Being pregnant is an exciting, albeit strange and surreal experience so far. I’m just about 16 weeks along, and while that certainly doesn’t make me any kind of pregnancy expert, I feel strangely compelled to share a few tidbits I’ve observed about the journey so far.

While I’m not normally a big fan of avocado’s, they have found a special place in my heart this week since Baby Gotcher is weighing in at right around that size in his/her journey. Eat your heart out guacamole fans :-)

THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT PREGNANCY SO FAR

Don’t Underestimate The Constant Need to Pee
If you’re about to leave the house, office, restaurant, etc. do yourself a favor and stop to go pee first. Don’t think you have to go? No seriously. You do. Believe me – you do. If you skip it, you’ll regret it sooner or later – but probably sooner.

Prenatal Vitamins Suck
There’s nothing quite like feeling sick to your stomach and then taking two horse-pill sized, terribly tasting prenatal vitamins to really push you over the edge and make you succumb to the constant urge to throw up. Cause really, do you need one more reason to feel like you want to vomit?

Gummie Prenatal Vitamins are Heaven
The delicious, sugar coated, candy tasting gummie verision of prenatal vitamins? LITTLE DROPS OF HEAVEN. Seriously, fellow pregos, don’t even bother with the pills. If I wasn’t afraid of our child coming out as some sort of deformed mutant due to over-vitamin-intake, I probably would have eaten the entire bottle on the first day. Seriously though – I could OD on these things big time.

Pregnancy Perks – Still Waiting
Apparently the “perks” of being pregnant don’t really kick in until you’ve got a clearly protruding baby bump to prove to the world that your growing a tiny person. Case in point: I was walking into my OBs office the other day behind two other women. A man (not appearing to be with either one of them) ran ahead to grab the door. The first woman was clearly a recent mother, with her sweet newborn in tow in a carrier at her side. The next was a soon-to-be mommy who’s belly made me guess she was just a few weeks from delivery. The “gentleman” smiled and gave each of them a nod as he held the door wide open for them, looking so very proud of his act of chivalry. And then, he took one look at me, about 5 steps behind “about to burst” mommy, then he walked in ahead of me and let the door close behind him. Apparently there’s no special treatment for us early trimester mommies. No Bump = No benefits.

Moms Have A Lot of Opinions
Ask a pregnancy/childbirth related questions on Facebook and you better buckle up – or at least turn off your phone so the notifications don’t drive you mad. My first attempt gathered 55 highly passionate comments (within about an hour) as well as 15+ private messages with additional mommies who also wanted to chime in, but didn’t want to share publicly. Wow. Who knew? I’m grateful for the input, but I did NOT expect THAT much feedback.

Father-Daughter Dances Make Me Cry Now
We’ve been shooting weddings for 6 plus years, and it’s possible that in that time a particularly touching daddy-daughter moment may have induced a slightly misty eyed state on my part, but the last 3 or 4 weddings- I was fighting back actual tears (while trying to focus and continue shooting.) I’ve always been kinda down on the old fall back songs ” Butterfly Kisses,” ” I Loved Her First” and the likes, but all of a sudden I can picture Ryan dancing with our sweet baby girl and my heart is like putty. (Mind you, we don’t even know if we’re having a girl yet, but this image is vivid enough to emotionally floor me and leave me fighting back ugly-cry style tears.) Don’t worry future brides – I’ll make sure to pack extra tissue and muffle the sobbing so as not to distract from the special moments.

Maternity Pants are AWESOME.
I’ve been avoiding making any maternity wear purchases for two reasons: 1) I kinda hate the idea of buying a piece of clothing I’ll only wear for a short amount of time, and 2) my clothes mostly fit fine with the exception of my pants which seem to grow a little less comfortable every day. And besides, that stretchy belly thing is crazy weird. So late last week, I finally broke down and purchased my first two pairs of maternity pants. And let me tell you, I was floored by how much I like them! Who knew wearing pants with a stretchy top that comes all the way up to your bra could feel so delightful? Feels a little Urkel-esque, but it’s worth it. These pants are business on the bottom – party on the top! Can I just wear these for the rest of my life? Or at least once a year on Thanksgiving? We all need a little extra pants give on Turkey Day, right?