That's not yet the baby bump

Week 6, Day 5

This is crazy. I'm barely halfway through my first trimester and I feel like I'm already puffed up beyond my ideal pregnancy weight. Judging from the below symptoms, I think it's safe to expect that I will be unrecognizable after a few months:

• I'm sluggish all the time, snoozing for more than 10 hours a day; 
• My ob-gyne has advised against any exercise (even yoga) for now, since we are still monitoring the pregnancy's viability; 
• Thus, my only exercise is walking from the bed to the toilet, and that's barely 2 meters apart;
• As for my food intake, after avoiding complex carbs for the past few years, I now have a never-ending love for white rice and anything fried, which is bad because. . .
• . . .whenever I feel nauseous, I try to cover it up by stuffing my face with food, which is REALLY bad because. . .
• . . .I feel nauseous ALL. THE. TIME.
• I don't necessarily puke everything out, but after having a hearty lunch, that's when I am usually hit by a wave of "afternoon sickness," and I proceed to hug the toilet like it's my best friend;
• After puking, I sleep some more (which is better than eating some more, I guess); 
• And did I mention that I want to eat white rice all the frickin' time?

I'm getting a bit softer around the edges: my jawline is disappearing, my belly is protruding (Sadly, it's the fat from all the food I've been eating. I'm barely 2 months in, I'm not supposed to be showing yet!), my boobs are ginormous (They were already big enough to begin with! That's not a good thing!), and I have fat feet!!! Huhuhu. My changing body shape means that I'm having a hard time choosing what to wear in the mornings, since I can barely fit into my jeans and shirts anymore (I think this encourages me to further burrow into my bed covers, in my comfortable pajamas).

I feel a bit sorry for my husband, too, since he is taking the brunt of my mood swings and bouts of laziness. Aside from slowly adjusting to the fact that I am alternately happy-sad-angry-forlorn-irritable-giddy at any given time, he has now learned to wash the dishes (that used to be my task), he takes out the garbage EVERYDAY (I can't stand the smell), and he gives me frequent hugs, kisses, and assurance that "You're not fat, you're beautiful!" while I loll around the bed at 1 in the afternoon.

Aside from the paternal pleasure he gets from the idea that he is about to become a first-time dad, I think he is also secretly pleased that he can go out at night while I am passed out on the bed (conked out the moment I come home from work, which is usually 6 or 7 p.m.). At this point, we haven't told our friends yet that we are expecting, so he has to field questions on my whereabouts with answers like: "She's tired from work," or "She has an early work-thing tomorrow morning," or simply "She's not feeling well." Since I'm the introvert in the group, I don't think anyone's all that surprised that I'm not present in gatherings. Hahaha.

We have only told my parents, my husband's mom, my siblings, and my grand-uncle (lolo) and grand-aunt (lola), who are both doctors. Lola Norma has proceeded to advise me to EAT: now is not the time to worry about getting fat; I should just eat whenever I feel like it, for my sake and for the baby's sake (see bullet #5 above). So when the time comes that we decide to announce it to our close friends and family, I will make sure that I am wearing something loose, and prohibit any curious belly-touching. I don't think I can stand saying to well-wishers that "Sorry, that's not yet the baby bump, that's just belly FAT."