Nearing the End of Week 16: Food Dilemmas, Mood Swings & Crazy Dreams

The day after we came home from Washington, I picked up our pups and was able to have a little down time in the evening with them.  They generally love each other, but they've NEVER cuddled together, until:

It was so cute because Miles, our 6 month old puppy, had his paw on my baby bump.  I love our little family.

I'm heading towards the end of my 16th week of pregnancy...as you can see, when I slouch in the couch, I get a bigger bump.  I seriously think after we told our whole family about the pregnancy last Sunday, baby decided it was time to make itself known.  We played bingo last Monday with my parents and hubby's mom, and she really noticed the bump too.

I find it hard juggling food and my weight while reading all these different articles about "you must gain 25-35 pounds", but "you can only eat 300 extra calories a day", and "exercise is good for the baby", but "do not overexert yourself-it's better to take it easy".  I was a vegetarian for oh, 3 1/2 months, but then I started eating fish (which may be the only craving I had), and now I'm full blown not a vegetarian.  Whoops.  I just want to make sure baby has enough iron and nutrients...I know it's possible to be a vegetarian and be pregnant, but who am I to deny a few meat cravings here and there?

I'm trying to get in a lot of walking when it's not sweltering hot outside, and last Thursday our little family went on a short hike in the Vasquez Rocks (where they film a lot of movies/TV shows--it's famous for Star Trek!).  I doubt I'll be going back there anytime soon, just because I'm over paranoid about tripping and falling on my belly.  But hubby snapped this photo of me and my "avocado":

So I've gained about 3 pounds since I got back from Washington, probably too much.  I did exercise on Saturday-zumba is really fun and I think the baby likes it...but then I also ate a lot of food this weekend.  Not proud of some of my cravings--I seriously cried when I found out our pancake mix had expired yesterday morning.  Hubby to the rescue--he went out and bought me a breakfast feast that included four pancakes.  I love him, he's been so supportive!  I could only scarf down one and half pancakes, but I also had a lot of hash browns and some extra crispy bacon.

Oh, there's another dilemma: bacon.  Deli meat/bacon in general.  I don't miss deli meat, but bacon has been calling my name.  There are all these articles that say you shouldn't eat bacon because of the nitrates that are linked to cancer.  But then there are articles that say as long as you cook bacon and deli meats well and destroy the bacteria and other organisms, you can eat them.  I love extra crispy bacon, so I figured that's okay in moderation.  And then there's pepperoni pizza!  I broke down and bought some pepperoni from Trader Joe's for french bread pizza I made last Friday.  I made sure everything was cooked very well and oh, it was so delicious.  But of course I feel so guilty about it.  Hubby said don't listen to the articles, I can do what I want.  But, I'd rather be a little cautious, so I'm limiting those items in my diet as much as possible.

And speaking of breaking down crying...my mood swings are off the chart.  I woke up tired and cranky on Friday, and just stayed in that rut for the whole day.  Hubby calls it "sad eyes", but I was just so tired and moody the entire day for no reason.  But then Saturday morning we woke up super early to take Miles to get neutered and I was in the best mood.  Saturday night hubby fell asleep on the couch and I stayed up watching Juno.  I was kind of annoyed by Juno's character (I've seen the movie before, but currently re-watching a lot of pregnancy/baby movies), but at the end I just started weeping.  I was so sad that Juno went through 9 months of pregnancy and hardship to just give up her baby without seeing it.  I didn't cry the first/second time I saw that movie, but man, I couldn't stop crying this time!  I didn't want to wake up hubby, so I finally got off the couch at the end of the movie and pulled myself together in the bathroom.

Sunday morning was pancake cry-fest, then that afternoon after a late lunch I was back to cheerful me.  Damn you hormones!

I've always been a vivid dreamer, but lately they've been way more elaborate and crazy.  I remember taking a nap in Washington while the hubby's family was watching TV, and I dreamt that I woke up with a very huge baby bump and was trying to push it down away from my breasts so that I had a semi-flat stomach.  And of course it worked.  And yesterday while I napped on the couch, I dreamt that I woke up and the hubby filled a wagon full of different shaped ice-cubes in the kitchen for the dogs because it was so hot, and I dug into a fruit cocktail that turned into frozen yogurt.  Hubby is always surprised that I remember every little detail about my dreams, I guess I'm impressed too.  I've always had an overactive imagination, but lately my dreams have turned into Roger Rabbit on acid.

I'm really excited for this weekend/next week.  We're going camping in Yosemite with hubby's sister and our friend.  Then after that, we have our next ultrasound and we find out the sex of the baby!  It's been fun thinking of really silly names for the baby...so far Nicholas Cage and Thelonius Hercules are my favorites.  I'm sure once we find out the actual sex (which hubby claims it's a boy and will take nothing else) we'll become a little more serious about names...but until then, it's a free for all!