Week 12 started on a low note, but ended high. My morning sickness returned. I had several people say they’d never heard of that before, but I had no other explanation. I spent the first half of the week just feeling classically pregnant sick. This entire pregnancy so far, as soon as I wake in the morning, I have about a five-minute countdown to get food in my system or I’m miserable the rest of the day. So each morning last week I jumped out of bed to fix a bowl of cereal or eggs and toast. Within an hour, I’d lose it. By mid-week I started taking my nausea pill before I’d eat anything and managed to get through the end of the week without getting sick.

Everyone asked/argued if it was the flu. And it was not. Definitely morning sickness and I’m sticking to it. There were no other symptoms at all.

My fatigue continues. I’m easily getting ten hours of sleep a night, with 12 on the weekends. My mid-afternoon, I’d give someone $5 and a candy bar to let me take a nap. A simple trip to the grocery store leaves me worthless the rest of the evening. Shelton’s schedule has been so insane lately that having him tag along hasn’t really been an option. So either save errands for when he is around, or just write them off as not that important.

This has left me fairly “homebound” lately and it’s making me mental. I work at home, so my 8-5 is in the same place my 5-10 and Zss are. I’ve been trying to make a point of getting out at least once a day – a walk to the mailbox, a lunch with a friend, working the afternoon from a wifi coffee shop. Just something that changes my environment a bit.

Which brings me to exercise. No, I have not partaken (partook) in any exercise since the start of my pregnancy. With the blood clot, I just couldn’t bare the thought of doing anything that might put me or the baby in some kind of jeopardy. And while the doctor told me I didn’t need to lie flat on my back staring at the four walls until it passed, I just couldn’t do it. However, I’m so unbelievably excited that next week will start my second trimester, for all intents and purposes the bleeding is gone, and I can start prenatal yoga! A woman I work with is a yoga guru, so I had her shop all the Wichita yoga classes and she found one with an instructor who sound just right. Classes are super cheap, about $60 for a month of once-per-week sessions. Everything I’ve read about the benefits yoga lends to pregnant women makes me want to run not walk to my first class.

I’ve only taken yoga once in my life, years ago. And I got the giggles when people tooted and what not, because hidden inside me is a 14-year-old boy that I can’t shake at times. Plus my mother-in-law was attending the class with me and was ultra-bendy and six-packed, and was/am not, so I stopped going. I’m a completely different person now and I’m actually anxious to embrace these prenatal yoga classes, and will of course keep you posted on how I feel about what I’m gaining from them.

In other BIG news this past week, I’m full-on showing. I’ve had a minor bump for a few weeks now, really only noticeable to myself or Shelton (and my sister). But I swear I went to bed one night and woke up the next day and BAM there was a belly. There’s no denying it now. I can’t get over it. I can’t stop rubbing it or holding it. The feeling is so much different than the 12 pounds of chubby tire I lost a couple years ago. It’s solid and round and centered. And that’s the part I can’t get over, is that I keep thinking it’s going to squish or wobble or whatever like love handles. But it’s not. It will continue to get bigger and I cannot wait!

Speaking of “how I’m carrying,” I’ve yet to talk to a single person who thinks this is a boy. Every vote so far has been cast as a girl. Neither Shelton nor I have an inkling of what it could be. Frankly, we don’t care. I’d prefer not the hermaphrodite I dreamt about a few nights ago, but otherwise we’re open to whatever we get. My sister, and the “women’s contingent” in my family have decided that I’m “carrying high” and “all in my belly” and “nothing in my back” and the “wind’s blowing from the east,” and so on – all apparently meaning that I’m having a girl. When and if we decide to find out before this baby arrives, we’ve still got a long way to go.

Other than that, I’m excited that this begins the final week of our first trimester. What a relief it is to get to this point. I’ll spending this week in NYC, currently sitting on a three-and-a-half hour flight. On the downside, my flight was delayed; on the upside, that meant I got to eat! I had to SWEAR and PROMISE Shelton that I would take it easy on myself and try not to push myself; I made him SWEAR and PROMISE not to worry. The only thing I can SWEAR and PROMISE is that neither of us is likely to hold up our end of the deal.