The Rare Sweaty Leopard-Wolf...In Her Own Words

I’ve tried to avoid any super pregnancy-related posts to date.  I don’t know that I’ve done a great job at that.  But, the fact is, I am pregnant and many of you reading this post are pregnant, have been pregnant or are going to be pregnant very soon.  I can’t avoid the topic forever.  So, I am venturing into the land of a purely-about-pregnancy post today, and hoping that I don’t lose my valued bloggy friends along the way.

I like to pride myself on knowing a lot about a lot of things.  I research things to death, long before I need to in most cases.  But, when it came to pregnancy, I think I was a little afraid to delve into the research too much.  My fear and sadness, when I was struggling through infertility, prevented me from really immersing myself into a pursuit of knowledge about what happens to your body during pregnancy.  What if I didn’t get pregnant?  Wouldn’t that knowledge hurt more? 

But now my pregnancy is a reality and I thought it might be helpful (or at least amusing) to share some of my weirder symptoms…the ones you don’t hear a lot about in passing.  My intent is not to complain, but to let others who might have these symptoms now or in the future know that you aren’t abnormal if you get hit with these things. 

• Brown spots on my face – I now look like I had two little brown circles/leopard spots tattooed on my right cheek.  My doctor promised that they are because of hormone levels being funky and that the spots will fade after pregnancy (although they may never completely go away).  I wish they were in the shape of stars or hearts, so I could pretend that they are a cool throwback to glam-rock or something, but alas…I just look like I need a mother to come over and scrub two dirty spots off my face.

• While on the topic of my face…I am beginning to look a bit like the Wolf Man.  First I noticed a few random hairs on my chin (that actually started during my IVF cycles).  I called them Billy Goat Hairs…trying to maintain a sense of humor about them.  I was not pleased when I went to have my eyebrows waxed and the person doing the waxing asked me if I would like my chin done, too.  I was horrified.  But that was not to be the worst of my humiliation.  On Saturday, as we were walking to the car, The Prince offered that perhaps I should start shaving my sideburns, as they were growing down the sides of my face.  It is not like my spreading hairline had escaped my attention, but I was hoping that I was just overly sensitive about it and no one else had noticed.  Apparently not!  The Prince tried the old “I was just kidding” routine, but that doesn’t really work after a 15 minute conversation about how I could potentially combat my morph into Cousin It.  Then, when I was having my eyebrows waxed yesterday, I told the person doing the waxing (who is also my good friend) about what my husband had said.  Instead of saying “What?!?  He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” she said “Oh yeah!  You really need to have those waxed off.  I can’t believe how dark they are!  You are so pale…that doesn’t help.”  Gee thanks!!!  I didn’t break down and have them waxed.  I have read that my fuzzy-wuzziness is a hormone response and that the hair will fall out after I stop breastfeeding.  Here’s hoping.

• Back pain – I know that back pain is a common pregnancy symptom, but I’ve only heard about it being an issue in the second and third trimester.  Mine started this week – Week 9.  I thought maybe it was because I am fat, or because I am holding my core differently to adjust to the strange feelings in my belly.  But an endocrinologist that I saw today told me that it is actually from the hormone imbalance that pregnancy causes.  My back pain isn’t back pain at all…it is posterior pelvic pain.  I guess the hormones make the bones in the pelvis soft so they can have more flexibility as the baby grows...and it hurts.  When the pain is around your tailbone...it's most likely pelvic pain.  Usually the bone-softening starts in the second trimester, but if you are getting lots of progesterone and estrogen supplements (like I am) it can happen sooner.  Yeah!  The pains will come and go throughout pregnancy, but should stop after the baby’s birth…only to be replaced by back pain from carrying around a baby, diaper bag, car seat, etc.  The doctor recommended that I start doing pelvic tilts to strengthen my core muslces and, potentially, to lessen the discomfort.

• Sweating – I have become part leopard, part Wolf Man, and…apparently…part pig (or at least I sweat like one).  My internal thermostat is definitely broken.  I have air conditioning on me constantly and I also keep a fan blowing on me at my desk at work all day.  I drink iced drinks.  I put ice on my neck and back at night, when I am trying to sleep.  And still I sweat…so much that my bed feels like I peed it each morning, and my shirt has wet spots if I walk for more than a couple of minutes outside.  I’m not a petite girl, so I am not new to the idea of sweating more than my more dainty counterparts.  But this is an incredible amount of sweat.  I now sympathize with those poor guys who always have wet circles on the underarms of their dress shirts in court.  And…the added bonus is…with the more sensitive sense of smell I’m sporting…I am acutely aware of any body odor that I emit.  (Luckily this pregnancy sweat doesn’t seem to be too stinky, but if I could shower my whole body in clinical strength deodorant each day, I would).

These are but a sampling of my new, charming qualities.  Each of these symptoms were an unpleasant surprise for me, but they are also a daily reminder of the blessing I have in my belly.  Little Hamish (I’m trying to get back on board with “Hamish,” as The Prince refuses to let the joke go) is giving Mommy a run for her money, but I know that…even if I end up being a sweaty leopard-wolf for the rest of my life…Little Hamish will be worth it (probably will also be embarrassed to be seen in public with me, but still worth it).