First prental visit

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It's nice to finally be able to blog about being pregnant! I've known for a while, but I just didn't feel like sharing with the whole world. Now it's beginning to be obvious that I'm pregnant if I wear a tight enough shirt, so no more secrecy.

This pregnancy is funny--I really don't know when to expect this baby! I'm either 16 weeks along or 12 weeks along. After my very early miscarriage, I thought I had another cycle...but it was really light and really short. Nothing like I've ever had before. I strongly suspect it wasn't a cycle at all, but just some breakthrough spotting that happened to come right when I would have had a period. Other reasons for thinking I'm 16 weeks along:

• I'm measuring spot-on for being 16 weeks pregnant: 2-3 finger widths below the umbilicus. 
• I started feeling movement about 4 weeks ago. 
• The timing of my icky/queasy/exhausted stage also points to being 16 weeks, not 12 weeks. 

But...I can only say I'm about 95% sure. There is still the possibility of my baby coming in late April rather than late March! This uncertainty doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I like not really knowing and not really caring.

The icky stage was pretty awful. And I know I have it easy compared to so many other women. I never puke; I just feel queasy all day and all night. I feel dizzy and weak. I am extremely exhausted. Like my other pregnancies, these symptoms lasted about 6 weeks. But this time was brutal. I've never experienced such exhaustion before. And when you have three small children, you can't just lie on the couch all day! I'd basically collapse once Eric came home.

My best coping strategy was reading; I devoured my way through books 2-5 of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I highly recommend her books: they're smart, entertaining, passionate, and incredibly well-researched.

But now I feel great. I have tons of energy, I have an appetite again, and I am not a useless blob who neglects her children in favor of reading a book. Take today, for example: I taught my 8 am freshman composition class (biking there and back), sewed 4 slings, fed the children lunch, worked on a vaginal breech workshop I'm organizing, walked the kids to pick up Zari from school, went to my first prenatal appointment, prepared 2 dinners for later this week while Eric cooked fried green tomatoes, and put Inga and Zari to bed. I couldn't fathom doing any of these things earlier this pregnancy--except I had to do some of them.