Hormones, Schmore-mones

I am a normal human being, capable of rational thoughts and intelligent conversation. Or at least I was. Now I am 31 weeks pregnant and just about anything can set me off into a rage or cause me to sob in the floor of my kitchen. Case in point: I was dying for a glass of apple juice the other day. I poured up a big, cold glass of juice and headed to the living room to settle on the couch for a little veg time. I set my glass next to me on the coffee table and turned my back on it for TWO SECONDS to settle myself onto the couch. When I turned back to grab my juice it was then that I noticed a demon weimaraner (Mason) drinking out of my apple juice cup! When I went to slap his nose, I spilled my juice everywhere. The rest is a haze but the next thing I know I'm sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor holding an empty bottle of juice crying hysterical because not only was that the last of the juice, but I totally would have drank out of that cup had I not knocked it completely over. Gross yes, but you just wait until you crave something as badly as I craved that juice. It took a good twenty minutes to recover from that episode, which left me wondering, "Does this have anything to do with the hormones my doctor has been telling me about?"

Surely not. I can't be one of "those" hormonal women. Not me. No way. I am way too laid back and have way too much control over my emotions to let something as simple as spilled apple juice send me into a hysterical fit. Right? Obviously not. As I've entered my third trimester I have noticed that just about anything can set me off into a ridiculous pit of emotional despair. 75% of the songs on the radio make me cry, as do half the shows I watch on TV. Every driver out there is a complete idiot and my morning commute has turned me into an evil, seething, road rage filled, crazy woman! A man cut in front of me at the Chick-fil-a the other day and I seriously considered following him home to give him a piece of my mind.

It's almost like an out of body experience. I know that the things I am saying or feeling are completely ridiculous and irrational and are all the product of the increased hormones caused by this pregnancy, I totally get that. But that doesn't seem to make "the crazy" stop. Will it ever go away?

I also feel that I need to thank my husband for being so patient with me. I almost killed him one night early in the pregnancy when I was flipping out over something and he made the comment, "Rachel it's ok, you're just very hormonal right now." At the time, this comment only made me want to throw something heavy across the room, but in retrospect, he's right. It's ok, it's just hormones, and maybe someday soon, they'll just go away. Until then, he simply smiles and nods, hugs me when I need a hug, leaves the room when I need to just be alone, and utters those magic words that every pregnant woman wants to hear: "No honey, you have absolutely not gained that much weight."