Symptoms-of-the-week

The current symptom-of-the-week is ligament cramps: my uterus is big enough to cause my ligaments to stretch but not yet big enough to rest on my pelvic bone, which means that when I go from sitting to standing or forget to walk around every hour or so, I get shooting cramps that cause me to double over.

Last week's symptom-of-the-week was lightheadedness when I stood up too fast. This is because my circulatory system is dilating and I haven't made enough extra blood yet to fill it up. My blood pressure is way lower than usual too (108/65 vs. 125/75). I've been checking it every few mornings - I've become my own favorite science experiment.

I am pondering why I haven't felt the need to post here as regularly lately. Perhaps it's partly because everyone knows I'm pregnant now, so I have more RL people to talk to about it. Perhaps it's because I'm experiencing fewer reminders as I go through my day (big jeans not withstanding). I don't think I truly realized how crappy I felt in first trimester, figuring I had pretty light symptoms since I wasn't throwing up or feeling that nauseous. But about 2-3 weeks ago, I suddenly felt loads better and the contrast was striking. In short, weeks 5-8 (the first month I knew I was pregnant) I had a lot of trouble maintaining constant blood sugar, which made me moody and tired and subject to very sudden hunger pangs. In weeks 8-12, I lost my appetite, had an aversion to meat, and had pain that felt like indigestion most of the time. (Someone who hasn't seen me in six weeks commented that my face looked thinner - I'm guessing I lost mother weight and gained more baby weight than I realized.) Nice that things are evened out a bit.