Yeah, second trimester

I am now thirteen weeks along. I am not as nauseated as I was a month ago, but there's still room for improvement. It's the worst in the evening before I go to bed, especially if I don't nap during the day. I am still mainly eating only raw fruits and veggies, which is great because we joined a CSA (community sponsored agriculture group, or farm co-op) for now until mid-October, which will provide us with a weekly shipment of fresh, local and organic produce. I am still not able to eat any kind of meat product (which is A-okay with us, because David didn't really want to follow my request to buy only free-range hormone-free organic meat at almost twice the price), but I am eating more and more beans and nuts. What I can definitely eat are things that are sour. Our kitchen is fully stocked with lemonade, sour mints, sour candy, vinegar slaw and salads, and pickles. Our fridge looks like a pickle symposium. If you were to drop by (which you shouldn't this week, because as you'll later find out, I'm not wearing any pants), we would have any kind of pickle flavor, shape, and size that you could want (including three varieties of pickled beets).

The latest news is that my pants don't fit anymore. I can wear jeans for a few hours, but then the pressure on my abdomen gets to be too much. I only have one class final left, but this last week or so, I have taken to sitting with my pants unbuttoned for the duration of my four-hour classes. I hadn't expected to show so early, especially having lost so much weight in the last three months. However, as you can see in the picture, thanks to my Godzilla uterus, I look about four (or five) months along, easy.

This week we had our first visit to the maternity store for more than Preggie Pop Drops (sour candies that really help with morning sickness) and got a couple items. If you have never dealt with maternity store employees, they're pushers. Every time we go it takes nearly ten minutes to check out, because you have to say no to every offer they want to sign you up for, and it's every single time you go there. I would expect that their clothing would be much cheaper considering all of their corporate sponsors. This last time we had to be more forceful about saying no. Would you like Similac to send you free samples throughout your pregnancy? No. It's absolutely free and their coupons will save you a lot on formula. No, we're going to breastfeed. Well then, would you like to sign up for the Huggies mailing list? No. Everyone needs diapers. No, we're going to cloth diaper. (This went on and on as we said no to cord blood banking, baby oil samples in the mail, pacifier of the month club or whatever else they were offering.)

So, we decided the easiest thing would be to shop for maternity wear online, which I did. A few days ago was our second wedding anniversary, and my gift to myself was pants that fit. It might not seem like the most romantic gift, but then imagine yourself going out in public with a spouse not wearing any pants. For David's sake, hopefully they will all arrive in the mail soon. Until then, it might be best if we didn't have any unexpected visitors.

As for the baby, it now has an operational thyroid gland, a gallbladder that secretes bile, a pancreas the produces insulin, a face sensitive to touch, fingerprints, and forming vocal cords. Most babies at this stage are the size of a lemon, but considering ours is currently a giant, I would assume it is somewhere in between the size of a lemon and Machu Picchu.