Amused...

I had to take a moment to write down some of the things that amuse me once I start to think about them...

You know, being pregnant is really like an alien is taking over my body. I've gone through all of these CRAZY changes including (but not limited to!!):

-my taste buds completely changing
-my sense of smell has heightened (and all my senses for that matter!)
-I've been nauseaus more hours than I can even count in the past 9 months
-my skin has stretched to the point where I thought for sure it must explode, rather than stretch any more, but yet it keeps on stretching
-my hips are spreading
-I don't sleep through the night any more
-coffee-one of my favorite things in life- now makes me gag
-my hands and feet are swollen
-my nails grow at an insane rate of speed, in fact if you stare at my hands long enough, you might see my nails grow =)
-I've eaten chicken tenders and fries for the first time in a loooong time instead of salads and yogurt
-I WANT to go to buffets now because I can actually get my money's worth these days =)
-I can't reach my toes, or see them for that matter
-and not to mention I HAVE A LIVING BABY in my stomach!!!

So, my point with all of this is... there have been some crazy things happening to my body and I don't always understand the changes and once I finally figure out what's going on, it just plain makes me chuckle. For example, I'd been telling people for about a week or so (a couple weeks ago) that I thought it was so funny when he would kick at the same rate for a few minutes, like once every 5 or 6 seconds I would feel a thump, because I thought maybe he was knocking "down there" to try and get out. How polite, right? Come to find out... he's been having the HICCUPS!!!!! Now that's hilarious. I thought he was "knocking"!?!?! Amusement number one.

The second thing that amuses me is that people have been asking if I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions where my stomach gets really hard all over. I've said no, but I think I've been having Braxton Hicks and just felt them differently because I've been having moments of what feels like stomach cramps in my lower abdomen. I asked the doctor one day what she thought and she agreed that Braxton Hicks contractions can manifest differently in different women and that I may very well be having Braxton Hicks contractions that feel like stomach cramps. Well, this week at the doctor, the nurse asked me if I've had any contractions or Braxton Hicks contractions and I told her about the cramping feeling and she asked if my stomach ever got real hard. Well, right on cue, my stomach started to feel hard all over and I looked down and said, well, it feels hard, kind of like right now, when he is changing positions. The nurse felt my stomach and said, I think these are Braxton Hicks because it is hard all over and is kind of changing the shape of your stomach. Then, once I started thinking about it, I realized I MUST HAVE BEEN HAVING BRAXTON HICKS CONTRACTIONS FOR WEEKS! I'll tell you why... when we had an ultrasound last week, we were told that he is "sunny side up" meaning, his face is facing towards my belly button, not toward my spine. Every time my stomach had gotten hard and I thought eh was just changing positions, I thought the reason it was so hard was because he had shimmied his back and bottom around and that was what the hard surface was. Uh, negative if his back is by my SPINE! I laughed out loud when I realized this because I'd been so certain I hadn't had Braxton Hicks contractions where my stomach got really hard and come to think of it, I've been having them for probably weeks, if not months now!!! Amusement number 2 for the day.

No one else is probably as amused as I am over these things but I just had to chuckle when I realized how much I didn't understnd some of the crazy changes going on in my body.

Now the question of the day is this: Are the cramping contractions I've been feeling REAL CONTRACTIONS????