heartbeat - best sound ever.

http://www.geocities.com/antoycat/heartbeat1_10262007.wav

is it hot in here, or is it just me?

I had no idea how hot I would be. I had heard that your basal body temperature would be slightly elevated due to increased progesterone levels or some such scientific theory, but this pregnancy thing takes hot to a whole new level. We're talking kicking the covers off at night despite a cranking a/c system, being so warm that you wake your spouse out of a dead sleep just by grazing against him, waking up feeling like you have a 104-degree temperature but having the thermometer register at only 98 or 99.

It's a strange adjustment, for I'm an always-cold kind of person. I've learned to preface a handshake with an apology so as not to scare anyone with my ice blocks for hands. I have to wear a sweater at work all day if the air conditioning is on. In the winter, I'll sit around the house wearing a winter hat, gloves, and down jacket on top of my other layers to stay warm. I even purchased wool heated mittens that plug into a USB port to help stay warm at work.

If it's a warm summer, god help me -- I might have to resort to cruising around in hot pants and tank tops to stay cool. I could really go for a giant frozen margarita right about now ...

Best baby name suggestions. Ever.

A guy friend at work offered these fabulous names to me upon learning of my pregnancy:

Boys

Cheetah Chrome
Marshall Stax
Plymouth Fury
Chewbacca Raygun
Tetsuo Ironman

Girls

Lexi Adamantium
Isis Nightshade
Shiva Destroyer

Oddities of pregnancy

Things that made me gag in the first trimester:

• seeing a spinach leaf on the floor of the work cafeteria with a shoe print on it
• walking past a band-aid stuck to the carpet at work
• the sound and bouncy action of sausage links being dropped from a pan to a plate
• my prenatal vitamins

testing positive

I felt a little odd all weekend. For starters, I took two naps in one day. I never nap. I'm one of those freaks who feels more tired after a nap than before, and somehow I also wake up really queasy. I figured I was on the verge of coming down with a hellish flu virus. While making toast (to settle my stomach after nap #2), I caught myself leaning my elbows on the counter while waiting for it to be done -- now that's a whole new level of tired.

Dan and I had gone out for a walk on the Monon Trail. We hadn't been walking for very long, but I felt really wiped and asked if we could head home early. We decided to stop at our favorite out-of-the-way burrito place to pick up food. By the time we got home with our carryout, I was in a state of rage from hunger. I think I actually said, "Get out of my way. I'm hungry and full of rage. Please don't talk to me until after I eat" to my poor husband.

Anyway, the above symptoms combined with a ton of crampy feelings but a no-show period made me think that perhaps something was up. Dan thought I was imagining things, as I'd been told the week before by my gyn that I'd probably need some fertility meds in order to get pregnant. I waited a day, and when I was still crampy but without period, I decided to break down and buy a test -- mainly so I could have a drink that night if I wanted to.

I ran out to CVS sans husband and picked up the test, as well as a bunch of other items to camoflage the oh-so-scandalous EPT. When I returned home, Dan chuckled and told me to go take the test. Figuring it would be negative, I went upstairs without him. I took the test and left it on the counter, but covered it with the test directions so I wouldn't be tempted to peek. I sat on the bed for exactly three minutes and went back into the bathroom. Removed the sheet of directions. And stared. Two lines. Two unmistakable lines. I wasn't imagining things. I was pregnant. Uh.

And "uh" is exactly what I said. I said it loudly, sort of in exclamation form. Picture me standing in the bathroom, holding the test, staring at it in disbelief. "UH!" And with that, I grabbed the test, ran down the stairs, and thrust it toward my unsuspecting husband. "What does this look like to you?" I practically shrieked. He was skeptical because the second line wasn't the exact shade of pink as the control line. I cackled. He looked at me with wide eyes. We both laughed. My eyes filled with tears. He jumped up off the couch, hugged me, and said, "Congratulations" -- like what you'd say to a friend. He was in a bit of shock, needless to say.

We agreed not to tell anyone for a while just in case something bad happened. I went upstairs for a minute, and when I came back down, he was already on the phone with his friend. So cute.