At 10 weeks and 1 day (by my reckoning)

I have hit two milestones. The first is that, though my morning sickness seems to have returned with a greater propensity to make me eye up the nearest toilet, I can go back to work now and make it through the better part of a full day. The second is that baby bloat and queasiness have finally combined to make it impossible to fully zip and button my jeans. It's like that tiny button has become the arch enemy of comfort. It seethes in frustration at not being allowed to perform its proper function of keeping my trousers up. Not to mention ensuring general decency in public places. It's as if the zipper comes up halfway and then my baby belly quotes it the scripture from Job: "Hitherto shalt thou go, but no further." Sorry, buddy: that's as far as you can go. It's baby-zone up here and we don't appreciate pesky form-fitting clothing encroaching on the space designated for the growing fetus, so if you can just keep behind the caution tape we'll all be fine. Thanks for the cooperation.

As I've said before, since baby shares my body, baby gets to make the rules now, so my seething angry jeans button will just have to suck up its angst and be a team player for the coming months. The next team player will be a new season draft of a belly band, so that I can keep from flashing the world my underwear in public without risking a zipper/button malfunction, a public spectacle of vomit, or angry lines across my abdomen from too-tight trousers. I'm not quite at the stage where going out in pyjamas has become socially acceptable. More's the pity.