Bloated, Queasy and Dry

That’s pretty much how I’m feeling right now.  Let’s break it down, shall we?

Bloated
The bloat is common, or so I’ve read. I’m having several problems, though. I quit smoking for the pregnancy (yay me!), so I gained three pounds within a week. Add to that the fact that I’m only going to the bathroom every 3-4 days. Then, to top it all off, the only thing I’ve been able to tolerate even the thought of for dinner the past 4 days is fast food. I don’t know where this came from, as I normally eat fast food maybe once every couple of months. Those two problems have piled on another pound. Luckily, today’s indulgence felt like “it” for me – I don’t think I want anything fried for a while.

One thing to point out is that I’ve fluctuated 4-5 pounds plenty of times over the years and I’ve never outgrown my pants like this. When I get home– hell, sometimes on the drive home from work– I sit around with my pants unzipped and unbuttoned. The weight is strange and feels like more than what the scale shows. And it really feels concentrated on my belly and hips. This is a tough point for me with my history and issues with food, weight and body image.

I must say, though, that Chris is loving my body. He’s telling me that it’s okay to gain weight and to stop worrying about it. His eyes get saucer-wide and he tells me how sexy he’s finding me. I believe him.

Queasy
I don’t know what more there is to say about this. It’s more or less non-stop. It’s bad when I first wake up, it’s bad throughout the morning, it’s bad before, during and after lunch. The past few days, it’s been getting really intense around 5 p.m. and not easing up at all. I’ve had to bolt out of work a little on the early side for fear that it’d become too obvious that my stomach was about to launch out of my throat. Sadly, I think this means I’m going to have to tell people at work before I tell family.

Dry
One of those things I’ve never read in a book, but my skin is horribly dry. I read a couple of pregnancy message board and some ladies complained of this also, so I know I’m not crazy. I can actually feel how dry my legs are. My face is getting little dry patches, when normally it could sustain the country’s oil demands for 50 years.

On a happy note, we went to another birth center last night and I liked it better than the first. This place felt less granola militant and I liked the midwife. So we’re all set up for our first appointment on May 7. I’m going to go ahead and keep my April 30 appointment at the OB. Yeah, I’m double dipping. But I’ll have blood work done, do the whole medical history and they’ll probably swipe an ultrasound to make sure there’s still a heartbeat. I will call, though, to make certain they’ll do this. If not, then fuck them.