I Can't Complain . . . But I Will Anyway

I really cannot complain about my pregnancy symptoms. I have had practically no nausea — a few smells make my stomach flip over, but I haven't spent a minute writhing in agony and I haven't thrown up at all. My boobs are bigger, but they don't hurt. All of my cravings have been for fairly reasonable things (hotdogs, anchovies, chicken salad, plums). My face is still an acne-swollen mess, but I can cover it up with foundation when I have to teach and I don't care too much about it when I'm home.

This is the upside of having my mother's body. I will never be tall and I will never be thin, but I can pull off this pregnancy thing no problem. Let's hope that the similarities hold out til the end and I have a short, unmedicated labor.

I know I'm having a much easier time than many women, so I feel bad complaining about my one prominent symptom, but what else are blogs for?

I am SO GODDAMN TIRED. I went to bed at 11 last night, slept until 10 (with two bathroom breaks), and by 2 p.m., I was ready for a nap. This was after I took a shower, ran errands for one hour, made lunch, and sat on the couch folding laundry. This is the extent of my ability to exert myself at the moment.

On Thursdays, I teach two two-hour seminars, one from 10-12 and the other from 2-4. About halfway through the second seminar, I was writing on the chalkboard when I felt my knees begin to wobble and my voice give out. I sat down and got through the rest of class, but the exhaustion just hit me like a cartoon anvil. I took the bus home instead of walking because I could barely put one foot in front of the other. It took me a full day to recover.

Luckily, I only have to go into work on Mondays and Thursdays. The rest of the week, I can sit on my couch and read or write. Theoretically, I could go to the gym in the morning, but in reality, I only end up going about once a week because it takes so much out of me.

I hear that some women get a second wind in the second trimester. I'm looking forward to that, though it is still a full month away.