Magical Transformations

Fudge, fudge, call the judge, Stephanie's having a baby!
Wrap it up in toilet paper, send it down the elevator,
What will it be? Boy? Girl? Twins or an alien??

On the plane ride at around 10.5 weeks to visit my grandfather in Texas, I started reading the young adult novel, Ogre Enchanted, by the same author as my beloved Ella Enchanted (which I first read in sixth grade). While it's not as good as the original, it's growing on me. The main character, Evie, is transformed into an ogre by a fairy's spell. As an ogre she's big and stout, quick to anger, and hungry all the time. My first thought?

Oh, it's like she's pregnant.

While early pregnancy doesn't have me quite feeling like an ogre (yet), there have been a few first trimester moments of discouragement as I begin to transform a bit myself--changes in skin, in waist, in health. Even in mood: my first moment of irrational sobbing happened in our Texas hotel room after I watched one of this year's Macy's holiday commercials and Hubby had to hold me until I calmed down. My sobs even made him tear up a bit!

But as I reached week 11, the more bothersome complaints did indeed start to ease up a bit, leaving me with few signs of pregnancy other than an insatiable appetite and some bloodshot eyes.

And when it came time to see my grandfather, I had more than a few occasions to make me feel just a little bit pretty and special again.

First, announcing our good news to family! While my parents and brothers already knew, it was delight to surprise my grandfather, his wife, and my uncle on the first night of our stay. Then two days later when my aunt, more uncles, and great aunt arrived, we were able to please our entire dinner table (and take some of the pressure off my brother who now faced the, "So when are you getting married?" questions). I shared my latest ultrasound picture and answered honestly that we still didn't have names picked out and that I'd be happy with a girl or a boy.

The second occasion to feel fancy was an early maternity photo shoot! While I fully intend to get "bump" pictures in later months, I had to take advantage of the fact that there was a baby store just minutes away from our hotel (Buy Buy Baby), which we didn't have back home (and our Babies R Us had gone out of business). But better, within the baby store was a Picture People portrait studio--the one we'd had back home officially closed. So we had an opportunity to take couples photos--professional, pre-maternity couples photos--during our Texas stay.

The results may be used for Facebook announcements, profile pictures, or just for fun as we get ideas for future photo shoots later. We gave one 8x10, framed, to my grandfather, which he proudly displays in his living room now that we're home.

Once we did make it back, I finished Ogre Enchanted, caught up on the work I missed while away, and approached the end of week 11 by revealing the news to my coworkers with a fun donut box surprise.

Despite all the food I wanted to devour that afternoon at a work potluck, I felt considerably less ogre-ish and more maternal as my coworkers eagerly shared tips and stories of their own experiences while asking me about my journey so far. "Did you hear Stephanie's news?" they'd then ask colleagues from other departments and my hands would fly to my belly as I proudly stated, "I'm pregnant!"

These little moments of friendly attention were enough to make me feel pregnant again after over two weeks with no ultrasound reassurance that yes, Baby is still safe in there. It was like transforming back into a fairy tale princess again, at least for a little while.

But like Evie in her ogre form, I'm still hungry!