Can we Hibernate for 9 Months?

I am officially at 9 weeks.....9 weeks! I feel like I should be at 12 weeks at this point. Every day, I think about being pregnant at least 20 times and I am reminded that I am pregnant about every other hour. I will tell you this - I have a newfound respect for all women who have had children especially ones that have done this more than once! This is no picnic! I mean, let's recap all of the changes going on in my body right now:

1. Nausea that loves to tease and taunt throughout the day. Last Thursday I had the bed spins when I went to bed - it was like I had done 3 shots of Jack Daniels or something. I wanted to go to the bathroom and make myself sick I was so miserable. I made it through! And luckily, my nausea has started to subside a bit - I had two great days this weekend without feeling much of anything in my belly - so I am very happy about that. But just when I think I am getting back to normal, that YUCK feeling makes it way to my stomach and I slowly crawl back to bed.

2. Exhaustion. The bottom line is I do not have the same amount of energy I had two months ago. I just have to accept it and I have to allow myself to sleep/lay/relax without feeling guilty. This also means I need to not feel guilty that I am not getting my usual 5 days of hard workouts in. I am learning to nap, or at least try. I am sleeping 10 hours at night....and still feeling tired when I wake. I have abstained from caffeine for the most part, which is not helping when it comes to my exhaustion. Oh and the headaches.

3. I am getting bigger! My boobs - whoa! I will be making a trip to the bra store in the next few weeks...and I am only 9 weeks! Holy cow how big will they be at 8 months! Kind of scared to think of it, I can see my 5 Foot 2 inch body falling forward from the weight of my chest and stomach in the summer. My jeans are tight and my belly is blubbery. I have a pretty little muffin top sticking out of my once sleek and skinny jeans! And I crave sweets! Oh boy, what I will look like in a few months!

4. No wine/champagne/martinis Oh my! While I know this may make me sound like a lush, I truly enjoyed my social life pre-baby. While I have to admit - I DO NOT WANT A DRINK AT ALL right now because the thought of any alcohol makes me sick - I still miss the joy of having an amazing glass of red! Or toasting with some bubbly when I have dinner with my girlfriends. Or joining in on the party with a mojito! I experienced my first social weekend with dinner and a party and it was quite interesting to notice the voice levels of everyone raise dramatically over several hours from wine/champagne/cocktails. My voice raised with them, not from drinking but just from trying to be heard. It was exhausting! And not as fun as I had hoped, although I was very proud of myself for making it through a fun party with my non-alcoholic mojito in one hand and my sobriety in the other. One huge benefit in the morning - NO HANGOVER! Although, with morning sickness (aka: All Day Long Sickness) I feel hungover most of the time anyway.

5. Worry - OK, so I am a worry wort/neurotic as it is! But now, I have a whole new set of concerns to think about - genetic testing on my baby, childbirth, sleeplessness, swelling up like a balloon, uncontrollable bodily functions, my baby's health, where to put the nursery, child insurance, how to raise a child, will Tim and I survive, and so much more! I read Jenny McCarthy's Belly Laughs and instead of making me laugh, it just made me feel sad. Thinking that she went through all of this and her scary birth story and now her child has autism. It just left a scary feeling inside of me that caused an emotional breakdown today!

Oh boy! All of this being said, I had an awesome weekend with my good friend Marty who has two beautiful boys in Boston. She filled me in on some wonderful stories of how much she loves those kids and how they just love her unconditionally. It was wonderful to see the happiness children do bring.

and I have to say, I am getting very excited about this baby and being a mother. I just so want to jump to the fourth or fifth month so that I can see and feel the baby inside of me!

I have this idea that pregnant women should be allowed to hibernate for 9 months so they can rest whenever they want, they don't have to try and make it through a crazy day when they have energy for about two hours of it and when they emerge from their hibernation, they will have a beautiful baby in their hands! Oh, and while we are at it can every baby be healthy and childbirth a breeze???

I would love to know how most women handle the emotional stress while going through pregnancy? That is a challenge I am not sure how to tackle!