Ah, symptoms...

Pregnancy symptoms are a blessing and a curse in early pregnancy.  You crave them, worry when they're gone, and analyze each one.  Each pregnancy symptom is a sign that your baby is likely healthy and growing.  On the other hand, each symptom is also a trip to the bathroom, a cancellation of a meeting, an afternoon lying on the couch, or an extra layer of cover up on your face.
In the end, I've decided thus far that every symptom is worth the price of inconvenience and discomfort for my baby's sake.  I've basically come to grips with the fact that my body is not my own for the next 7 months...I'm still allowed to use it and be a part of it, but its primary purpose is baby growing.  The hormones that cause my annoying symptoms also cause my baby's growth, so that's fair to me.

Tricks I've learned for some of them:

• Acne: Load up on your concealer and cover up-I've discovered all new techniques and layers for concealer by necessity. They say salicylic acid is probably ok to use while pregnant-I decided to take the chance on that one. For rash-like breakouts, I got the great tip from my friend Quincy to use cortisone cream for a couple days.  Eventually, I had to visit my dermatologist and beg for help, and he gave me some erythamyacin which helped (safer during pregnancy than topicals like benzyol peroxide)
• Bloating/constipation: Hello, Miralax.  Or, you could get the flu like I did, take a bunch of Tylenol, and then have the opposite problem....
• Diarrhea: Drinking TONS of water.  Like, almost more water than I can stand.
• Fatigue/tiredness:  Sleep 10+ hours a night and lay on the couch as much as possible.  So, that's not really a solution, but it's all that you wanna do in those times.
• Nausea: I have yet to figure out how to deal with this one well.  For a few weeks, I had a ton of nausea that just hangs out all day (no puking) which can be debilitating.  Then it moved into classic morning sickness, which clock-like pukes every day.  Sometimes it feels good to get it out, but others not.  Anyway, no fun. My friend Julia suggested mint tea, which has helped a couple times, and the other staples work at times,  (saltines, sprite, ginger ale, minty gum, potato chips, gatorade, eating before getting out of bed, etc) but many times, there's just no getting around it.

Other fun symptoms:

• Complete inability to concentrate on more than one thing.  I am a proud super-multi-tasker, and this baby has rendered me nearly useless at moments.
• Sounding like an idiot occasionally by saying ditzy/mindless comments (although these moments are pretty entertaining for my husband).  For you critics out there, I most definitely am blaming this on the pregnancy, whether or not you believe me. :)

BEST part of pregnancy symptoms=having supportive friends and family who give you care and sympathy when you're feeling your worst.  Most of all, having the world's most amazing husband who takes such good care of me when I feel rotten!