Meet the Peppermint

As a companion to my wedding blog, Bridled With Joy, http://bridledwithjoy.blogspot.com/this blog is the chronicle of my journey from egg dispenser to Mommy. As of today, we are 14 weeks pregnant, the official start of the Second Trimester. When writing your gratitude list tonight, you can count among your blessings the fact that I didn't start this blog one moment sooner or you would have been subjected to long dissertations on nausea, vomiting and so-called morning sickness that struck me like a tidal wave for weeks around 2:00 p.m. But, we've turned a corner and there is so much more energy and vitality that it just seemed right to start this new project.

The baby has the current moniker, Peppermint, because that little pregnancy test we took on November 6, 2008, at 2:30 a.m., pretty much looks to me like those little candies you get after a garlicky meal. It's a perfect name for our little fetus because it's gender neutral and I don't have to run around calling my Beloved unborn "it."

What else have we done during the first trimester? Oh, besides get married, have a honeymoon, come home early from the honeymoon because morning sickness in South America just isn't glamorous or desirable in any way, coast through the holidays of 2008, bought a few pre-natal books, seen Peppermint's heartbeat, heard Peppermint's heartbeat, freaked out about 400 times over everything from gas pains to the not-so-rapid growth of my fingernails.

The good new is that at 14 weeks, God willing, there will be approximately 26 more to appear on the virtual pages of this blog. We will be finding out Peppermint's gender and living through all the physical changes that are coming down the river towards us.

I can say that so far pregnancy has been the most mysterious, glorious, frightening, and unusual experience of my life. I can't believe the things I have eaten (chicken wings and mac 'n cheese in multiple helpings at ONE sitting) and how little I have exercised and how my whole life experience is infused with a very passionate desire to keep Peppermint safe and to give Pepps exactly what he or she needs at every moment of the day. It really helps me cut down on the bullshit, because nothing matters more than the Pepps.

I am blessed beyond words to be 14 weeks pregnant. Not one day goes by that I don't count this mystery in my womb as the most tremendous privilege thus far in my 35 years of life. (Yes, 35 years so they are coming at me with all kinds of information about genetics testing. We are declining for reasons that will appear in a later post.) My husband, to whom I have been married 6.3 weeks, is a saint because all those emotional symptoms of the first trimester I have in exponential proportions. I am hoping that has gone the way of my nausea. And, let me tell you, that they have many many products for nausea-- ginger chews, ginger tea, Peppermint tea, ginger snaps, Saltines, just to name a few-- and I haven't yet seen a single product for my irrational, bitchy, over-the-topness. Jeff takes it in stride and still has the gall to describe his life as blissful.

We know we are in for an adventure if the first trimester is any indication of what is to come. I think I am sleep deprived now, because I am awake a few hours at night. I am a little hestitant to think about how sleep deprived we will be in about 26 weeks! And sore. And much much larger. This is going to be fun.

We are bundled with joy.