Ugh... balance issues!

Last night I tripped on my way up the stairs to our apartment. I didn't fall, but I doubled over front-wise pretty hard before catching myself. My belly hurt at impact, felt weird to compress it so much, but afterward seemed okay. Gertrude definitely didn't like being squished!

Even so, I am the paranoid type, so I called my OB's office to try to talk to the doctor on call. Turns out my own doctor (Dr. K.; I rotate through the three in the practice - Dr. K. is my primary OB, but it was Dr. P. who scolded me about the fast food last week) was the one on call, which was nice. She said not to worry, only to contact her again if I started cramping and/or bleeding. I haven't experienced either so it probably really is fine.

I felt silly calling, but it's so hard, since I can't feel the baby yet, to know everything's really okay... and my next appointment isn't until after New Year's... come on baby, just kick me already!

Oh yeah, and I'm already clutzy by nature (DH jokes about my "balance issues" all the time), so today I went online and bought a pairs of flat-heeled boots, because the ones I tripped in have heels. They're only 1 3/4" but that's high for me; at 6'0" tall I normally wear flats but they were the only boots I could find last winter in 13N -- oh how I dread my feet getting any bigger than they already are, it's hard enough to find shoes that fit as it is! And while I had no trouble getting used to the heels last year, this time around it's a whole new ball game. If I'm already unsteady on my feet at 17 weeks... ugh, I just don't want to trip or fall again!

"Brown Saturday"

Can I coin this term? I didn't dare venture out on Black Friday, as I have little patience (and nowhere near the energy right now) for traffic, crowds or long lines. Instead, I decided to try my luck this morning and get in some birthday and Secret Santa shopping (DH and two of his sisters have birthdays coming up soon). I was amazed at a) how reasonable the traffic and crowds were, and b) how quickly I was overwhelmed by fatigue. I only went to two stores, but found myself resting in my parked car between stops. [Okay, I admit that's partially because it gave me an excuse to listen to more of my latest book on CD, Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I'm about two-thirds of the way through and the action's getting pretty intense right now --- and I haven't seen the movie, so please don't spoil it for me!] I guess I'm still recuperating from Thanksgiving day, but it's probably also due to the fact that I was banned from exercise for a few weeks by my OB due to spotting (which has fully subsided now).

Anyhoo... one of the stores I stopped in was Babies 'R Us. The last time I was there (when I was about 9 weeks along), my visit was cut short and panicked as I discovered I was spotting heavily when I went to use the restroom. This time all was well (except for the fact that only the kiddie stall had any toilet paper -- I alerted Customer Service), and I spent as much time as energy allowed browsing through... well, everything. It was my first time in there shopping as an expectant mom (ooh!) and whoa was it overwhelming... but in a good way.

Two thoughts occurred to me after my reconnaissance visit:

1) Searching for a stroller already feels like buying a new car. We will seriously need to test drive and find one that will be comfortable for my and DH's 6' tall frames (and a car seat that will fit in the back seat of my Matrix; I worry this will be a problem since the front seats are set all the way back to accommodate our long legs).

2) This child will probably have his or her own real furniture (with a capital F) before DH and I will (we do have a new bed and a new china cabinet/buffet -- wedding gifts -- but otherwise all of our furniture is still the hodge-podge of hand-me-downs and random dorm room-esque acquisitions). However, there's one caveat: I've suggested we get a real couch since my futon-couch is not really cutting it now that my pregnant butt is spending much time convalescing on it in the evenings, usually watching old NCIS episodes.

Hopefully when I finally have a bump...

...I won't get Sir'ed as much any more - Gah!

Okay, so I'm tall. Six feet, to be exact. And cashiers are notorious for saying "Can I help you?" or "Will there be anything else?" before making eye contact. So I occasionally find myself the victim of a sales clerk's faulty assumption that anything that casts a large shadow over them must be male. "Can I help you, Sir?" usually gets no reaction from me (or a reaction where it's probably a good thing they didn't see it), so they are forced to actually look up and realize their folly.

Last night, though, I was at Chipotle (my BFF of fast-food restaurants these days: high carb content + stomach-friendly legumes and veggies = happy pregnant camper) and got Sir'ed by this girl. But when she looked up at me, she didn't seem to get that she'd made a mistake. I certainly gave her a quizzical look, kind of expecting some sort of reaction, but maybe she either didn't catch her mistake or figured it was best to move on and fuhgedaboudit. Of course then two thoughts ran through my head:

1) Do I look overly androgynous today? At which point I made sure to put my "man-purse" flagrantly on the counter as I rifled to find my wallet... and as I think about it now, that could have backfired (I have had to come to terms that the reason I'm finding more and more stilettos in my size online is more due to drag queens than evolutionary genetics)...

And,

2) Oooh, maybe once I get a real bump this won't happen to me any more (or at least for a few months of my life I can feel unambiguously female)!

But then again, maybe they'll think it's just a beer gut.