Viking in the Oven

Well folks, it's official: I'm expecting, with child, knocked up, in a family way, eating for two, up the duff, and my eggo is preggo.  Our little Ameriswede is due to make an appearance in mid-August, just in time for his or her birthday to be celebrated with loads of crazy Swedish crayfish parties! 

Since this is my first pregnancy I've been a little obsessed with over-analyzing every little symptom that comes along, but luckily everything has been pretty laid-back compared to some of the horrific morning sickness that some of my poor friends have dealt with.  I took a positive pregnancy test on the first evening we arrived in the US for my brother's wedding in early December....in a hotel room in Chicago, after sneaking one last taste of a sadly-missed Leinenkugel's beer.  We managed to keep the big news undercover during most of our trip to the states with the excuse of me designated-driving after my brother's wedding rehearsal dinner and reception, and luckily I wasn't feeling anything different at that point aside from a little jet lag.

Things started to kick in when I was around 6 weeks along...I was putting on mascara and it smelled really strong.  I thought, "Since when does mascara smell so weird and chemically?"  Then suddenly the smell and taste of coffee, which I usually love, just didn't seem appetizing at all.  Not like an instantaneous barfing reaction, just more of the sensation that coffee was suddenly a weird non-food that didn't interest me in the slightest.

By the time we made it home for Swedish Christmastime, I was feeling pretty blech and had developed a new skill of being able to nap on demand, anytime, anywhere.  I was also amazed at how offensive certain smells and foods had become, like pissed off that certain things could smell so revolting.  We went out to M's parents for Christmas dinner and I was a very quiet, green girl at the dinner table while a huge array of strange and strong-smelling foods were passed under my nose.  Most typical Swedish Christmas foods consist of salty cured meats, mini sausages and meatballs, salmon, pickled herring, deviled eggs, meat pâtés, and other delicacies.

Yum for some, yuck for me. (Wikipedia photo)

My best friends that day were plain potatoes, fizzy water, and bread.  I managed to sit through the dinner and hopefully be polite while all the time thinking that I'd pay someone a million dollars to hold a fan blowing minty fresh air on my face and feed me a plain fruit salad.  M's intuitive mother had a clue that something strange was going on and pretty much read the pregnancy signs all over my queasy face (she told me this after I broke the news to her a few weeks later).  Luckily I never got sick enough to the point of actual vomiting, and now that I'm into my second trimester I've been feeling close to normal for the most part.  Unfortunately I have a feeling that Swedish Christmas food might forever be on my list of "yuck" memories.

Early pregnancy is a weird time...you feel like crap most of the time, the happy-sweet-motherly feelings are far from kicking in, and you can't tell anyone what's going on because it's too early.  Now that the cat is out of the bag I'm starting to get more and more excited and things seem to be cooking up as they should be.

I feel unbelievably lucky to be giving birth in Sweden after watching movies like this one and learning more about the backwards way that hospitals treat pregnant women in the US. 

Here in Sweden, all prenatal visits and births are overseen by midwives instead of doctors, and the general attitude seems to be, "What can we do for you?"  They've been very hands-off with me so far and have treated me like the normal, healthy person I am instead of something that needs to be diagnosed and treated.  We'll have an ultrasound in a few weeks and I'm excited to catch a glimpse of our little squirt soon.  Needless to say this blog is about to get much more baby-fied, starting now!