Things they don't warn you about....

Pregnancy.  The time of a couple's life that is perhaps the most filled with expectation, wonder, and nervousness.  A time when a new human being is being crafted in the hidden recesses of a woman's body, blood vessels and brain stem being established with no conscious active effort on the woman's part (save, perhaps, not drinking and trying to eat more than two colors in a day).

There are, however, some things they don't warn you about pregnancy until you have joined the expectant-mama club.  (Beware - this post may contain TMI, but that's okay.)  For example...

1) Fuzzy tummy
They warn you about the lush hair and epically awesome fingernails.  What they do not warn you about, however, is that the same hormone that means the hair on one's head becomes very nice also means so does the hair on one's...um...tummy!  So, the reason a woman's hair is awesome during pregnancy is because the hormone that releases hair is diminished, on one's head and one's...tummy!  Seriously, my tum tum looks like a peach.

2) Stuffy nose
Who knows that something about the hormone soup coursing through a gals body during preggo-nancy causes inflammation of the mucus linings?  Not quite sure how that makes sense, but I sound like I've pretty much got a chronic cold.  *achoo*

3) Sore backs
Oh sure, you do hear about the sore backs that a woman has when pregnant, but do you know that can start as soon as 10 weeks (this soreness usually due to hormonal fluctuations)?  My poor back has been sore for a long time, compounded by the fact that I've got some back problems.  HOWEVER, I was not expecting that to start so quickly!  Now I'm at 25 weeks (close to the end of 2nd trimester and big enough that strangers are getting less shy about staring at my belly) and now my back is more sore than before.

4) Baby brain
Now, this is something you may have heard about if someone in your vicinity has been pregnant, or else you may not hear about it until you have joined the Sisterhood of the Expanding Pants.  Seriously - it's like all the blood that had gone to feeding my brain has gravitated elsewhere to grow a baby.  Memory? You should see the sticky notes papering my cube at work.  Thought process?  Give me a sec, and I'll get something figured out.  Maybe two secs.  :)  I thank then Lord that finals this past semester consisted of essays - those I can generally do at home and are open book, a God-send to this preggo who is having a hard time remembering why in the heck I got up to get across the office?


5) Gas!
My poor hubby already grimaces when I eat cheese.  Not that I'm lactose intolerant, but somehow my eating cheese has detrimental affects on bystanders who are not warned that lactose can make my intestinal tract determined to do its best to poke holes in the ozone layer (okay, I'm not that bad).  Being pregnant just makes this worse!

I'm sure there is more...but I can't remember it.  :)  More to come later.......