Prego in the land of 'Prego'

On the Island of Capri at 4 and a half weeks along!

I spent almost 3 weeks of my first trimester in Italy...

Pros:

• Made it easy to keep the pregnancy a secret for the first few weeks
• Got to eat out every meal
• Got to tell anyone I met that I was pregnant at no risk of ruining the surprise back home. However, no one seemed to ask if I was (weird), so no one really knew...There was one time on the airplane when the flight attendant asked if I was pregnant.  I got so nervous wondering how she knew since this was such a secret and thought about lying until she gave a glance at the book I was reading: "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and then I relaxed and said yes.  She was suddenly the first person besides me and Jacob to know I was pregnant, a huge deal!  Alas, she had no idea the magnitude of the moment as she continued down the aisle asking people to buckle their seat belts.
• Jacob and I were able to take time to digest and believe that I was actually pregnant and talk about it all day every day as we spent tons of time together
• I was in Italy, that's just sweet whether or not you're pregnant!

Cons:

• Italian wine & cheese=off-limits to pregnant ladies :(  I actually looked up how to say 'pasteurized' in Italian so I could ask if the cheese was pasteurized.  In the end, it didn't get me that far.  Most of the time when I asked and they said "yeah, sure" I didn't quite believe that they understood what I was asking, so I steered clear anyway.
• Pasta, pizza (only when the cheese was cooked enough to be bubbling), and bread are a perfect recipe for bloating early in pregnancy.  Thankfully, this was somewhat welcome, as I was desperate to experience pregnancy symptoms and felt engorged yet excited after every meal to be convinced that I, indeed, must be pregnant to be so bloated.
• Biggest con=having unexpected spotting while across the globe from your doctor and without any family or friends knowing you are pregnant.  It was a very scary night in Venice when this happened, only solved by crying until I couldn't do anything but sleep and then get the doctor's office reassuring email the next day.  Thank the Lord that this was at the end of our trip!