A First

I know this pregnancy will be chock full of "firsts", and I experienced one on Friday. I had my first EVER (i.e., in my whole life) nosebleed! It freaked me out! Lately I've noticed that when I wake up in the morning I'm slightly congested. I feel fine. Just a little congested, but it's a pregnancy symptom. Well, Friday morning I woke up, blew my nose and got started with my morning routine. Well, my nose kept running. Not a gushing, nasty run, but a slightly annoying run. So, I kept swiping at my nose with my hand. Well, after the third time of having to do so, I decided to grab some tissue. That's when I saw it....BLOOD!!! Now, because this was my first nosebleed, I had absolutely NO IDEA WHATSOEVER about what to do. I seemed to recall that when I was in elementary school I saw kids put tissue in their nose and hold their held back. So that's what I did. With my right nostril stuffed with tissue and my nose pointed toward the ceiling, I made my way to my nightstand to grab my handy pregnancy "bible", "What to Expect When You're Expecting" ("WTE"). I held the book up high so I could read it and turned to the two pages that address nosebleeds. According to WTE, I should have been leaning slightly forward, not with my head tilted back. So I promptly changed positions. WTE also recommended pinching my nose above the nostrils, but just below the nasal bone. I removed the tissue and did so. Within a few minutes the nosebleed was abated. Crisis solved. Man was that scary! I hope that was my FIRST and LAST nosebleed.