Monday, February 10, 2014

Pregnancy Low Fives

The last thing I want to do is complain or whine about pregnancy. It's a miracle and something that I am beyond blessed to experience. I'm grateful for this blessing every single day! Even when I'm hugging the toilet. Well, maybe not feeling blessed so much right then if I'm being 100% honest. But you get my drift.

Carrying this Small Frei is one of the coolest things I've ever done, if not THE coolest, but it is not without it's challenges. Today I thought I'd share a few of my not-so-high-five perspectives. You know, now that I can actually tell people about it and all.

  • Low five #1- Not being able to tell people about the biggest, most life changing secret you've ever carried. This part was torture! I even kept it from our parents for a good 3 weeks which was not an easy task. You're beyond excited, but are told by everything you see and read to keep it on the DL, so you wait. You wait and you try not to blurt it out every five seconds. Torture.
  • Low five #2- Drinking. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a lush and I'm not out at the bars every weekend, but I do enjoy a glass of wine or beer when I'm out to dinner or hanging out with friends. Our friends and family were already on high alert to watch my consumption levels for possible pregnancy tip-offs, so this called for being sneaky when it came to hiding the fact that I was not partaking. And trying to hide this over the holidays with parties and friends traveling into town was not an easy task. There were a few margaritas which consisted of just mix and sprite (yuck!), non-alcoholic wine (again, yuck!), and one night at Bunco where I fake sipped on the same glass of wine for four hours. As my drink level failed to decrease with each sip, I just prayed the other girls drank enough that no one would notice I was faking each sip. And lastly, ordering drinks in restaurants and then having to "use the restroom" while sprinting to tell the waitress to change it to mocktail. Glad we're out of that phase! I couldn't stomach another glass of straight margarita mix again.
  • Low five #3- Nausea. I would like to meet the person who coined the term "morning sickness". I'm guessing it was a man cuz this stuff ain't limited to the morning, y'all. Mine was all day long, with an emphasis on gagging at night. I'm now one of the women munching on crackers in my bed before I stand up. AND, the worst part about this particular low five is linked to my #1 low five...not being able to tell anyone. I've been the sickest I've ever been for a prolonged period of time and I have to hide it. For about 2 months straight, when I'm talking to people I have to mentally repeat "act cool, don't puke on their shoes." It was touch and go a few times!
  • Low five #4- Exhaustion. Honestly, I'm torn on whether this is a low five or a high five. Either way, I'm tired and naps are my new drug of choice. I remember going to "get ready" to go out to dinner one weekend while Tim was in the other room, and the next thing I know he's standing over me asking if I'm okay. I remember thinking "I'm just going to sit down for a minute" and an hour later I'm being woken up. Oops.
  • Low five #5- Aversions. For my final low five, I bring you aversions. I'm so thankful that mine haven't been too limiting and I've still been able to handle and cook raw meat, unlike some of my friends. Mine has really been limited to the smell of coffee, which I usually love (minus Starbucks-that place wreaks), and brushing my teeth. So giving up my daily coffee has been a lot easier than I expected, thanks to its smell. And although brushing my teeth is a recipe for disaster for me right now, I obviously still do it religiously. I guess it's just a sensitive gag reflex but, ugh, it's minty torture.
So that's it, friends. Those are my beefs right now, and even with those I have a feeling in the grand scheme of everything, they're not really that bad. I'm guessing the havoc that a someday teenage Small Frei will bring to my world will make a few gags during teeth brushing seem like a trip to Disney Land!

It's a small price to pay, isn't it? Just remind me of that at 10pm tonight when the nausea rolls in like the changing tides.

2 comments:

Annet said...

So I found your blog via Shannan's share the love post and clicked on it because someone else commented congratulating you. Anyhoo, I liked this post (I was also oh so sick) but I've been dwelling on the part about can't tell anyone which is so hard.

I've never been a fan of that rule, and so much more so when the last time I was pregnant I ended up having a miscarriage (it technically was a "blown ovum" so never really a baby but still thought/felt pregnant for a while). I think people feel they can't tell anyone because what if something happens. But my thoughts are if something does happen, I'd want the world (okay, close family/friends) to know, because I'd need their love and support to get through the difficult times. No matter how short a pregnancy is, when it is wanted, it is wanted and losing it is hard. My husband and I still something think "our second would be this old by now", 4 years later.

So maybe the 3 month rule is good for telling random people in the grocery store but I think that telling people right away that are very close to you is important. Esp when you feel wretched and have to do the whole game you described about what not to eat/drink, etc.

Just my thoughts.

Brittany F. said...

Thanks for dropping over to my corner of the world, Annette! And I agree with you, I think the next time around we'll share the news sooner with those closest to us. We had a few scares in the beginning and it was so hard to face them alone.

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great Monday!