Different Doesn't Mean It's a Boy

The first thing people ask me when they find out I'm pregnant is, "Are you feeling different this time?"

"Different" implies that I may be pregnant with a boy this time. Um. No. Feeling different has nothing to with that, unfortunately. I wish it did. I really do. If I had a dollar for every woman I know who felt "different" her second or third time around, and ended up with the same sex as before, I'd be rich. What's up with those who felt "different" and ended up with a child of the opposite sex? Coincidence. That is it.

To answer the question - Yes. I feel quite different. I started feeling sick at five-weeks pregnant instead of seven-weeks. I developed a metal taste in my mouth, as always. Interestingly, however, it disappeared a few weeks ago. The metal taste, in previous pregnancies, is what made me feel sick all day, every day, from week seven to sixteen.

Pregnancy sickness has toyed with me. In the very early weeks, I would have days when I thought I would die from all-day sickness. Then, I'd wake up the next morning and feel absolutely nothing! The sore breasts would be gone, the sickness gone, metal taste gone. This had never happened before - so I nearly convinced myself I was losing the baby. Then, I'd have some spotting - which would freak me out even more. A visit to the doctor revealed that all is well. Fluctuating sickness is caused by hormones and growth spurts and the spotting is insignificant (I had it with Lila too).

I am now twelve weeks. I look twenty-weeks. This is partly due to the fact that I'm pregnant with my third and Lila, my second, finished off my abdominal wall. Each side of my stomach has split muscles (yes, this hurts). The center of my stomach cones out. So, I was bound to "pop" much sooner than I did with my first pregnancy. What adds to this problem is that I am, generally, only sick when I have an empty stomach. In order to feel well, I have to have a full stomach. Which means I have to eat. A lot. I'm gaining more weight in the first trimester than I should. While most women at this stage are hanging over the toilet or cringing at the site of food, I'm starving. All the time. The feeling of starvation brings on nausea. So, I eat. I try to eat high protein snacks. I've made delicious protein bars. I've ate a lot of homemade guacamole, hard boiled eggs and so on. Twenty minutes after I eat these high protein snacks, I'm hungry again.

There is nothing I can really do about the "bottomless pit." It will subside in a few weeks and I'll go back to eating normally and probably feel well enough to hit up the gym for some pregnancy-friendly weight-training and maybe a prental pilates or yoga classes. I do wonder how all these celebrities stay so thin during pregnancy. They have to be having their meals and snacks made for them, and personal trainers dragging them to the gym even when they feel like death. I've also read that their "people" pay the paparazzi to publish photos of them earlier in their pregnancies, however, writing that the photo was taken "yesterday while shopping at nine months pregnant!"

Am I going to post weekly pregnancy photos? No. You've all seen me pregnant before. I doubt I'll look much different this time around. I will post pictures of my pregnant self during our Spring and Summer travels. We'll attempt Paris, Prague, Berlin and probably a few other places before the baby is born.