This Week in Pregnancy

Cravings
Normally I'm not much for sweets. And I stopped adding sugar to my tea or coffee back in 2000 or so. So my most unusual "craving" has been my desire for sugar. Twice this week I've added sugar to my coffee. Twice I've craved chocolate cake specifically. This is odd because I'm not much of a chocolate person. When I've wanted cake in the past, I usually wanted Italian creme, carrot, or maybe cheese cake. Also, I don't drink regular coke. But I've had some this week and just wanted that sugar syrupy taste. This is weird to me because I normally find all of these things too sweet. I guess this is fairly common, though. I've been trying to buy more fruit to see if eating more natural sugar will help. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with indulging every once in awhile, but the cravings were so fierce they kind of freaked me out, especially since I don't even like sugar that much.

Belly
Between Christmas and New Year's, my belly finally started popping out. Before I don't think I really looked pregnant. One day I was thinking, I just look like I'm gaining weight. Literally the next day after my morning shower I saw myself in the mirror and said, Holy Crap, Batman. I look like I'm having a baby.

Clothes
Due to my pooching belly, I've retired more clothes. I went to a maternity store to get a few things and found several shirts and a few pairs of pants. While I was shopping, I heard a man talking to a sales woman. His wife, he explained, was 8 months pregnant and she needed some new clothes because her old ones were too tight. But he didn't know her size. So the sales women started trying to help him. "About how tall is she? How much do you think she weighs?" He was having a hard time with all of the questions. Finally he said, "I don't know, but she is huge!" At which point every pregnant, hormonal woman turned to stare at him. If they'd all had thought bubbles, they would have read: "You would be too if you were eight months pregnant, asshole." You can label this under "things not to say when your significant other is preggers."

Movement
I have felt the baby move a few times now. It's not consistent. One of the strongest nights was when we went to Trinity Pub. Nate was really in the mood for a beer and that's a good place because there's no smoking and they have good food. There was a live band playing Irish music and the baby was doing Lord of the Dance in my belly. It cracked me up. Either she really likes music or she was responding to all the beer in close proximity. If it was the beer, she is truly her father's daughter.

Having a Girl
I think I mentioned before that I was completely and totally convinced I was having a boy. This was due to me having had two dreams about having a son. They felt very real. Also, I was hesitant about having a daughter. I was the first girl born on my mother's side of the family. All of my cousins were boys. So I grew up playing sports. I hated dolls, would wear dresses only when forced to, hated pink, and spent my afternoons running around with boys. I climbed trees, got so many scabs my mother and grandmother warned me I would regret the scars when I was older (not true), and would get chastised at school for taking off my jumper (I would wear shorts underneath) to go run and play soccer, kickball, basketball, or whatever game was going on at the moment. My girlfriends would stand and watch and wonder why I didn't mind getting all sweaty.

I was worried about having a girly-girl. There's nothing wrong with dolls, tea parties, or anything of the "stereotypical" girl activities. It's just that I was never interested in them. My fear was that I will have a child who is and I will have to feign interest. Reading "What's Wrong with Cinderella?" this past weekend also helped my articulate some of my fears.

But in the past couple of days, I just stopped worrying about it. She will be who she will be and if that's someone who wants to paint her nails and wear princess costumes and play with dolls, I'm sure that I'll adjust. Secretly, of course, I hope she often has dirt under her nails and decapitates her barbies or gives them mohawks and is better at sports than her boy friends, but that is not for me to decide.