Well... I warned you when I first started this blog that I might not be good at consistently keeping it updated. I've had a few posts sitting around waiting to be typed up and shared, but obviously they haven't taken priority over the lovely weather or the taking of naps. In fact, I have no idea why I'm inside doing this today when it's sunny and 80 out!
This is the post where I complain about being huge and uncomfortable. I know it's not THAT bad, I've heard stories. My pregnancy has been nothing but smooth sailing and I consider myself one lucky lady for that. But I've reached the point that everyone complains about, and now it's my turn. So all you ladies who actually have (or had) pregnancies worth complaining about, you might want to skip the rest of this post.
I feel enormous. That in itself isn't entirely terrible what with being pregnant and all, but being huge makes moving around seem like a workout of Olympic proportion. It's hard to get out of the car, it's hard to get up off the couch, it's hard to roll over in bed, and it's hard to put on my socks and pants. I grunt more than Spike, the pig who lived across the street from my Grandma and regularly crossed over to be scratched and fed carrots and potato peels.
This is probably too much information, but for a few months now my belly has been big enough that slouching or bending over causes my breasts to rest on top of it. That was pretty strange for me when it first started happening, but not surprising. Well, recently the bottom of my belly has begun hitting my thighs at the same time, which is an unexpected and unwelcome development! It makes bending over to wash my face uncomfortable, who'd have thunk something as simple as that would become a chore? Not cool.
My clothes don't fit. This delightful warm weather has everyone pulling their little summer dresses and tiny outfits out of their closets, and I feel like I'm never going to be happy with my wardrobe options again. I keep having to remind myself that my old clothes WILL fit, and I will be able to wear them and feel cute again before too much longer. Until then, I try and fail to convince myself I don't look like I'm wearing a tent. Then I try more successfully to convince myself that it doesn't matter, because I'm so pregnant that a tent is the only thing that covers my belly properly. I admit that my maternity clothes are not ALL tent-like, but most of my warmer weather ones are because I thought was being all smart and savvy by buying sale priced shirts that double as nursing tops. There was a reason those shirts lasted long enough in the store to be on sale. Now I'm too cheap and stubborn to go out and buy any more maternity clothes that will be worn for like, a month more, which naturally doesn't help. I am super looking forward to having my body back!
My feet and ankles keep swelling up when I'm on my feet for any length of time. This is more unsightly than uncomfortable so far, but I still don't like it. Feeling adventurous a couple weekends ago, Dan and I took the dog to Discovery park and walked the trails from the parking lot to the beach. I wore my comfy, expensive, outdoorsy shoes that I pretty much always wear and we took our time. I rested on the benches and we finally got to the beach an hour later. After exploring the low tide, I decided I needed to sit for a while and Dan offered to go get the car and bring it around to pick up me and the dog (who has a habit of randomly laying down every time he feels hot). Dan made the hike on his own in half an hour. After this ambitious adventure, I was exhausted, my ankles were huge, and my feet hurt for 2 days! My feet NEVER hurt, especially when I wear good shoes, so I found my newly sore feet particularly offensive. I'm lucky Dan is such a great husband; he rubbed them even though they were stinky, and made them feel so much better.
When I lay down at night or eat a big meal it becomes hard to breath for a while. I keep waking up with Lego wedged under my rib cage, and when she moves she pushes against my ribs and causes mild discomfort. I guess that's her way of saying good morning to her mama but I kind of wish she wouldn't. Getting up for midnight bathroom trips is the worst. It's hard enough to get out of bed without having a full bladder, but when you're 8 months pregnant and have really gotta go, struggling out from under the sheets into an upright position requires a herculean effort. On top of that, staggering half asleep to the toilet seems to wake up little Lego who decides it's play time and starts practicing her kickboxing as soon as I lay back down. Falling asleep again is no longer as quick and easy as it once was.
My back keeps getting sore! But not in the way I expected. So far my lower back is fine, it seems to be dealing with the added weight of Lego with little difficulty. But when I sit in a slouchy chair or couch for very long, or in a backless chair where I have to maintain my own upright posture, my upper back gets really tired and uncomfortable. I try sitting up straight but it doesn't help, I need to either lay down or move to a seat with decent back support. Standing up and walking around helps too -if my ankles aren't swollen.
If I lay on my back to put up my feet for a bit, my sacrum and hips get really sore and remain sore for a few minutes after standing up again. This is much worse on the floor, the bed seems soft enough to minimize pelvic discomfort so far. Dan tried practicing a technique to help relieve labor pain by squeezing my hips during a labor coping class, and ouch!! We will have to wait until labor actually starts to try that again. The thing is, it felt like I might have actually liked it if I weren't pregnant and full of ligament relaxing hormones. I have been known to enjoy a good firm hip massage.
When I start out on a walk at any pace faster than 90-year-old-lady speed or dog-sniffing-for-a-suitable-place-to-poop speed, my abdomen gets rock hard and I feel an urgent need to pee. This is a braxton hicks (or practice) contraction and is completely normal and painless. The problem is, it doesn't matter if I literally just went to the bathroom moments before starting out, it always feels like I need to rush back inside and empty my bladder. Also, it's uncomfortable! It doesn't seem to matter how hydrated I am (dehydration can cause or increase the frequency of braxton hicks) or if I'm not even going that fast, it happens every. single. time. It passes before too long though, so I'm still able to walk the dog without feeling like I'm about to go into serious labor, which I'm thankful for.
Okay, okay. That's enough complaining for today. Like I said, I don't REALLY have it all that bad. I haven't been doomed to months or even weeks of strict bed rest, my hips and all my rib joints have stayed comfortably in place, my blood pressure has been healthy on the low end of normal (high = scary during pregnancy), and even the aches and complaints I do have might be ever so slightly exaggerated here. I mean, I clipped my own toenails last night! It was quite an accomplishment, but I did it all by myself. That's something to feel good about!
