1. Exhaustion. More than the usual level of fatigue that I have become accustomed to as a momma to a busy toddler.2. Overpowering cravings for my father’s homemade venison jerky (I’m a vegetarian)

3. T-Bird becoming a non-stop nurser. I thought this was what was contributing to the sore breasts, but in fact it looks as if they might be its very own symptom. My milk probably taste different or is less bountiful than usual, so she is trying to make up for it. If I were paying any attention, I would have realized that my supply should have caught up with her new schedule after a few days, but I just let it go on for more than 2 months without thinking about it at all.

4. All day all night mild nausea. Fun. I thought I was putting up a valiant fight against the flu.

Me, Ina May Gaskin and DONA Doula Trainer, Julie Thompson

5. At the end of my Day With Ina May in Pittsburgh, I predicted that 10 of the women who attended would go home and get pregnant that night. Can you hear the universe laughing at me?

6. T-Bird broke into my box of tarot cards and handed me a single card: The Empress.

7. We did break the rules and ignored the fact that we were on a white bead day on the Cycle Beads…but it was the very last white bead, and it was right around midnight, so technically it could have NOT been a white bead anymore. But, it looks like the Cycle Beads ignore Daylight Savings Time as well as wishful thinking.

8. The cats are in love with me again. I don’t know if it is the pheromones, or the increased body heat, but the cats want to be on me all of the time. In the bathtub, in bed, on the couch, when I am standing up. All the time.

9. In addition to their new found love for me, there was also a sudden increase in…ahem…recreational kitty sexual activities amongst the cats. I know this sounds crazy, but our neutered cats regularly engage in “fun sex” just like people or bonobo’s! And the last time we witnessed this phenomenon? March 15th of 2008: The night T-Bird was born. We were thrilled that they decided to stop after that and haven’t really thought about it since. And then a few weeks ago, a full year afterward, it starts up again. Why on earth would my cats get busy simply because I am pregnant? I have no idea, but it remains a fact despite my inability to explain it.

10. I have not buttoned a pair of pants in 2+ months.

Of course, all of this begs the question: What they hell else have I totally been ignoring? If anyone else told me that they were going through even two of these things, I would have asked if pregnancy was a possibility. But me? Nah.

So, here it is, folks. My official pregnancy announcement. We are expecting a baby before the end of 2009, the dates are a bit fuzzy right now since I haven’t been paying a bit of attention, evidently. Late December? New Years? Something like that!