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Pregnancy

11:05 / 10.01.04

Make with the anecdotes! I'm particularly interested in what I believe the good folks over at the antenatal clinic call "the first trimester", ie (if i understand correctly) the period during which you (a) have morning sickness and (b) could get an abortion if you wanted one.

Hormones? Mood swings? Horniness? Cravings? Fluid retention? Breast size? What's it like?

(This is fic research, obviously. Sigh. That Hermione. Three swigs of supermarket own-brand vodka and she's anyone's.)

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

14:12 / 10.01.04

From who's point of view?

14:24 / 10.01.04

My sister;
Shouted at me when I made pot noodles,
Vomited when pot noodles were made,
and ate nothing but ice-cream for a month or so.

14:37 / 10.01.04

From who's point of view?

The pregnant person's, ideally.

15:38 / 10.01.04

um, I knew I was pregnant way before I knew you COULD know. you know, you hear of all these women going months without having the slightest idea. I knew within, I'd say, approximately 1-2 weeks. I wasn't due for my period yet, but I was very suddenly ill in a way I'd never been ill before. everything made me nauseous, sounds, sights, moving the wrong way. I'd be fine one second (rare) and the next I'd have panicky clutching going on in my guts, just BOOM! but mostly, it was the smells that made me sickest - like fried chicken.

one time I was at a shopping center, about 2 months in, I'd guess, on one side of a HUGE parking lots and allllll the way across that parking lot was a fried chicken place. I had to run into the store bathroom and start hugging that toilet for dear life, and wasn't right for the rest of the day. and it was VIOLENT sick. I lost weight, and was sick like that for four months non-stop.

oh, and "morning" sickness is a misnomer - it lasts all day long, from start to finish, and on occasion I'd wake up just to be ill.

zero fluid retention, boobs didn't get bigger until later (but when they did, JAY-SUS!). I craved things that were bad for me (mcdonalds french fries, butterfingers, and cola slurpees), but couldn't stomach things that I normally liked (like the aforementioned fried chicken). I felt sweaty a lot, even when I wasn't truly hot, and took a lot of showers. I wasn't any more or less horny than usual, and the sex kept going right up to the end - there was no discomfort or pain involved, except, yknow, er, you have to position properly.

I was EXTREMELY moody. I'm a fairly moody person to start with, and this just sent me to extreme lows. I was nasty and weepy pretty much all of the time - I can't imagine that feeling like misery all of the time did anything to help it. the worst of that, though, was also at the end, where I found myself crying at television commercials. I don't know if women tend to be THAT bad at the beginning.

anything else?

15:50 / 10.01.04

Both my best friend and a friend of mine at work found themselves verrry tired the first trimester. My work colleague had been running home as soon as her shift open just to go to sleep and as she said, "I felt like there was cotton wool in my brain." My best friend was also sleeping all the time, and then both of them suddenly got their energy back in the second trimester.

18:09 / 10.01.04

A constant copper-penny taste at the back of the throat.

19:00 / 10.01.04

um, I knew I was pregnant way before I knew you COULD know.

A girlfriend of mine said that, having been pregnant before, she knew very very quickly when she was pregnant again, from the way her body started setting up shop immediately—I don't think there were sickness symptoms, just belly & breast sensations informing her of the news.

23:04 / 10.01.04

"morning" sickness is a misnomer - it lasts all day long, from start to finish, and on occasion I'd wake up just to be ill.

Damn. (Um, and sympathies to you, bk - that sounds like no fun at all). I'd heard that before and I was kind of hoping it wasn't true. Anyone have morning sickness in the mornings?

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

10:35 / 11.01.04

It starts in the morning and carries right on through.

Smoke - on jackets, clothes, in hair, anything, was an utter no-no chez Money $hot. As in, get in doors, have to strip all clothes that have been in a smokey environment, and bung 'em straight in the washing machine. Then have a shower. Or else risk the wrath.

No laughing matter, the wrath.

Cravings almost always for things that subsequently cause violent sickness and vomiting - pepper salami (never eaten before or since), pickles (gherkins, eggs, beetroot, the lot), 'raw' jelly (eaten in the supermarket, so desperate was the need) and, er, supernoodles.

Extreme exhaustion liable to strike at any moment. Head on pillow, snoring within minutes, un-rousable for hours.

Extremely difficult to be around, obviously.

11:51 / 11.01.04

thanks, deva.

a bit of encouragement: pregnancies can be WILDLY different from woman to woman. I know women who would be thrilled to have piles of babies (frightening, but true), they love the experience so much, and then there are women like me, who, even if they DID want piles of kids (which I don't), wouldn't do it for all the money in the world. I think the only fairly universal symptoms I've heard so far is moodiness and exhaustion, but even that can range from constant and overwhelming to rare and fleeting.

so, if you don't want hermione to be very sick with her pregnancy, well, she doesn't have to be. just make sure someone bitterly tells her how lucky she is!

Lilly Nowhere Late

21:40 / 11.01.04

I cannot remember much about the first trimester of my pregnancy because I was completely narcoleptic and would not wait for the pillow before snoring. I could almost fall asleep standing and working. Depsite the fact that I am normally really really moody, I was not moody, because I was comatose. I woke up at about 16 weeks, when my baby gave me a big shove in the sore breasts and then it was mostly all really lovely. I never did get sick, though smells could almost do it. I craved ice (no cream, just ice to crunch on) so badly that I could get through a whole cooler bag full each day. And from the minute that sperm met the egg, I had to pee all the time urgently. Emergency style peeing, anywhere, just right that instant!
Is someone pregnant?
It is the best thing in the world to be a mother, but I recommend a(Figues?) thorough reading of "Life After Birth" by ummmmm somebody. It is not all pink and fuzzy and easy. No one can prepare fully or be explained to about all the alien things that pregnancy brings.(Not least the baby)