First Trimester

Dear Conrad,

The first three months were remarkably uneventful. Once the dizziness passed (around week 10) then I had very little indication that I was pregnant. There were many times that I was afraid I had lost you. In fact, at eight weeks I had some spotting. Frightened, I contacted my doctor's office and made an appointment for the next day. Obviously everything ended up being fine, but it scared me bad enough that I spent the rest of that day in bed.

I had no cravings, and I had no morning sickness, but I did lose my appetite during those early months, and it wasn't until I was in my second trimester that it returned. I did have a superhuman smelling ability; I remember being able to smell an open can of frosting from two (albeit tiny) rooms away. That faded after a week or two, which I suppose is for the best. Smells that were close by were overwhelming, and I might have developed morning sickness if smells stayed amplified.

Something I gave up that I didn't expect to give up was certain video games. Your mommy loved playing games like League of Legends and Team Fortress 2, but as you'll figure out someday, people online are jerks. Your mommy has been online for almost 20 years, and the online community has changed a lot since she was a little girl. Back then, there were three things you weren't supposed to talk about: politics, religion, and the Holocaust. That all changed in the new millennium as the internet became more accessible. Anyway, playing games online with so many rude people was causing my blood pressure to soar near unhealthy levels, so I gave up online gaming for most of the pregnancy ... that is, until Team Fortress 2 released the Mann vs. Machine update.

I counted down the days to second trimester because I was so excited to find out if you were a boy or a girl. We had already picked out names for both genders, and I'm so glad we got to use the name Conrad.