By request of the hubby, who insisted when I got pregnant that pregnancy would "turn me into a man" (specifically him), here are seven ways in which he was right.

*Note: these items do not indicate any generalizations I have made about men.  These are the hubby's generalizations and he thinks that since he's a man, it's okay ... so that's that.  Just having a laugh poking some fun at gender stereotypes.

1. Farting - Let me just get this one over with.  Until I was pregnant, I almost never farted in front of my husband unless it was a total accident, completely taking me by surprise, or I was asleep.  Now?  Now I have no choice.  If I had to excuse myself to another room every time this would happen, I wouldn't ever see the hubby because I'd be in a separate room every hour.

For you Sex and the City fans, remember the episode where Miranda and Carrie are shoe shopping and Miranda's rings get stuck and she tries to pull them off, pulling her finger and then farting in the process?  Hilarious then.  Less so now.

2. Burping - Goes along with farting, right?  Same air, just the other direction.  I have never been able to burp on command, and still can't, but what I can do is just burp when I have to because it's impossible to keep them quiet sometimes now.

3. Sleeping - This weekend I slept until 10am both days, after getting up earlier to let the dogs out.  Normally, I'm up after I let the dogs out, even if it's 7:30am on a weekend.  I'll lay on the sofa and watch TV/snooze/be unproductive, but I'll never actually go back to sleep... in bed... for HOURS.  But now?  I sleep like a champ.  I think my body is going, "Oh god, oh no, it's going to be years before we'll get sleep like this again - stock up! Stock up!!!"

4. Tacos - I cannot get enough of Chipotle's soft tacos with steak.  Pre-pregnancy, I could take or leave Chipotle.  The hubby, however, practically lives there.  He doesn't even need to give his order when he goes; they see him and know what he wants.  During the 1st trimester, the smell of Chipotle totally made me nauseous and either he or I had to go into another room when he brought Chipotle home.  But now?  I'm eating it once or twice a week myself - and there probably isn't a day or two that goes by that I don't think about it.  Mmm... Chipotle steak tacos... mmm.

5. Forgetfulness - What was I going to say about this?  Oh yeah, I forget things now.  The hubby will say, "Can you take this to the other room?" And I'll get up and walk to the other room... without ever taking that thing with me, even though he just asked TWO SECONDS AGO.  It's incredibly frustrating.

6. Sweating - Since my weight loss (and even after the weight gain that followed), I have been the one in any given room who's cold.  Everyone else will be in a t-shirt, but I'll have on a sweater and a scarf and my fingernails will still be turning blue... except now, the tables have turned.  My classmates or coworkers will have on sweaters and I'll have a t-shirt and be complaining about how damned hot it is all the time.  Apparently your base body temperature can go up a full degree when you're pregnant.  Since mine was already low due to my hypothyroid, I'm going to guess I've gone up more than a degree due to the thyroid meds and the pregnancy.  I need to remember this when I get dressed for work in the morning because it's getting hard to concentrate when I'm hot all the time.

7. Sex Drive - This doesn't come as a surprise to anyone who's been pregnant or read about pregnancy, but crazy things happen to your sex drive, especially after the first trimester.  Seriously.  I don't think I quite want to go into this one fully right now, but let's just say I enjoy the hubby's company.  A lot.  Every day feels like how the first month of dating the hubby felt. I wish we had time to go away on a lengthy vacation so I could enjoy his company even more with no distractions or other obligations.

Someplace like this would be preferable:

This is where I wanted to go for our honeymoon had money been no object.
Alas, money was most certainly an object.
(Not that we didn't have a perfectly lovely and fun honeymoon anyway.)

But I still daydream about this outdoor shower.  One day... some day.

I really could write a lot more about #7, but I'll have to work up the nerve/decide if I really want to.

And, as an addendum since I'm actually not a man, but still a woman - here's a link to my latest post at WeAreTheRealDeal where I talk about Victoria's Secret and bra shopping.

Because what's more womanly than talking about breasts? Oh wait, men do that all the time, too.  Damn.