Being Pregnant

It starts with a feeling, those first few hours and days after conception for me were quite new and different.
I could tell something was up. As if something was inside me already (and it was) but it was not much more than a mild sensation.

Five days after conceiving I was riding my Vespa around town, touring the back hills of Montecito with my friend Amy Lacour. We were cruising the Castillo Blvd when I had a sudden head to toe wash of nausea go through me. It was the first time that I had proof that my body was going though something amazing. I count that as the first moment I knew I was pregnant.

As the weeks passed, the mild sensation grew less and less mild until I felt "huge" or like I had just eaten a large meal all the time. In mid April when I was 15 weeks along, I went to Amy & Courtney's wedding in Los Angeles and it was there, on the dance floor that I started to see what this whole pregnant belly feeling was shaping up to be. As I swayed and shook to the music I could feel my belly moving exactly like what it feels like when you shake an egg. The yolk was essentially bouncing off the shell.

Now, I'm officially popping out and I love it. My belly is full, and it responds to stimulation like music and me talking. The baby wakes up when I wake up to pee at the wee hours of the morning, and he kicks me as I drift back to sleep.

This is how I experience it, being pregnant essentially feels like you're getting fat.. but mainly in one place. When I rub my belly it feels mostly like me, but I can now tell that the kid inside there isn't me.. its a whole other person who I can feel when I push on it. I'm not just rubbing my stomach, or my liver... I'm rubbing a person inside me. This is pretty wild.