A surreal return to reality

When I was pregnant I craved orange juice.  It was a very bad day for Drew if there was no orange juice in the house, never mind that I was the one who drank it.  Very quickly I learned that two cartons of orange juice must be in the fridge at all times.  There is one carton left and I have zero desire to drink it.

I also began to crave cheese.  That's the trippy part about pregnancy because I'm lactose intolerant but the baby apparently wasn't.  I usually have violent reactions to dairy which have sufficiently scared me away from testing my tolerance but I positively could NOT get enough cottage cheese and fresh strawberries.  I would empty a tub of it in two days.  I also found that I was able to have milk in my cereal, something I haven't been able to do in almost ten years.  I'd read that you can sometimes reverse lactose intolerance through pregnancy - like the baby leaves behind something that makes you able to digest dairy.  Not for me.  Last night I had pizza with white sauce and mozzarella on top with some garlic cheese bread and violently paid for it about fifteen minutes later. 

My nerps were changing too.  I was getting big Africa nerps if you know what I mean.  My boobs had already gone down but the nerps were getting bigger and were getting bumps on them.  Milk glands, my cousin told me.  They have since returned to normal size and the bumps have gone away.

Due to not eating and you know, not having a baby in me anymore, my stomach is suuuuuper flat.  Like flatflat.  My skinny work pants fit and I have to cinch my belt super tight on my 'regular' work pants.

I remember my return to reality the last time I was pregnant - or well, not pregnant anymore.  I'd read that your mucus membranes get swollen (the exact reason why escapes me and I'm too lazy to google it) and that you can get a stuffy nose from pregnancy as the inside of the nose is a mucus membrane too.  Then, after you've delivered you get a super runny nose as your membranes let go of all the extra fluid.  I was leaving a therapy session one day and was walking across campus to my car when out of nowhere, my nose started running.  I was scrambling for tissues - it was pouring out of my nose.  I instantly knew what it was and said, "Whoa."  I was very articulate even back then.

Little reminders - little ways of them saying "I was here.  You didn't dream me.  I changed you."