Do I really have to relive this week? Let me just tell you it’s been awful and I’m saying good riddance and hoping for the best as we take on week 17.

As expressed here, the crampy leg saga pretty much consumed my week. It made for very sleepless, painful, uncomfortable nights, and that made for long, sleepy days. By Thursday of this past week I’d had enough and finally called the doctor. Turns out, I’m very dehydrated.

I feel stupid, because this is something you do to yourself. I admitted to Shelton that I can easily go an entire day without taking a drink of anything. I get so engrossed in what I’m doing that making sure I’m drinking enough water just isn’t even on my radar. So it’s my fault I guess. Who knows, maybe it’s only partially my fault. Do pregnant women get dehydrated easily anyway?

So I’ve been drinking as much water and powerade as humanly possible. The first night of my liquid bender I also took a tylenol before bed and wrapped my legs in a heating pad, and I slept soundly that night.

I spent the next day with my right kidney screaming in pain. One of those situations where it hurts to walk, hurts sit, hurts to pee… just hurts all the time. (If you haven’t noticed by now, my threshold for pain hovers around zero! I’m a wimp.)

So, I’ve made it through most of the weekend and my kidneys are finally not aching. Finally! All this water and electrolyte consumption must be paying off. Clearly I’ve learned a lesson and I’m going to try not to let something like this happen again.

Moving on… I find it really interesting that how pregnant I am changes with what I’m wearing. I bought a maternity tank top this week and I look the most pregnant in this than anything else I own. It looks like I have a basketball under my shirt. In other things I wear, you’d have no idea I’m pregnant or think maybe I need to start doing some crunches.

As far as eating goes, I feel like that’s finally getting under control. I’ve felt hungry since August and easily have eaten every two hours since that time. In the past week I’ve felt a brake depress on my appetite and it’s honestly a huge relief. I’m actually tired of eating, tired of trying to think about what the next meal will be. I’m moving back to a three-squares and a couple of snacks, and this works for me. I’m also noticing I don’t eat nearly as much as I normally do, there’s always food left on my plate.

And while I don’t “really” have any cravings, I will say that I think pizza is pretty amazing. It’s always been a favorite food. But now, I think I would eat it three times a day if I could. In fact, tonight, we just finished this amazing grilled salmon on top of a fresh veggie salad with a little homemade balsamic vinaigrette (YUM!) and I’ve said to Shelton three times that I want pizza for dessert. I don’t even need good pizza. I swear, that grease-drenched $3 pie from Pizza Shuttle we used to order at 1am in college would probably make me happier than all the diamonds, ponies and butterfly kisses in the world. I would eat the entire thing and not make any apologies for it.

My week 17 update might come in a little late – it might be after Thanksgiving and be a two-week catch-up extravaganza!!! See, Shelton and I are going on vacation. The trendy people call this a babymoon – a pre-baby vacation. We call it our first vacation in two years, a much deserved, very overdue vacation. We found a fantastic beach in Florida (that’s light on kids and heavy on adult-friendly chillaxin’ ), booked our trip for super cheap, and plan on doing nothing for six days and five nights except sleeping, soaking up the sun, hitting the spa and eating, eating, eating (our hotel has like 12 restaurants… one that serves an insane dessert that includes 10 scoops of ice cream, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and more!). Oh I cannot wait!! I’ve got the CUTEST maternity bathing suit (a tankini, minus that awful “mom ruffle” skirt thing!). I’ve also packed about eight sun dresses, which means I don’t plan on doing a damn thing the entire time we’re gone!

Folks, we’re inching so close to the half-way point. I’m feeling good and I am growing more excited all the time.