Treading New Ground

News alert: I've never been this pregnant before.

Well, let me clarify. With each passing day, I venture into previously unexplored turf. It's all new to me. The changes, the sensations, the challenges. New surprises every day.

Oh, sure, I check out baby2see.com each week to see what's happening with the baby. I was able to find out when his eyes opened and when he developed fingernails and things like that.

But there are things no one tells you. Things you figure out as you go.

No one tells you that the constraints of your belly skin will feel stretched to their absolute limits some days. I think, oh my, baby boy must be growing a lot today. My belly feels like it is going to burst!

To pick something up off the floor, I have to maneuver like a giraffe: feet wide apart and lean over so that the belly goes between the leg space. Yup. Odd.

Last week at work I was in the hallway waiting for some co-workers to come from the restroom so we could go have lunch. I set my carry bag on the ground and squatted to rearrange some things in the bag. I...well...I couldn't get back up. There was nothing nearby for me to grip to help myself up, and I was kind of stuck. Fortunately the women came out of the restroom, saw my predicament and helped me up.

The baby doesn't only kick outward. He moves in all directions. So sometimes he wiggles or jumps and I have the strangest (and - ahem - sometimes even erotic) sensations deep within my body. My, my!

Sometimes when I lie on my side in bed at night, I swear I'm lying right on his little head. It feels hard and I worry I'm squishing him. Can you squish the baby by lying on your side?

One of my nipples has grown a nipple. I'm not sure if this is pregnancy related, or the result of my advancing age (you know we tend to grow more moles and such as we age). At the 6 o'clock position (basically, underneath) my left nipple, a little skin tag has suddenly appeared. What the....?!

Speaking of boobs, there are moments of shooting, pinching pain in one boob or the other. Developing milk ducts? Not sure. At home I sit with my hand up my shirt, massaging the poor burning spot. In public, I can only wince.

Yes, I am beginning to waddle.

No, I can't get comfortable at night to sleep.

My internal organs are no longer where I used to recognize them. I think my stomach is now squarely between my boobs.

And just yesterday, my DH said that sometimes I breathe loudly, like an overweight trucker. That's nice.

Hm. Who knew? Each day is a new venture into the peculiar. Of course you know I don't really mind any of this a bit. Small price to pay for a sweet baby boy. It's just that I wake up each day wondering, and not really knowing, what to expect.
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