The Best Excuse

So I've fallen off of the exercise bandwagon - haven't been wearing my pedometer, haven't been going to the gym, and generally haven't been more active than work and life require of me.

But I don't feel especially guilty, because I have The Best Excuse: all my energy resources are going to my uterus right now, and any exercise more strenuous than walking makes me dizzy. I just recently hit the end of the first trimester, and I'm due in early April.

I had always wondered, probably ever since I watched my mom go through the 2 pregnancies that brought my younger brothers, "What does it feel like to be pregnant?" Now I at least know what the first trimester feels like... and honestly, there are only two things I liked about it. On a conceptual level, it's really nifty that there is this little human developing in there, and it's indescribably amazing to actually see it with ultrasound, or hear the heartbeat by Doppler. And on a social level, it's fun to see how people around you react to the news. But the rest of it - the nausea, fatigue, sore breasts, mood swings, headaches, and the tummy that's just sticking out enough that my pants won't fit but not enough to really look "pregnant" yet - all that, I could do without.

On the other hand, there's a lot to look forward to: during the second trimester, energy usually makes a comeback, and the mood swings level out. Next week I have a high-resolution ultrasound appointment, so I get to see how the baby is doing. And the next one, around week 20, will probably tell us whether it will be a boy or a girl. Also around the same time, I should be able to feel it moving.

Now that my news is out, hopefully I'll do more posting here as I give updates on how things are going.