Little Earthquakes
"A quake, a quake / This must be a mistake!"
I never thought I'd be saying this, but: I experienced my first earthquake on Tuesday! The effects were rather dramatic in south Philly, but at the time, I honestly just thought the construction workers hit our building or something. The new GlaxoSmithKline building is going in next door, so for the last few weeks they've been digging up the street to work on water/sewer lines or some such nonsense (seriously, I do not know what sort of "construction" involves digging a trench in the middle of the road and pounding massive utility poles into it, but it's been happening RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW and shaking the building enough to give me motion sickness as it is). I was downstairs chatting with a co-worker after lunch when the shaking started and people around us began FREAKING OUT. I looked around, established that the world was not ending, went "That was interesting," and resumed talking about Firefly. (C'mon, he'd never seen it before!)
After that, I went upstairs, noted that the rest of my department was still out at lunch, and was headed purposefully to the bathroom when there was an announcement along the lines of, "If you are dumb enough to still be in this building, get out!" So I did. Outside, everybody was checking their phones and spreading rumours, and when someone mentioned the same thing happening at our Virginia warehouse, I decided I needed independent confirmation and called my husband:
Me: Hey, honey, I need you to settle something for me. Did you just, uh, feel the ground shaking?
Him: OMG, YOU FELT THAT TOO????
...and so on, until the cell networks went down. And that's when I remembered that he was at home that day, which made me a little nervous because no one likes to think of their apartment getting hit by an earthquake.
YES, WE'RE FROM THE EAST COAST. FEEL FREE TO LAUGH AT US.
AND 5.9 IS TOO A BIG DEAL.
********
Anyhow, that was most -- but not all -- of my big excitement this week. Had my 17-week check-up this morning, and the OB confirmed that the painful little poking cramps I started feeling on Tuesday are actually Peanut getting a workout. "Little flutters," my fucking ass! I realize that I am dealing with this pregnancy with my usual lack of aplomb, but holy crap, that is not what I was led to expect. You know that feeling you get when you have a large bruise and someone pokes it? That's what it feels like. As I write this, I am feeling something akin to fluttering, but considering the legion of digestive issues I am also experiencing, I'm more inclined to believe that's gas. Yes, lovely, I know.
(OW, that was definitely baby. Hehe, my baby's kicking!)
ANYHOW. My uterus is growing nicely, Peanut's heart rate was around 149, and the doctor complimented my new maternity belly ring. These things made me smile.
********
If you are a) not friends with me on Facebook, and b) like, WTF? right now, the big news is that I am about 17.5 weeks pregnant. All my complaining aside, this is a Good Thing. (I put up some private posts early on; if you're interested, I've made all of those public now.)
I haven't had the energy to write anything in a few months. Here's what you've missed:
* I told my family - it went about like you'd expect.
* Despite what EVERYONE has told me about morning sickness going away after the first trimester, I still spend about 3 mornings a week retching. It's an improvement over 3 times a day, I'll say that much.
* I lost 6.5 pounds in the first three months. The scale is starting to swing back the other direction now; I am juuuust about back to my pre-pregnancy weight, though a lot of that depends on the state of my lower intestines. Harrumph.
* Despite that - or perhaps because of it - I am definitely showing. I got my first pieces of maternity wear around 12-13 weeks, and have been in maternity pants exclusively since about week 14 (they're reeeeeeally comfy). At this point, there is no hiding The Bump. Yesterday was the first time someone at work (outside those "in the know") had the courage to ask when I was due. I like her, so I told her the truth. Next time someone asks, I'm telling them I just had a big lunch.
* My mom was very quick to point out that she did not show with me until she was at least six months along. Not to be outdone, my grandmother let me know that she didn't show until at least seven. Thanks a lot, family.
* No, we don't know the sex yet. Yes, we plan to find out! 20-week ultrasound is scheduled for Sept. 12, so hopefully someone will be feeling cooperative that day. (Yes, there will be pictures.)
*******
Okay, that's enough baby talk. Time to make shopping lists and get ready for this weekend's hurricane...
I never thought I'd be saying this, but: I experienced my first earthquake on Tuesday! The effects were rather dramatic in south Philly, but at the time, I honestly just thought the construction workers hit our building or something. The new GlaxoSmithKline building is going in next door, so for the last few weeks they've been digging up the street to work on water/sewer lines or some such nonsense (seriously, I do not know what sort of "construction" involves digging a trench in the middle of the road and pounding massive utility poles into it, but it's been happening RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW and shaking the building enough to give me motion sickness as it is). I was downstairs chatting with a co-worker after lunch when the shaking started and people around us began FREAKING OUT. I looked around, established that the world was not ending, went "That was interesting," and resumed talking about Firefly. (C'mon, he'd never seen it before!)
After that, I went upstairs, noted that the rest of my department was still out at lunch, and was headed purposefully to the bathroom when there was an announcement along the lines of, "If you are dumb enough to still be in this building, get out!" So I did. Outside, everybody was checking their phones and spreading rumours, and when someone mentioned the same thing happening at our Virginia warehouse, I decided I needed independent confirmation and called my husband:
Me: Hey, honey, I need you to settle something for me. Did you just, uh, feel the ground shaking?
Him: OMG, YOU FELT THAT TOO????
...and so on, until the cell networks went down. And that's when I remembered that he was at home that day, which made me a little nervous because no one likes to think of their apartment getting hit by an earthquake.
YES, WE'RE FROM THE EAST COAST. FEEL FREE TO LAUGH AT US.
AND 5.9 IS TOO A BIG DEAL.
********
Anyhow, that was most -- but not all -- of my big excitement this week. Had my 17-week check-up this morning, and the OB confirmed that the painful little poking cramps I started feeling on Tuesday are actually Peanut getting a workout. "Little flutters," my fucking ass! I realize that I am dealing with this pregnancy with my usual lack of aplomb, but holy crap, that is not what I was led to expect. You know that feeling you get when you have a large bruise and someone pokes it? That's what it feels like. As I write this, I am feeling something akin to fluttering, but considering the legion of digestive issues I am also experiencing, I'm more inclined to believe that's gas. Yes, lovely, I know.
(OW, that was definitely baby. Hehe, my baby's kicking!)
ANYHOW. My uterus is growing nicely, Peanut's heart rate was around 149, and the doctor complimented my new maternity belly ring. These things made me smile.
********
If you are a) not friends with me on Facebook, and b) like, WTF? right now, the big news is that I am about 17.5 weeks pregnant. All my complaining aside, this is a Good Thing. (I put up some private posts early on; if you're interested, I've made all of those public now.)
I haven't had the energy to write anything in a few months. Here's what you've missed:
* I told my family - it went about like you'd expect.
* Despite what EVERYONE has told me about morning sickness going away after the first trimester, I still spend about 3 mornings a week retching. It's an improvement over 3 times a day, I'll say that much.
* I lost 6.5 pounds in the first three months. The scale is starting to swing back the other direction now; I am juuuust about back to my pre-pregnancy weight, though a lot of that depends on the state of my lower intestines. Harrumph.
* Despite that - or perhaps because of it - I am definitely showing. I got my first pieces of maternity wear around 12-13 weeks, and have been in maternity pants exclusively since about week 14 (they're reeeeeeally comfy). At this point, there is no hiding The Bump. Yesterday was the first time someone at work (outside those "in the know") had the courage to ask when I was due. I like her, so I told her the truth. Next time someone asks, I'm telling them I just had a big lunch.
* My mom was very quick to point out that she did not show with me until she was at least six months along. Not to be outdone, my grandmother let me know that she didn't show until at least seven. Thanks a lot, family.
* No, we don't know the sex yet. Yes, we plan to find out! 20-week ultrasound is scheduled for Sept. 12, so hopefully someone will be feeling cooperative that day. (Yes, there will be pictures.)
*******
Okay, that's enough baby talk. Time to make shopping lists and get ready for this weekend's hurricane...