to start wearing maternity pants?! I've always been blessed to have the 5 month pregnant look, so basically none of my clothes fit. I see a shopping trip in the future. Like tomorrow if possible.

Speaking of things growing, let's talk about boobs. So huge and so tender. They just get in the way.
 I have always been a stomach sleeper and technically I'm still allowed to sleep on my stomach (for now), but no, I physically cannot sleep on my stomach anymore due to the growth of the 'twins.'

Just when I find a "comfortable" (I use that term loosely) position, this weird restless leg syndrome thing starts up and comfort is nowhere to be found! This is when I'm at the end of my rope and am tired and hungry and miserable and just take a Dramamine. Nausea and heartburn be damned, this girl is sleeping by gosh! 

The panic of not knowing what to eat is just a nightmare. You friend tells you one thing, the internet says another, and you doctor says that both are BS. I believe the doctor; my friend, nor random internet strangers have attended medical school; lunch meat here I come! Another thing within the same realm is medicine that's safe to take during pregnancy. Again, answers vary from all across the boards...I'm sticking to what the doctor told me; again, she attended medical school, all I did was Google.

Getting sick while pregnant = worst feeling in the world. That exhaustion that I mentioned earlier; the exhaustion that couldn't get any worse, yeah, it got worse. And my nose won't stop running. I am such a catch :)

Having an awesome husband helps. We both work way too much (him for free) and neither of us wants to cook dinner or clean the kitchen or take the trash out or feed and entertain the dog, but it all gets done ... and not by me. Tater does it all. My body is psychically and mentally exhausted after a normal work day; so a normal work day while pregnant - it's magnified tenfold.

But, I know it'll all be worth it in the end, or that's what I'm told. Y'all aren't lying about that right?