Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Can you believe it?!  I'm already 15w2d!  I'm little delayed on posting these videos. These were taken on July 18th at13w5d. I love watching these videos. It just makes the pregnancy seem so much more real. Baby H is bouncing around in video #1. I especially like video #2 even though it's harder to see her at first. Eventually you can see her hand and her fingers! Love!

Turn off the volume so you can better appreciate the videos.

Being pregnant is such a strange phenomenon. It's amazing the ways my body has changed.

Sleep.
I've always been a girl who's loved my sleep. And I still do.  I need more naps and need to go to sleep earlier (not that I always do).  I never used to have difficulty sleeping through the night.  Oh boy has that changed!  My thought is that it must be my body trying to prepare me for having a kiddo that wakes up all throughout the night. Considering I'm working full time, I think I'm handling it pretty well.  This sleep change started pretty early on in pregnancy because I would wake up starving- typically having to eat once a night, sometimes twice a night.  Now I'm waking up without being hungry, which is nice- but on the other hand, I wake up in the middle of the night not tired at all.  Luckily this doesn't happen every night- but it does happen at least 50% of the time if not more.

Sensitivity to heat.
My non pregnant self was very cold-natured. That's not the case anymore- I can't even take a hot shower.  I know it's not advisable to take long, hot baths in pregnancy since you're not supposed to get over heated. I always thought this would be a problem for me since I love hot baths and often times need them for my back.  Luckily, I have no interest in taking hot baths. The thought is actually somewhat nauseating to me. I think I'll appreciate this change to being more hot-natured a little more once the weather cools off.

Having to pee!
This was the first symptom that I had. I actually knew I was pregnant before taking a urine pregnancy test because I was running to pee all day at work. I never realized that this was normal early in pregnancy. I always thought it would happen in the 3rd trimester when the bladder has less room.  Apparently it is very normal for this to happen as early as the first trimester due to hormones.  Who knew?

Sense of smell.
Insane. My sense of smell has become extremely heightened. 

Food.
When I'm hungry, I used to be able to wait a long time to eat. This is a big advantage when I'm busy at work or when I have errands to run after work.  This is not feasible for me anymore. When I'm hungry, I have to eat immediately.  I literally feel like a little kid otherwise. I will have a meltdown. My body can't cope at all. Lesson here:  Don't keep a pregnancy lady away from food!

Cravings. The most noticeable difference is my new love for milk and anything dairy, such as ice cream. I've also been especially enjoying fresh fruits and veggies.  I think my strangest craving to date is skittles. I haven't eaten skittles since I was a little kid, but I've definitely had a craving for them on a couple of occasions now.

Aversions. I have always loved tart foods, such as vinegar potato chips, grapefruit, pickles, etc. All of these things taste so horrible to me now.  Early on in pregnancy when we were in Eugene, we made a Grapefruit pie that I was wanting to make for quite some time out of a cookbook that I was very excited about, Momofuku's Milk Bar.  I was pretty sick that week when we were making and eating it.  Now I can't even look at the cookbook. I think that's more related to the fact that I was sick than to me being pregnant. But still, all of these tart foods are the last thing on earth I want to eat. I can't even eat my favorite grapefruit yogurt. Yuck!
Even chocolate these days doesn't interest me as much as it once did.  At least I can still eat it though!

Nausea.
I really can't complain on this front. I know some people have it so much worse than I do. I've only thrown up twice so far.  There have been a number of times that I was close to throwing up though. I was excited as I was entering the 2nd trimester, thinking it would all go away.  Not so.  I think the worst of my nausea was this past week when I was 14weeks.  As long as I eat small, frequent meals, it is tolerable, although not always fun. 

Overall, I do feel better in the 2nd trimester than I did in the 1st trimester. Or maybe it's just a matter of getting used to all of these changes.