Oi.

This baby stuff sure is a lot to take in. What can I eat, what can't I eat, what exercise can I do, appointments to make, stuff to buy, symptoms, what's normal, what's not... Lots of changes all at once. The early symptoms are really starting to kick in now... Dizziness, nausea (I'm a little queasy as I type), my boobs hurt, I'm really tired, and I'm ravenously hungry all the time. Seriously. All. The. Time. They joke about a pregnant lady eating you if you don't feed her, and, well, it's true. The Subway lady was joking about having trouble getting her gloves on instead of making my sandwich, and I was about ready to hop over the counter and punch her in the face. It's entertaining after the fact, but at the time I was pretty pissed. There aren't any foods or smells that really bother me, so maybe I'll get lucky and escape that one.

Our first appointment was on Thursday! We got a lot of good info, but it wasn't quite what we expected. We went over medical histories and all that jazz, talked about all of the upcoming appointments, picked our doctor, talked about basics (food, exercise, etc), then they drew some blood for the initial tests and that was it. Afterwards I was thinking, "I know that you say the home tests are really accurate, but don't you want to make sure I'm actually pregnant before you start all of this stuff???" Guess not. I'm not really doubting that I am at this point, but it's still kind of hard to believe.

So... Pregnancy Tip #1 (for all those who may be trying for a baby in the near future :P): Start your prenatal vitamins early! Folic acid takes a few weeks to build up to useful levels in your system, and it's needed most in the first few weeks of pregnancy (before you even know you're preggers) when the spinal cord develops.

Pregnancy Tip #2: Keep a lot of food around. A lot. I haven't told everyone at work yet, and they're probably all like "What the hell?" because every time someone walks by my desk I'm stuffing my face with something. Granola bars, apples, applesauce, crackers, popcorn, and things like that are good to keep around, because you won't get outrageously fat from pigging out on that stuff. Easy on the stomach too. The nurse said the need to feed (and feed, and feed) will taper off after the first trimester, so enjoy endless eating without repercussions while it lasts.

My parents are coming tomorrow (!!) so that's when we're going to break the news to them. I'm excited, I'm sure they're going to be VERY excited. :) We're going to tell Jared's parents this weekend as well, probably over Skype. We made some cross-stitch pictures for them, so once they're 100% finished and framed I'll post them.

In other news, I finished my scarf! I also made a really cute crochet hippo. Pictures also forthcoming. Crochet is like crack, I really really enjoy working on it! My next project will be a frog cocoon, hat and booties (found here: http://crochetme.com/media/p/117171.aspx) which hopefully will turn out well. So pumped!