Side Effects May Include...

So let's talk about side effects.  So far I've heard them referred to as pregnancy symptoms, but I really think that side effects is a more appropriate term.  Symptoms are kind of standard, like a runny nose for a cold or a fever for the flu.  But what I'm learning with pregnancy is that there is a whole host of possible side effects that may or may not strike you at random.  So let's talk...

I'm weird.  In a lot of ways, but one of them that pertains to this topic is that I have a legit phobia of throwing up.  I get panic attacks about it.  It's bad.  So bad that when I was younger, I made up my mind to NEVER get pregnant and ONLY adopt children because I didn't want to have morning sickness.  I couldn't handle the thought of it.  Then, my mom said something that changed my life.

"I never had one day of morning sickness with either you or your sister."

Seeing as how I take after my mom in almost all possible ways, this basically gave me permission to never fear the morning sickness ever again.  Sweet!  I can have babies!  (Side note: I still have huge heart for adoption and would love to do that someday too, I'm just glad that I can have this experience as well.)

Well, true to form, I have been VERY lucky to not have one case of morning sickness so far.  And seeing as how the first trimester is rapidly coming to an end, I think I can safely say I'm out of the woods on that one.  But don't worry, I think I've still had my fair share of side effects that disrupt my life.

First there was the nausea.  When I was full, I was nauseous.  When I was hungry, I was nauseous.  When I smelled something, I was nauseous.  When I was SLEEPING, I dreamed that I was nauseous.  Some people may agree that that's a little worse than the throwing up.  You know, when you get to the point where you start begging God to allow you to vomit so the nausea will just go away.  Yeah, had that.  Next, there were the bouts of dizziness that would strike while I was at work.  Walking across the sales floor was enough to make me have to sit and breathe deeply for 10 minutes or so until my head cleared.  Combined with the nausea, this made working pretty difficult there for a few weeks.  And there's my complexion.  I'm breaking out all over the place.  I've already got 'young skin' that makes me appear years younger than I truly am, but this breaking out is just awful.  Combine an increasingly difficult to hide bump, the fact that I work in what is practically a toy store, and the face of a 15 year old and I'm likely to have some very interesting stories to tell in the future.  Stay tuned for those!  Then, of course, there's the ever popular constipation.  I won't go into details, but check that one off of the list.

But none of those are anything compared to the dreams.  Never in my life have I had dreams like these.  Dreams so vivid and detailed that they seem like memories of actual events.  Except that most of them make no logical sense whatsoever.  It doesn't sound like such a big deal, until you realize that my brain is getting such a workout while my body is sleeping that it doesn't actually rest at all.  This causes serious problems in daily living.  I lost my keys twice in one week.  And one of those times, I searched Target for a half hour before finding them IN MY PURSE.  Seriously.  In the middle of my shower, I forget if I've already washed my hair.  Leaving work the other night, I needed to type in my 4 digit password to set the alarm.  I typed in two different atm pin numbers before I figured out what numbers I needed.  Just in time too - one more wrong code and the alarm company would have called the police.  It's getting a little ridiculous.  And this is the only side effect that shows no signs of slowing down or going away.

So I haven't been sick.  Just a zombie, looking for someone else's brain to steal because mine is in a coma, where it is still having crazy dreams about the different houses I've lived in.

Tell me, what was your most prominent or bothersome side effect?