I am a dromedary camel

I really believe that I am turning into a dromedary (one-hump) camel. Granted, my hump is growing over my belly and not my back, but I am still generating a hump all the same.

The other piece of evidence that suggests that I am slowly turning into a camel is that I cannot get enough water. This is really abnormal for me. I have never had good water habits. I avoided public restrooms like the plague until college, at which point I realized that it was very counterproductive to leave my study hovel and go all the way back to my dorm to use the bathroom rather than using the very clean public restrooms by the coffee shop (and based on the amount of coffee that I drank throughout college, I learned this lesson quickly). This often meant restricting fluids in order to not have to pee. When I was growing up, our favorite vacation spot was Panama City Beach, Florida. No, my family wasn't perpetually trying to pretend to be spring breakers. It just so happens that my dad's side of the family has been slowly migrating down to PCB over the past 25 years to retire. Somehow, I was able to make the entire trip from Ohio to PCB without once using a public restroom (a 15 hour trip that my dad magically transformed into a 12.5 hour trip). This dismayed my mom who would always say, "You're going to give yourself a bladder infection." The one time I gave in and decided to use a public restroom, we chose a gas station bathroom that had a giant dead bug on the floor with a trail of ants taking the bug piece by piece back to their ant hill, which, needless to say, made it so I never gave in to using a bathroom again on those road trips. When I became pregnant I decided that it was important to drink more water. Other than black coffee, I didn't really drink any other beverages (and the coffee mostly had to go). Shortly after discovering I was pregnant I added milk and extra glasses of water to my usual intake, with a goal of drinking 8 glasses a day. Meeting my goal, however, was short lived. Just before I was 5 weeks pregnant I started feeling super nauseated all the time. By 7 weeks pregnant I certainly couldn't drink milk anymore and I was having trouble drinking water. I finally called the OB office and asked for a prescription for Zofran, an anti-nausea medication. When taking Zofran, I was able to more easily drink water, but it was still a struggle to get in more than about 4 cups each day. By 8 and 9 weeks pregnant I would get sick every time I drank water because I was producing excessive saliva (ptyalism - an unfortunate side effect of pregnancy), and whenever I drank water I felt like I was drinking a big cup of saliva (nice mental image, huh?). This launched me into a week in which all I drank was fruit punch gatorade. I regained my ability to drink water, but still knew that I was not drinking enough, only getting in about 5-6 cups each day. Finally, a few days ago, I became desperately thirsty all the time. I know that my body is generating more blood (blood volume increases by 50% during pregnancy) and amniotic fluid, but I didn't expect that drastic a change in thirst all at once. Yesterday I drank 13 cups of water; that is just 3 cups shy of a gallon. Furthermore, I think all of the extra water is going to my belly because my feet and ankles certainly aren't swelling. Anyone who saw me 1-2 weeks ago can attest that I just began showing at around 24 weeks (I am now 26 weeks pregnant). And I feel like my belly has gone through a big growth spurt this week (see above photographic evidence). When I gave Keith a hug before he went to work this morning, he said, "I love you, even when you hug me and are still a foot away," my belly having made a barrier between us. So there you go! I am a dromedary camel. And I am very proud of my hump.