Crying, Itching, and Sniffling

Hello emotional wreck, goodbye nausea.  Man, what I would give for some good old-fashioned queasiness in exchange for this new crying/happy roller coaster awesomeness.  Wee!  I suppose this was only to be expected in my somewhat (so far) textbook pregnancy, for those of us following along at home with those pregnancy week-by-week books, but still.  What I benefited from with my iron no-puke stomach, I have made up for with my hair-trigger crying.  If I already wasn’t sensitive enough, this is the emotional equivalent of someone suffering from morning sickness with a super weak gag reflex.

So let’s take this moment to recap some new and exciting symptoms:

• Emotional mess – Crying one moment, elated the next, anxious in between.  I need a shirt that says, “Be nice to me, I’m pregnant” as everything that could be taken the wrong way, is.  I’m sorry, wife.
• Itchy belly – Around the base of my belly, horizontal to my belly button (and underneath), it’s itchy off and on all day.  We’re smothering my belly with homemade belly rub, Eucerin Calming Creme, and Aveeno Moisturizing Shower & Bath Oil to combat the issue.
• Swine flu?  No – it’s the dreaded weird pregnancy stuffy nose!  Replacing morning sickness is morning sniffles and stuffiness.  Thankfully, this has only been limited to the morning hours.

We’ll be at 16 weeks on Monday, and I’m still pregnancy-clothes free.  I can feel my organs and belly shifting around – what was hard up and around my ribcage isn’t has hard anymore; the hard mass is settling in at the front of my belly now.  If you were to take your hands and put them on my hips, and pull them towards my belly button, you’d feel an obvious shift from chubby flesh to hard baby belly.  My hips are low enough, though, that my pants still just sit under my belly.

I’m still waiting for this second trimester magical switch when I have an energy boost and endless appetite, or whatever is supposed to happen next.  In the meantime, I’m still pretty tired and hitting the sack as early as possible (without being rude), and I don’t have any real cravings to speak of (well, besides the Ruffles and Heluva Good french onion dip).  I’m finally eating normal-sized meals again, with small snacky items in between (which my wife has to remind me to eat amidst all of the crying).  I’ll let you know when we get to pickles and ice cream land.