Coming December 19...

By Dr. Yasmine Kalkstein
Adam and i are expecting a baby december 19! :)
I officially hit the 2nd trimester this week and got an email that it's about the length of a lemon now :)
So far, everything is going well.
i don't really look pregnant yet, and sometimes I even forget I am, although i had to give up some things i love, like ice skating and beer drinking (j/k on the last part). I had a bad cold with a loooong asthmatic cough to follow which really put a dent in the first trimester, but other than that only some nausea. The weird thing is you have to eat when your nauseous to feel less nauseous which is kind of a paradox because you don't feel like eating. But I quickly learned that was the best way to deal with it. Although it would come with some whining to Adam of "but I don't FEEL like eating" :)
I get out of breath more easily now which is kind of embarrassing to me. I hate feeling out of shape. Most of the nausea has passed, but I still have this aversion to meat. I always wanted to ideally be a vegetarian, so i am not really complaining that all I ever want is pasta and things like that. Adam, however, also hasn't gotten much meat in the house (he won't make it if I'm not going to eat it, and I'm not touching it!). Fish is still...maybe okay, but not nearly as appetizing as pasta. The other weird thing is chocolate. I love chocolate. Correction, I NEED chocolate. But suddenly, chocolate is being replaced as the ultimate necessity in my life. I have lost my NEED. Fortunately, I still love it (I would really be very confused if I had an aversion). I just don't crave it. i figured I'd be one of those women eating chocolate all the time. It's kind of funny actually. I assumed i would also crave seaweed salad (before pregnancy, I would have cravings for seaweed salad). But who knew I'd be such a simpleton? Pasta, mac n cheese...i could live on italian food. :)
Surprisingly, i still haven't gained weight (i actually lost--go figure!). Adam jokes the baby is eating me from the inside out. I think I just lost my huge muscles :) but none of my jeans fit anymore. So i definitely have more of a stomach now. We are planning on delivering a minnesotan--we figure this way the baby will be big and buff and tolerant of the cold like minnesotans are :)
So, yes, if you are at all like me you are looking at the ultrasound and going "why are people so fascinated with this black and white blurry image?" I never got why people LOVED them so much. where's the baby? that's the head? oh....right....maybe i see it (but i never really saw it). But it's pretty cool when it's your own. I also don't think newborns are particularly cute, truth be told. Puppies are much cuter. but given my reaction to the first ultrasound (oh, it's so cute!!), I might find my newborn kinda cute too. I think it's some evolutionary built-in mechanism or something.
We're pretty positive we're going to wait till the baby comes out to find out the sex. I jokingly call it a boy because Adam's paternal lineage doesn't have a whole lot of XX chromosomes....Adam's grandfather has already declared to us "I prefer a boy". I am still shaking my head over this one. What am I supposed to do with a comment like that? Let the doctor know?!
Anyway, hope everyone is doing well!! Love, Yasmine

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