Yesterday was the first day of week 9.  Week 9 of pregnancy - wow, did I just say that?  Nobody really knows yet except for Miguel, our friend Katrina, and Catorina at the birth center.  I'm saving the 1st of March to tell everyone, and I'm finding it rather difficult to keep this secret going so far, and its not even February yet.  "Heather, can I get you some wine?" answered with "No, I'm fine, thanks...I'm actually not drinking wine for awhile since it gives me headaches," I tell them.  Luckily, wine does give me headaches, so I'm telling the truth - just not the whole truth.

I'm not feeling much for morning sickness, and instead I seem to have an afternoon sickness right around 3pm when my stomach starts feeling queasy.  I've not felt like I have to throw up yet, but sometimes I get hints of the urge.  For the most part, I've only noticed a few changes and they're manageable at this point:  sore breasts that are getting bigger by the day, my pants are all getting tighter along the waistline, and a bit of a queasy feeling here and there.  I'm still getting 10 pull-ups on my first set and 7 or 8 on the second two sets, and running on Tuesday felt pretty darn good.  Today, instead of going for a 3.5 hour run with Miguel and Sean, I rode my bike.  I think this is much better for me overall.  Not so much jiggling up and down, and my feet, ankles and knees don't feel like I laid under a steamroller for an hour.  I'm feeling more tired than usual on our workouts, and I'd like to contribute that to pregnancy, but I can't be sure.  I bet it's just a mental trick I'm playing on myself as an excuse for not being faster.  

I've got a thin 2" abrasion on my chest where my sports bra has been wearing my skin raw for the past 2 weeks.  That's possibly a side effect of having almost grown a cup size in my breasts - or maybe that's just another mind trick too (but the scab is real).   I told everyone I was riding my bike because I don't want to run out of water anymore, but I don't know how long that excuse is going to hold out.  They're already wondering why I didn't sign up for the 50k with Miguel.  Luckily the race filled up in 3 days, so it's plausible that I just didn't make my mind up in time.  Eventually the truth of all this will come out, but looking at 4 weeks to go of this, and a plethora of water bottles I could take running, I'm not sure how many more white lies I'm going to have to make up in order to get to March 1st.  

We have our first prenatal appointment tomorrow at the Birth Center.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I'm sure it's normal, but my biggest worry right now is that something will go wrong with the baby.  I sure hope that shot of Baileys  I had at 10 days isn't going to be a factor - or the 2 year old vitamins I was taking before conception.  I'm doing my best now - with the occasional forgetting to turn of the electric blanket being my only downfall.  I'm eating well, getting lots of exercise, and sleeping when I need to.  

I find it hard not to tell my mom and dad.  I have lots of questions I want to ask about how her delivery went, and to see if we have similar symptoms and feelings in the first trimester.  It seems a bit goulish not to tell my mom until 3 months have already passed, but I think that's the best way to do it right now.  Besides, we have to wait long enough so that we can put the surprise "announcement" together.  I love putting together surprises, so this is going to be a doozy.  

So far, week 9 is quite similar to week 7, except for the size of my breasts and the number of fibs I've told to get this far without divulging our little secret.  Hopefully the next 4 will be just a good, or better!  Look out everyone, big news is on its way!