Are you serious? Belly pictures? Yep...and annoyances.

OK - so I see a lot of these "lets see your progression" pictures around. And I'm insane and well, figure it would be a good idea of sorts to have this kind of thing too NO? And recently Rob said he'll take the pictures for me.

So I only have pictures I took a bit of time ago - at a whopping 8 weeks. Can we say that I have no discernable diffence in my stomach then if I wasn't pregnant.

So lets start with Dianne pictures when she is NOT pregnant shall we. These are the only 2 pictures I have that even show my stomach, so not exactly the best to go by but hey....
New Years 2004 (excuse the stupid look on my face)


And sometime recently



So yeah - stomach is flatish...right.

So here I am at a whopping 8 weeks (you'll notice - not much if any difference) And don't you just love my pajamas??




Second one is a bit on the blurry side...and what a great view of my appendicitis scar no? So, um, yeah. In denial cause well - I don't see anything - do you?

So how are you feeling??
I don't think I really can truly capture how annoying this question is. It seems like the minute people know you are in fact PREGNANT, that is the first question you get asked. No hello, just right to "how are you feeling?"

And it's really a hard question for me to answer cause half the time I want to be a sarcastic bitch. I know that the person is trying to be nice or concerned, but I find this to be a rather odd question to ask. I'm pregnant...which means I feel one of 2 ways.

1. LIKE CRAP...which honestly is the stereotypical way people view pregnancy. Dizzy spells and barfing sessions and inconceivable emotional freakouts. Which is great for whoever feels this way and which I am THANKFUL for avoiding completely. I'm one of those who don't know what nausea or morning sickness is, who feels just the same as I always have. But even if I did feel like crap - is that what people really want to hear? Do they really want the explicit details on how a smell bothered me so much that I ran to the nearest garbage or toilet to view the color mix that was my last meal??? Do people want to really hear that?
2. GOOD...our second option - the option most appropriate to me as that is how I feel although I ususally answer "like Dianne." And when I say this one of 2 things happen. People look at me incredulously (I'm really not lying) or a litany of questions begins including are you feeling nauseas at all? etc. which forces me to answer and oddly justify why it is that I'm feeling NORMAL??? It's annoying to do this. I wonder 1/2 the time if people WANT you to feel like crap?

So, seriously, I'm one of the lucky individuals (or so I've been consistently reminded) that escaped from the world of morning sickness this time around. I have no sore boobs (and it really intrigues me how all of a sudden, my boobs are a discussion point - when did that become acceptable?), I don't really have cravings (no pickles and ketchup for me yet), I'm not eating 'whatever I want' as I do not subscribe to that idiotic mentality of eating for 2. Why other people even remotely think this is a viable excuse is beyond me. I never even snacked before I was pregnant and now when I do it's strictly healthy things - I can'to do all these processed junk food stuff that's out there. My biggest 'symptom' is hunger. And even that is curbing now (thank god.) I'm currently eating all 3 meals everyday. I know that's supposed to be the normal thing for all people to do, but it wasn't normal for me before. I've never really been big on breakfast (coffee - alone - was my idea of breakfast) and lunch was whenever it was I felt like having lunch if I even ate it) and then dinner...dinner I ate. So yeah. This 3 meal a day thing is new to me. I snack in between from time to time (bananas, grapes, nutrigrain bars) and that's about it.

Which leads to the next topic of discussion/annoyance...

What you should and shouldn't eat

If you thought the questions on how I'm feeling are annoying - the 'restrictions' some poeple publish out there - and some others believe in, can be fairly annoying as well. So I've adopted a more 'European' mentality to pregnancy which isn't so much RESTRICT as it is a controlled MODERATION.

I used to drink wine with dinner EVERY night. Now I'm curbed but not completely. We did go out to dinner the other night and I had 1/2 glass of sangria. At the mother's day event, I had 1/2 a glass of champagne. I hate restricting myself (obviously) so I'm happy that although American standards are ridiculous when it comes to pregnancy, other countries (and some American doctors - thankfully including mine) have a more reformed mentality...

Quote:

The current guidelines in most countries suggest that a maximum of one unit per day be consumed.

How do you measure a unit of alcohol? One unit of alcohol can be measured by:

• A half pint (25cl) of beer, lager or cider
• A small glass of wine or sherry single
• small measure of spirit or liquor

Quite simply, moderation is key to keeping the baby safe. Try not to rebuke your partner if she wants a little drink every so often and certainly don't badger her every time she has a glass of wine or champagne as this will only lead to further stress for her which could easily be more dangerous for the baby than one or two glasses of beer.

Getting drunk is definitely not a good idea. Drinking on a daily basis should stop.

Now I don't promote drinking...and I understand the complexities of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome...but I also believe that people most woman who are pregnant are not as idiotic as to go crazy with alcohol. So an occasional taste isn't horrible in my opinion.

The same idea goes with Deli meats and Coffee (yep - have CAFFINATED coffee once a day) forcing your red meat to be cooked until well done, etc. And people can choose to have a different opinion than me...that's not a problem. But don't try to force me to agree and don't try to make me feel guilty about my decisions.

Yeesh that sounded bitchy no?