She's Getting Fat!

Loyal readers of the blog (thanks mom and dad!) will recall that the theme of Neha's first trimester was her constant and unforgiving morning sickness. The low point of that period was Thanksgiving day, when on our way back to Chicago, a wheelchair-bound Neha vomited repeatedly in the terminal of Dulles International Airport. That was awesome. And by "awesome," I mean "totally not awesome." In the first couple of months of the pregnancy, Neha had lost something like 7 pounds. She only weighed 100 pounds to begin with. It got so bad early on that when she turned sideways, she was invisible.

Thankfully, as the first trimester passed, so did the excessive morning sickness (for the most part). Neha is still getting sick every now and then, but nothing close to what it once was, and I'm happy to report that Neha is on her way to fatness. Hooray! In recent weeks, Neha has been an eating machine, inhaling pizzas, veggie burgers, and countless bowls of cereal. It's amazing. I'm truly jealous of her appetite and ability to eat. We'll go out for dinner, eat a huge meal, and twenty minutes later, Neha will be hungry again. We go through mini Eggo waffles and peanut butter and jelly by the truckload.

If she doesn't eat immediately upon the onset of her hunger pangs, Neha 1) is either overcome by the vapors and starts to faint; or 2) breaks into a fit of uncontrollable rage. Last week when I refused to take Neha to Taco Bell late at night, she kicked this puppy in the face. It was scary.

Such brutality is a small price to pay for her weight gain, which is essential for The Baby Vohra's health as the pregnancy progresses. As such, I make every possible effort to feed and support Neha's need to eat at all times. As a result of such efforts, I have gained "sympathy weight." I'm at my most sympathetic on workdays around 3:30, when I head to the vending machines for a Mountain Dew and a Twix. Today I ate a twinkie for the first time in probably ten years. It was wonderful. But great sympathy comes at a great price. At a family wedding this past weekend, a friend of ours said to Neha "I can see your baby bump." That friend then turned to me and said "I can see your bump too!"

"Well sure," I replied, "we're pregnant, aren't we?"

Ha! I'm not really that fat. Actually I sort of am. But that's beside the point. The point is that Neha is currently 16 pounds above her pre-pregnancy weight! And, I have to say, she looks adorable. Don't believe me? Check it out:



I'll refrain from posting my picture, but trust me, it's equally adorable.