Best unintentional maternity wear find

Looks like a regular, long tunic dress from American Apparel, right?

Think again! It's a regular, long tunic dress from American Apparel that also has this bizarre boob-access panel for easy breastfeeding.

And I have a cute new top to wear after all this "being pregnant" nonsense compromises my sense of style (seriously, having to wear flats every day is killing my spirit).

Dream a Little Dream

I dreamt about the baby last night, that I was nursing it in the backseat of a car. It wasn't the first time I've dreamed that I had a baby, or even that I'd nursed, but it was the first one since I've been carrying a little blob around in me. In my dream, it just latched right on and went for it, and left me feeling like it would be obvious and natural, and I wondered how women could possibly need to be trained in nursing their babies. But this was just a dream, and I suppose I'll have to be taught how to properly insert the nipple and plug it against the alveolar ridge, just like many American women.

The baby in my dream was a generic Everybaby - big, dark eyes; a soft, round face and silky, brownish hair on its head. It was genderless, as are all babies spare the colors in which they're dressed. It was an amalgam of all of the babies you see on tv or in magazines, and I loved it. I keep having the feeling that I'm carrying a girl, maybe even two of them.

This weekend we're going to visit Ecohaus for green flooring options and no-VOC paints. We need to replace all of the flooring in the upstairs (and repaint) thanks to the complex social lives of cats. Unfortunately, this means spending around $4/sq ft instead of $1/sq ft to get something guilt-free that won't offgas our baby into asthma.

We're going for a Totoro theme for the nursery, and I can't wait to start painting snails, ferns and jack-in-the-pulpits in the forest on the walls. Plus this will fold a most beloved franchise perfectly into all of the Fuzzy Town shit that I've been dying to start collecting (seriously, the baby flying squirrel and owlets make me squee). I heard a horrible, terrible rumor that Fuzzy Town had closed its business, but the website being online is giving me hope. Plus the store that told me that said it was a Japanese company, and this appears to be in Washington.

Feeling fine...a little *too* fine

Something a little new this week (sort of starting over the weekend) is that the nausea has really subsided. Like, I feel totally fine (just always peckish). I was talking to Susan about being queasy all the time, and she said that she had been glad for her nausea during her pregnancy with Sage. The first couple of pregnancies she had didn't take, and the abrupt cessation of her pregnancy symptoms was always followed immediately by spotting and miscarriage. So of course now I'm totally paranoid, though that I'm not spotting probably means it's sticking around. Besides, my mom always said that she was never sick, and something like 20-30% of pregnant women aren't sick in their first trimester. Still, the rates of miscarriage are significantly lower in women who are sick, so I'm a little worried.

I'm feeling kind of silly about how pregnant I look, even though I'm only 8 weeks along. I look at least 4 or 5 months pregnant, thanks to bloating and distention (yay, constipation and gas!). At least now people can tell pretty easily that I'm pregnant, and not just fat.

Hey, has anyone ever tried the BabyPlus system? I'm very curious about it - it sounds like drum and bass for fetuses. I know I'm not going to give birth to a baby fluent in Mandarin by putting headphones on my abdomen, but supposedly this "prenatal education" system is linked with higher rates of alertness, calmness and nursing at birth, plus learning first words at around 6 months instead of 9 months. Though if we go with infant sign language (which I always wanted to try, and of which I have witnessed the amazing efficacy in the Hopester), the kid will hopefully be able to communicate plenty. I'm thinking of picking the BabyPlus anyways, though, since I'm completely nuts about the idea of building a wee Zen genius. Plus, I like the idea of being able to play similar music after the baby is born for a calming effect during fussy times.

Okay, starving now. Strawberries and a cheese stick, coming right up.