Rambling post ahead…

So I’ve been sick this week. Which sucks, since it turns out I might be one of those women that goes overboard with being careful about what they put in their bodies when pregnant. Might be? Scratch that. I’m erring on the side of caution, which is easily confused with being totally insane about this. But anyway, that means I haven’t been taking anything for this sinus infection/cold that I have, so every symptom seems a hundred times worse (I take that back… I took a Tylenol Saturday afternoon, when it hurt so much to swallow that I was getting really dehydrated). I’ve basically just been sleeping, taking hot showers, and drinking a lot of hot water. It seemed to be working, at least until yesterday when I fasted for 10 hours then had a blood glucose tolerance test. That pretty much wiped out my day and my energy, and I woke up feeling worse again this morning. The good news is, I apparently tolerate glucose as well as I ever did, and there is no sign of gestational diabetes. (Also my iron count looks “fantastic,” thank you kale!)

So anyway. I was out sick from work on Monday, then doing the glucose thing yesterday, then out sick again today. Turns out that if I don’t go back tomorrow (which I won’t, because I have a final and a midterm and the appointment where my adviser says I can graduate for real) I need a doctor’s note. Well, both my husband and my mom have been telling me to go to a doctor anyway, so this morning I scheduled a same-day to go in and see someone and ask for a note. I guess I’ve been spoiled by my previous jobs… I haven’t needed a doctor’s note in ages (of course, I also can’t remember the last time I needed 4 consecutive days off for anything other than a badass family vacation). So I headed in, and started to check in when I realized that I haven’t updated my insurance since I changed jobs. Almost a year ago. Because I never go to the doctor. Where did my aversion to going to the doctor come from, anyway?

So I got called in and sat down on the awkwardly high, loud, crinkly examining table, and the nurse asked me a few questions and then said, “So what’s going on?” They always ask that. Even if you’re clutching an obviously damaged body part which is gushing blood, they want to know what brings you in today. Because they didn’t ask when you made the appointment, or when you checked in. Or I guess maybe my cold may have transmogrified into a stomach ailment? But for once it was nice, because I was petrified of asking for a note. I think my response to the nurse was something like this: “IhaveacoldanditsnothatbadanymorebutnowIneedanoteforwork!” Fortunately this is as common a request as my husband insisted it would be, and she dutifully wrote down what I said, and then said the doctor would be in shortly. Amazingly, the doctor was in very shortly! And started asking me about how I was feeling and looking at my nose/ears/etc. She asked if I was prone to sinus issues and I said I was prone to sinus issues and allergies both, and that I was avoiding allergy meds because I was pregnant. I kind of slipped that in there because no one had asked, and I wanted to make sure she knew that before writing any prescriptions. So she suggested some pregnancy-safe medications, and said if I got worse, feel free to call back and she’d call in a prescription for me.

And then she said I should pop out and start showing soon. In a very nice, friendly, hooray you’re pregnant kind of a way. But good lord, I’m 27 weeks in! I’m basically 2/3 of the way there! Just the other night I was complaining to F that at this point in the game, I wished I was showing more. He made the (very valid) point that soon enough I will probably be huge and really uncomfortable, so I might as well enjoy it. But it still really sucks to still look basically like I’ve put on a few pounds rather than like there is a BABY INSIDE ME A REAL LIVE BABY and it’s INSIDE ME. And yes, I still find that incredibly weird. I think it’s safe to say at this point that I will find it weird up until the point that it is no longer true.

And as soon as I connect my camera, I will prove that I am showing. Even if it’s only when I wear yoga clothing. And maybe stick out my stomach a little.