Friday, October 4, 2013

4 Weeks: what's another word for surreal?



Four weeks down, 36 to go! It actually feels kind of bizarre to type that, because it still all feels pretty dreamlike. This is something that happens to other people, not to me! This week would suggest that we're going to go ahead and get the pregnancy symptoms show on the road. But whether my discomfort right now is due to pregnancy, or allergies and jet leg is yet to be determined.

My biggest "symptom" in the past week was fatigue. Ridiculous. But I think I was transitioning off of vacation really badly, thanks to jet lag. I'd be so tired at 3pm (10pm in Ljubljana) and wide awake at 3am (10am in Ljubljana). To add insult to injury, I got back Sunday, didn't stop waking up at 3am until Friday night, and then had to turn around and work night shift Saturday night. It wasn't pretty.

Other symptoms (that I'm willing to share publicly, at least) have included morning temperatures as high as 99.5, and a flu-like feeling. On Wednesday morning I was feeling fairly miserable and I was convinced that I actually was getting sick after traveling. I had a headache, body aches, congestion, runny nose, and sore throat. Although really, those are also the same symptoms I've had on and off all summer thanks to a ridiculous allergy season.

The biggest thing I'd attribute to pregnancy this week is my thirst and the subsequent bathroom trips! I've always been a thirsty person, easily consuming 3 liters of water a day. Now, it's more like 4+ liters and ice water is even sounding good (usually it's room temp all the way).

Finally, I'm craving salty food and I'm somewhat averse to sweets at the moment. The Haribo gummy bears I brought back from Slovenia are all Ross' whereas normally I'd be fighting him for the clear ones and the red ones! I have been getting occasional waves of nausea, although to be fair this is something that happens to me normally when I'm overly tired. Just in case, I've started taking 25mg of Vitamin B6 three times a day. I'm hoping to avoid Unisom or, worse, Zofran because they really just wouldn't help my IBS symptoms.

My overarching thought this week has been incredulity at how long it's taking to sink in: we're pregnant! It's happening! I guess I thought that it would be magically real with that first positive test, but it's still so dreamlike. Even though we were hoping and trying. Even though the day I tested, I knew I was pregnant. (I honestly would've been more surprised to see a negative than a positive.) Yet, it's so intangible right now. A little poppyseed.

It's different than I thought it would be, and it's hard to believe it's happening to me after watching so many of my friends have their first, second, and even third and fourth kids! Now that our turn it's so new and so surreal. Life-changing yet not noticeable from the outside yet.

Pre-ultrasound, pre-lab draws, pre-visible baby bump... can you blame me for analyzing every possible symptom?

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