1-1-11 - My symptoms so far

Written on 1/1/2011 (Two months ago! So, obviously much has changed since then!) 

It's New Year's Day!  1-1-11. A great day to reflect on new beginnings and changes for the upcoming year, which are certainly going to be significant.

We have our first doctor's appointment on Tuesday and one of the things that I need to think about are a list of symptoms that I've been experiencing as well as any questions that I might have.

My symptoms have been intriguing to me, but before I even begin, let me say that I know I should be thankful.

Thus far at least, I have not had any morning sickness (knock on wood.)  That's right, NO MORNING SICKNESS!  I capitalized that because a lot of people can't believe it.  The first question everyone asks is "how are you feeling?"  What they really mean is "Have you been throwing up?"  They don't want to hear about your other weird, quirky symptoms, which I will detail below. 

Anyway, no morning sickness.  I have occasionally felt queasy, particularly when in the car (and particularly when traveling on some back-country farm roads in southern York County that rival roller coasters in their ups and downs.)  I also gag pretty much every time I brush my teeth and attempt to brush my tongue.  I LOVE brushing my tongue, so I keep doing it, even though I wretch every single time.  No vomit though so for now I think I'm going to keep doing it.

My first and most intense symptom is one that is a little embarrassing to talk about, but it's so pervasive and sometimes all I can think about so I'm going to say it anyway - extremely tender breasts.   They hurt soooo bad.  I've taken to sleeping in a sports bra every night and exercising - when I get around to it - is oh-so painful.  But it's manageable so far and hopefully it will go away soon.  If the alternative is vomiting, I would definitely rather have a tender chest for sure.

Moving on.  Cramps - let's talk about them.  I know that a lot of women get them on a monthly basis.  When I was on birth control I had pretty much pain-free periods and could barely relate to women who were complaining about cramps.

Karma is a bitch.

Although they're not horrible every single day, when they are happening I can't think about anything else.  They are so uncomfortable that they occupy every cell in my brain.  In particular, the cramps in my back are most severe.  They're so low that no massage could ever help and the fact that they're usually in the front at the same time just makes it worse.  Since I'm not allowed to take any sort of pain relief the cramps are by far my least favorite and most uncomfortable symptom.  I hear that it's my uterus growing and that someone women are more in tune with that feeling than others.  Whatever the case may be, I hope they go away soon.

Other less irritating symptoms include that hit-you-like-a-train tiredness that is oh-so-common in the early stages of pregnancy.  I'm going going going strong and then BAM, need to sleep.  Of course, once I'm in bed I fall asleep quickly but two hours later wake up because my skin itches all over, or because I have to go to the bathroom.  I'm not sure if this is a pregnancy symptom or simply because it's winter and dry skin is more prominent.

And finally: 
1. Cold - I feel cold ALL the time; sometimes I'm so cold I can't do anything but curl up into a ball and shiver
2. Acne - Breakouts on both my face and chest are super annoying and feel so 1995
3. Oily hair - I seriously have to wash my hair every single day now; if I skip one day it's like I doused my locks in olive oil. For a girl who hates to shower (me) this sucks big time.  Assuming a sedentary weekend, I would sometimes shower on Friday before work and then pass on the washing until Monday when I had to go out into the world and see people again.  I would look a little greasy by that point, but even three days of no showering back then isn't even close to the greasiness that I'm feeling now after a single day.

The pregnancy books go on and on about morning sickness and since I can't really relate, I've already pretty much stopped reading them.  Most of my other symptoms (except the chest tenderness) aren't really mentioned specifically, but basically it seems like they write off anything that isn't "normal" for you as a "pregnancy symptom."   All in all, I think that my symptoms are pretty manageable (I mean, no symptoms would be better, but....) and I'm just really glad that I'm not throwing up.