It's My Pregnancy and I'll Eat What I Want To

People have definitely started to treat me differently since I announced the pregnancy. For the most part, it's all from a place of care and concern. They ask how I've been feeling, encourage me to nap whenever I feel like it (well, not when I'm at work, although that would be nice!), make sure I get whatever I want to eat, and keep things away from me that I find revolting.

One thing that has caught me off guard is that people now seem to think they can comment on my body, what I'm eating, portion sizes, and my body image.  When talking to a non-pregnant woman, these topics are completely taboo. But I guess when you're growing a baby, the rules change.

I can't believe how many people have reminded me "don't eat too much, you'll never lose all the weight," or "don't eat for the sake of eating."  My personal favorite was when I was going through my not-feeling well stage, and I would tell people that I'd been drinking a lot of milkshakes because they made me feel better.  This was often met with a sarcastic, "well that's healthy."


Well geeze.  I would never walk up to someone who was eating McDonald's and self-ritously announce, "you know that's not very good for you."  Besides, isn't it better to get something in me that I can keep down rather than something that makes me so sick I throw it back up anyway?


As a general rule, I'm a pretty healthy person. I eat well, I work out, and while I certainly don't have a perfect body, I'm pretty happy with myself. I'm aware that my body will change during pregnancy and I'm aware that my body will never quite be the same afterwards. I'm okay with that. I've been trying to make sure I'm getting all the nutrients the baby needs and have been eating when I'm hungry. I don't deprive myself but I don't go overboard either. If I'm feeling sick and all I want is a milkshake, then dammit, I'm going to have milkshake (then again, I probably wouldn't have deprived myself of a milkshake pre-prenancy either). 

I do believe the comments come mostly from a well-intentioned place, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. I will treat my body the same as I did before the pregnancy. I will try to eat a well-balanced diet, I'll eat when I'm hungry, and I won't deprive myself when I really want something.  Including milkshakes.

Vacations Should Never End

Vacations are awesome... Until it's time to return home and you realize the bubble you'd been living in was not reality. JD and I just spent an awesome week on Anna Maria Island, FL with my family. It was a perfect week filled with plenty of sunshine, lazing by the pool, and relaxing by the beach. 


By the time the end of the week rolled around, reality hit. During my week of bliss, I had forgotten that I do not live 3 houses down from the beach on a beautiful, laid-back island with my family just down the hall. I do not spend my days sunning myself by the pool then floating in the waves waiting for dolphins to swim by. I do not sleep whenever I want. I do not have a shaded outdoor cabana to watch TV in during the heat of the day.  I do not amble out to the beach after dinner to watch the sunset over the Gulf. Instead, I have a job and a house to take care of and a family that is 8 hours away.  So, I said goodbye to my family and came back to errands and 2 weeks worth of laundry.  Tomorrow I go back to work, and it will all be a distant memory....

Our private pool

Path to the beach

White sand and perfect blue water

How close the house was to the beach

With mom and Kelly at dinner

With JD at dinner

Amazing sunsets

Goodbye this time.  Hopefully we'll get to do it again!

Attention Ice Cream Lovers

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a major, life-altering announcement.

Graeter’s Ice Cream is now sold in Fresh Market grocery stores, and there happens to be a Fresh Market in the next town over.  This means that the handmade deliciousness can now be enjoyed outside of Ohio... like in NC, for example.  By me.  Every day.

This is probably the best news I’ve heard all year, and it’s made even better by the fact that I’m pregnant.  I mean, c’mon, pregnant women LOVE ice cream.

I have a friend to thank- he was actually the one who noticed it in the store and told me about it.  He and his wife were looking at the ice cream and when he saw the Graeter’s sitting there, he told her they had to try it since I’ve raved out it.

Yes, apparently I talk about this ice cream enough that my friends, who have never been to Ohio, recognize it.  For the record, they also agreed that it was amazing.

If you have a Fresh Market near you, I recommend that you go buy some Graeter’s.  Immediately.

Fears

Now for the scary stuff.  I know very, very little about babies or kids in general.  I did not have  young cousins, my sister is only 3 years younger than me, and the only kids I ever babysat were old enough to talk coherently.  I’ve never changed a diaper in my life.  Plus, our parents live 8+ hours away.  The good news is that we have several friends who’ve had kids, and they’re anxious to share their insight and knowledge.  They’ll be great resources for us as we stumble through the early years of parenthood.

But, there’s the other thoughts that run through your mind.  How are we going to afford  a baby?  I mean, we’re in a good financial position for our age, but babies are expensive.  Have you SEEN the cost of day care?  And JD and I will both continue to work, meaning daycare is a must.  Will we be able to find one that will work with JD’s ever-changing schedule?  We don’t need daycare 5 days a week but most daycares make you pay for a full week at a time, whether you use all days or not.  Is in-home care an option?  Or is the thought of leaving our baby at a stranger’s house too scary?

What if I never sleep again?  I’m one of those people that can’t really function without a full night’s sleep.  What if we have one of those babies that never wants to sleep?  How will I have the energy and willpower to make it through the day?

How will a baby change the dynamic of my relationship with JD?  It seems we have it all figured out now- our marriage and how to make it work and meet each other’s needs.  How to deal with his crazy work schedule and lifestyle.  Then you add this tiny, completely dependent person into the mix and it changes everything.  Will we still have enough time for each other?  Will things continue to be as seemingly-easy as they are now?

And then there are the more vain questions.  Why do the waistbands on maternity pants have to be so scary-looking?  What if my feet swell and never return to their original size and all of my beloved shoes are wasted?!

Don’t get me wrong, we’re both VERY excited.  I know these thoughts are pretty standard for new parents and so many people have told me that “you just figure it out and all the hard stuff is totally worth it.”  I believe that, and I try to block out the bad stuff so I can really savor the joy.  The pregnancy is already flying by and I don’t want to miss a second of it, but everyone once in a while, one of those scary thoughts pops into my head and I think oh crap, we’re really doing this….. 

I Have A Secret

For several weeks, I’ve been walking around with an awesome secret.  It’s actually the reason I’ve been MIA.  I wasn’t ready to share, but since it’s all that’s been on my mind, I couldn’t bring myself to post about anything else.

I’m pregnant!  Our little one is due to join the family on February 1^st.

They say that pregnant women glow, and I certainly feel that way.  I can feel the excitement and the love glowing inside me.  I think even JD is glowing (maybe we’ll call that the “daddy glow”).  He’s a proud and protective papa already, almost immediately insisting that I get out of my “death trap” of a car and trade it in for a mom-mobile (aka Dodge Journey- they have GREAT safety features).

I’ve been feeling pretty well.  I had a bit of nausea in weeks 6-8 but I never got sick, so I’m thankful for that.  Actually, there was a period of time where all I could stomach was meat and milkshakes, so I guess I won’t be a vegetarian for the remainder of the pregnancy.  The baby is in control now, and whatever baby wants, baby gets.  Around week 6 I went on a rampage of chicken fingers and steak and I haven’t looked back since.  No one is more happy about this change than JD, who gets a devilish grin every time I eat meat.  I think he’s relieved to have a carnivore wife again, at least temporarily.

The past few weeks, my symptoms have been pretty non-existent and, of course, I’m not showing yet, so it was starting to feel less real.  Luckily, we had our first ultrasound yesterday, and we got to see our “peanut” for the first time.  We saw the flicker of the heartbeat and the small, developing arms, which were moving around a bit.  To see it on screen and know that this is our baby and it’s growing inside my belly was overwhelming.  I teared up, and I already can’t wait till the next appointment when we get to hear the heartbeat!

Our families and friends are beyond excited for us.  We already have several people who’ve asked to be on the babysitters list :)  JD’s grandma is already planning my baby shower and my mom has plans to do a Classic Pooh mural in our nursery.

As for the dogs, well, they’re in for quite a surprise.  We’ve seen them around kids before, so I can guess how they’ll react.  Harrier will be the protector, I’m sure.  I can see him guarding the baby’s room on the nights JD is working.  Boyd will be a gentle cuddle-bug, allowing the baby to pull his tail, poke his belly, or use him as a pillow.  Sadie….well, I think she’ll be a little pissy that she’ll be losing her status as center of the universe.  The transition will probably be harder for her than the rest, but once she gets used to it, the most we have to worry about is her licking the baby to death.

The Windy City of Frustration

A word of advice: Never fly through Chicago.

JD had to work this past weekend, so I took advantage of the holiday weekend by visiting my college roommate in Omaha.  When I was picking the flight a few months ago, I hesitated.  Most flights between here and Nebraska have a layover in Chicago, but I generally try to fly through somewhere else if at all possible, because I always seem to have problems flying through Chicago.  I made an exception this time because I figured bad weather in May would be highly unlikely.  I thought maybe, just maybe, this time would be different.

Well, I was half right.  My flight there was a breeze.  I did have a short delay, but my layover was so quick I hardly noticed it.  The return flight, on the other hand, was a completely different story.  My flight left Omaha at 11:20 on Tuesday morning.  Before I even boarded that flight, I got a notification from the airline that my Chicago flight had been delayed from 3:20 to 4:30.  I sighed and sent JD a cranky text.  

After a really rough landing in Chicago (another reason I hate flying through there- they don't call it the windy city for nothing!), I was happy to be on solid ground and settle my stomach.  I checked the monitors and... more bad news... my flight had been delayed till 6pm.  That was supposed to be when I was arriving home.  Well, technically an hour after because I lost an hour on the flight back.  

There was only one way to remedy my increasingly bad mood- an extremely decadent chocolate brownie that I paid way too much for because... well... I was in the airport.

As the afternoon wore on, I continued to get notifications that my flight had been delayed longer and the airport was getting extremely crowded.  Due to storms up and down the east coast, most east coast flights were either on long delays or cancelled because air traffic control was running out of air space with all the flights that needed to be diverted around the storms.  It was a beautiful day in Chicago, but crappy weather elsewhere was wreaking havoc on air travel.  So, not really Chicago's fault, but I'll still blame them, since I tend to have such bad experiences with air travel there.

Eventually, my flight was cancelled.  Fortunately, I was one of the first people in the customer service line, so I got booked on a later flight that, after several posted delays, did end up leaving on time at 8:30.  Overall, I spent 13 hours traveling that day- 8 hours of that was spent waiting around in Chicago.  I passed the time playing Words With Friends, reading, and chatting with the other passengers.  It always amazes me how people can have such a sense of humor when flight issues arise.  Maybe because it's expected and maybe because we were all in the same boat that day.  I talked to a few people who had actually boarded their flight to Philly and were all set to go, but were then asked to de-board the plane and were sitting in the terminal with practically no information about if and when they would leave.  I talked to a teacher who had a classroom of kids expecting her to be there the next day and couldn't really afford to miss work.  I talked to a nice couple who actually used to live in NC (now in Florida) and were waiting things out with a surprisingly happy (and adorable!) toddler.  All of these people were in relatively good spirits and helped lighten my mood.  So thanks to them.

Oh, and to the man who held my place in the customer service line when I desperately had to pee?  You definitely saved the day.  You could have told me to hold it or go to the back of the line, but you saved me from being stranded overnight, like the 35 people from our flight who were left on the standby list when our flight couldn't accommodate them.

In the end, all the hassle of the trip was worth it.  I was rewarded for my long day of travel by coming home to 3 pups who were literally falling over each other to try to greet me first (apparently, Harrier and Sadie had been on a hunger strike while I was gone... Boyd's hunger strike lasted a day before he caved and started eating again).  Then I crawled into bed with the best husband ever, who had cleaned the house and baked cookies for my return (ladies, please contact me if you'd like to clone him).

Most importantly, I had such a great visit with my friend.  We spent the weekend shopping, laying by the pool, eating, drinking, and just generally having a great time.  She's one of those friends where it feels like no time has passed when we see each other, because we pick up right where we left off.  She's also going through a really hard time in her life, so I was so glad to be there for her for a small part of it.  I'm in awe of the grace and tenacity she's shown during this difficult time.  As hard as things have been, I'm so happy for her, because she's coming out the other side stronger, more beautiful, and more vibrant than ever.  Just look at her!

She was also a fabulous hostess, cooking me breakfast every morning and accommodating my hippie-vegetarian lifestyle (I know, I'm so high maintenance).

Long story short, some trips are worth the travel headaches, but if you can, fly through somewhere besides Chicago.  Seriously.

The Thin Blue Line

I have one of these stickers on my car

For those of you not familiar, it's called "The Thin Blue Line" and it represents support for law enforcement.  The other day, a coworker was asking me about the sticker and asked if it means I can drive like a maniac and get away with it.

Um, not quite.

I mean, I'll admit the thought has crossed my mind.  Maybe if I do get pulled over, I won't get a ticket because of my sticker.  Then again, maybe I WILL get a ticket because I'm a police wife and should know better.

The truth is, by putting the sticker on my car, I feel like I'm a representative for Law Enforcement Officers everywhere, which means I actually need to hold myself to a higher standard.  

I know that sounds cheesy, and maybe even a little fake, but it's truly how I feel.  I'm not going to pretend I don't ever speed, or that I didn't cut into a backed up lane in traffic the other day (To be fair, I left work later than usual and didn't realize that particular exit backs up like that.  By the time I realized, it was too late and I had to cut in front of someone to get off in time.  Whoops). But in general, I try to be a courteous driver and set a good example.

I mean, don't they have it hard enough already?