Catching Up Part 1

Andrew and I are so blessed and thankful for all the support and joy that has been shared with us! We are really excited about little miss babydale! I haven’t written too much as work has been crazy busy. But I’ve had several people to tell me to write more. Sooo… I’m gonna try and write some catching up stuff this week. First we will start with a review of the First Trimester.

PHYSICAL TOLL:
These first few months have been a crazy change. I was so blessed (mamas out there, please don’t kill me) to have a mild first trimester. I didn’t have anything except quick fatigue, getting hot really quickly, and a motion-sick feeling when I didn’t eat for a while or got too hot. It was crazy how quickly my energy was drained. All I kept thinking was, “I hate to throw up; I’m not gonna do it; you’re not gonna make me.” I’m not a throw-it-up-and-feel-better kind of a girl. It debilitates me for a few hours to throw up just once. I’m sooo thankful for God’s mercy that only a few times did the weakness and dizziness put me in bed for a little while.

Now… being pregnant for the first time and having work to do. I have the opportunity to celebrate and cover the greatest days and times of people’s lives. And honestly, that is one thing that got me through the first trimester: being joyful and giving all I could to my fabulous couples and clients. I was constantly amazed that when I had a shoot or a wedding, I was pumped with adrenaline and as long as I had some fruit and protein with me, I felt unstoppable. Now the day(s) after… oh my gosh… it was the WORST feeling I’ve ever had in my life: Hormone/adrenaline crash hangover. Wow. But I am so thankful to have awesome couples and clients that I love and would work my butt off for, even through pure, extreme, slap-yo-face-inside-out exhaustion.

Anna & Nick were my first 2012 couple to tell and I waited until after the wedding was over to tell them. I didn’t want them to worry about me! When I told them, they were so happy for us and then Nick said, “If you had told us beforehand, I would have never let you run and roll around like you did today!” See, guys?! That’s why I didn’t tell you! And I did it all anyway, so get over it. 😛

(Me lookin’ a hot-mess with the beautiful Anna and Nick.)

CRAVINGS & AVERSIONS:
Every pregnant woman has cravings, right? Well, mine haven’t been too crazy… I don’t think. Since my gluten-free diet, I actually crave more healthy things. But what has amazed me more is that when I’m healthy and in tune with my body, my body tells me exactly what I need. It’s awesome to see the correlation between what I strongly crave and how babydale is developing. And I don’t mean just a one time craving, I’m talking “I will eat heaven and earth naked in order to find me some ________.”
i.e. RED MEAT: when my blood was multiplying to grow babydale. CARROTS when babydale’s eyes were developing.

Here’s some other things I’ve really strongly craved for more than a week at a time thus far:

Ok, ok… if you know me at all you won’t be surprised to see tomatoes or pickles on there, but mustard? I know. Seriously. One night Andrew asked me, “What do you want for dinner?” (Cause you KNOW you can’t PLAN your dinners because the preggers you won’t want it by the time it’s ready, you gotta just wing-it.) The only thing I could say was “MUSTARD. I DON’T CARE HOW I EAT IT, BUT FIND SOME WAY TO GET IT IN MY BELLY.” So, we had hamburgers and I dipped my hamburger patty in a crazy amount of mustard and it was the best thing ever.

Now aversions, I haven’t had many strong long-term aversions but there have been a few. Chicken was the first one. It was so bad that you couldn’t even SAY the word “Chicken” around me. It was referred to as “pollo”, “yard bird”, and “cluck-cluck” for almost three complete months. Eggs, raw meat and pork joined the list for a little while. The worst one?!? Smoked anything. That means BBQ. I know, I lost my Memphian-is. Any smoke smell or tasting STILL, five months in, is nearly impossible for me to choke. This needs to change and change quickly. We are getting a Central BBQ RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR HOUSE and I will die if I can’t go eat there because of the smell. ::sigh::

BELLY PROGRESS:
Nothing in the first trimester. Don’t even ask for a picture. Kind of sad. I know it’s typical, but STILL… You find out you’re preggers and you want to LOOK IT INSTANTLY!! I had thought about walking around with a basketball in my shirt, but wouldn’t that be awkward if the indentation of “Spalding” was showing through my shirt?

Probably.