Hang in there! Stretch marks at 8 weeks??? How lucky are YOU!
My mom and 2 sisters suffer(ed) with bad morning sickness: morning, noon and night, for the whole 9 months. Multiple hospitalizations for dehydration, feeling like crap because they couldn't eat or sleep, and all the other fun you are mentioning here. So I don't ever really get envious that I couldn't give birth to my own children. I just look at my sisters (1 sister's pregnant right now - SOOOOO miserable for her! - she's not allowed to drive anywhere, due to pregnancy seizures -and she has other kids) anyway, I just look at them, realize that that is how mine would probably go, and I am SO okay that I can't get/stay pregnant! Maybe my infertility is a blessing..... ??!! (I also used to work in labor and delivery, and while that is beautiful and amazing, I am okay to skip that step, too!) LOL!!
I used to wonder why God didn't fix my infertility, after all the procedures I went through, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for Him...
Then I finally had the thought, maybe God is doing me a favor! Maybe he is being merciful to me by having me miss this experience...
I still would love to give birth to a child, but since I can't, It helps to have that perspecitve!
And shoeshopping - I hear you. As a nurse, we hear lots of horror stories (somehow that is fun when you're at work on your lunch break - share all the interesting cases you know about...) I get worried, too. Just remember that the reason we hear all those stories is that they are the exception to the rule. Most babies are healthy and perfect -
Hang in there guys. You have my sympathy -