And now for something completely different

I've talked about my son; how wonderful, entertaining, exasperating, loving and perfect he is. I can't imagine not having this child in my life. Every day is a new experience with him. To see the world through the eyes of a three year old is a truly miraculous thing.

And I've talked about my pregnancy. Not much, but I've mentioned it here or there. What I haven't really mentioned is how incredibly different this pregnancy is from pregnancy with Blaine. When I was pregnant with Blaine, I was truly the pregnant woman in bloom. I loved it. I had slight morning sickness, but never really was pukey. I didn't have any weird food cravings. I enjoyed almost every minute of my pregnancy and couldn't wait to do it again.

Now that I'm doing it again, I know that this is my last pregnancy. Discounting all the problems I have just getting (and staying) pregnant, I know without a doubt, that I cannot and will not put myself through this again. This pregnancy is HARD. Really, really hard. First came the debilitating morning sickness that didn't confine itself to the mornings. It was more like all-day sickness. I couldn't eat. If I ate, I threw up. You know it's bad when you start planning your meals based on what will be easiest to puke back up a half an hour later.

When the morning sickness started to wane, I got the stomach flu. And if you think morning sickness is bad, well, the stomach flu is ten times worse. In 7 or 8 weeks of morning sickness I lost about 10 pounds. In 4 days of stomach flu, I lost 10 pounds. It was horrible. At one point the health unit here was considering hospitalizing me for dehydration - which I think scared my body into keeping fluids down. (If you could see Georgian hospitals, you would understand.)

Now that the morning sickness and the stomach flu are gone, I am dealing with intense food cravings. And not just normal "boy I'd like a sandwich" type cravings. No, I'm craving dill pickles slathered with mustard. Or dill pickles on Dorito Nacho Cheese chips. I can eat a jar of dill pickles a week. I don't care for chocolate - which is seriously odd since prior to this pregnancy, I lived for chocolate. It's just weird.

But the biggest, most unexpected difference with this pregnancy? This baby is a girl. We just found out yesterday. A girl. How delightful and surprising and amazing all at the same time. There hasn't been a girl in David's family (on the paternal side) in generations. It's going to be great. I can't wait to meet her.