A Brave New World...

I'm going to be a young mom which means I'm one of the first of my friends to experience pregnancy. I believe I have a duty to inform my friends of some of the unexpected pleasantries of being pregnant. Everyone knows about morning sickness and that labor can be long and very painful but there is a lot more fun stuff in between that really took me by surprise.
For starters, you may start feeling sick, impossibly tired and just plain strange before you even know you are pregnant. It is a very odd feeling. And the exhaustion is kind of ridiculous. The worst part: people don't know you are pregnant yet so you have no excuse to start dozing off in the middle of conversations or burst into random tears.
Speaking of crying, I think I have suddenly started bawling for little or no reason an average of once a week for the past 8 months. At first, Ben was concerned. Now he just kind of shakes his head, lets me snuggle and (on a good day) promises to get me donuts. Yay Donuts (my one consistent craving throughout pregnancy)!
While we are talking about cravings, I should mention the strangest thing that has happened the entire pregnancy (if not my whole life). Those of you who know me, know I LOVE cheese, especially in the grilled form. One day I was deciding what to eat for lunch and I didn't want grilled cheese... not only did I not want it, the thought of ooey gooey delicious melted cheese disgusted me. I wanted to gag thinking about it. I don't think I touched cheese for a week. I normally hardly go a day without it. This really did worry Ben, much more than the random crying. Apparently food aversions are even more common in early pregnancy than cravings. Who knew?
These past couple of months have brought on a whole new host of problems. I can't bake without getting flour all over my stomach. Some nights I sleep on the same side all night because turning over is too much of an effort. Apparently not all husbands are thrilled about having to clip their wives toenails (can't imagine why not). The other day, I was sitting tying my shoes and Ben asked if I was okay. I said, "yeah. Why?" "You are making a lot of noises." Oops. Guess I've gotten so used to my random grunts, I don't even hear them now.
Most of these are minor inconveniences and a pretty small price to pay for making another person inside you, but a lot of them took me by surprise. Guess I was just expecting to get sick, eat pickles and ice cream, and pee a lot. Thanks Hollywood.

(Disclaimer: I have been sick, eaten excessive amounts of both pickles and ice cream - not together, and peed a lot... but all this other stuff happened too)