Believe it or not, many things have happened since last week's post. For one, summer has officially arrived. When I leave work (at 6pm) it feels like I'm walking to my car in an oven...or if there is a breeze...it feels like an oven with a hairdryer set on hot (not warm) blowing in my face. Yesterday's high was 112, today's was 111 but tomorrow should be a cool 108. This frazzled haired girl who bagged my groceries looked me in the eye point blank (with a blank stare no less) and said "GOD it must suck being pregnant in the summer"...my awkward and hesitant response (trying to pry my eyes from her hollow expression) was..."uh, yes it does". All I gotta say is at least I get paid to sit in a cold office all day.
Speaking of strangers saying stupid things to me about about being pregnant, a women asked me when I was due and then asked "is it just one...or two?" implying that I was bigger than she thought I should be at this point. Another girl asked "when's your due date? Soon?"...yes I suppose, if you think 3 months is 'soon' in pregnancy years.
I've started with the Braxton Hicks contractions which are harmless and apparently everyone seems to get them at some point. The doc says summer brings them on even more since a lot of times dehydration is one of the triggers. So what are Braxton Hicks contractions? Well for all you lay people out there, they are mild, non painful contractions of the uterus. Just one of the ways the body gets ready for the big day. What it feels like? Pressure is what it reminds me of. Like someone is pressing down on my intestines, uterus and bladder...oh and my belly gets as hard as a rock...like really, really hard.
Frequent urination has set in again. Much like the 1st trimester I am getting up on average of 3-4 times during the night. I can tell the baby is definitely sitting lower because I can definitely feel her on my bladder. It probably isn't helping that I'm drinking fluids almost every waking minute of the day. Why am I doing this? Please refer back to paragraph one.
Another fun fact that preggo women get to experience is the softening of the ligaments that hold the pubic bone together. Which was surprising to me since I thought it was one solid bone...but apparently I missed that day in Human Biology. So what does this mean? Well when you have a medicine ball strapped to your belly and you are laying on your side and want to rotate to the other side, say in the middle of the night, the easiest way to do this is rolling on your back from one side to the other. Well for those of you who haven't had a medicine ball attached to your belly, this maneuver is harder than it seems. When you dig your heels into the mattress to get some resistence and momentum to fling your weighted belly to the opposite side, your pubic bone shifts under the weight and pressure of your rotating hips causing pain and sometimes (in my case) popping. Yes that's right...not only do I have a bad habit of cracking my knuckles and knees, now I have a new addiction...pubic bone. Just kidding, it actually scares me everytime it happens I guess since no one is expecting to hear and feel their pubic bone crack while they are half asleep trying to maneuver comfortable sleeping positions.
Which brings me to my next topic - sleep. It wouldn't be half as hard to accomplish successfully if I wasn't waking up every couple of hours to use the restroom. Also, if I had more options other than left side/right side, I could probably rid myself of the sore hips I tend to battle with in the night. So I've tried to improvise somewhat. My personal pillow count is up to four...Bryan's still in last place with two. To ease the pressure of my aching hips, I place two pillows parallel to each other long ways up and down, one pillow horizontal at the top for my head and one pillow in between my legs. I place my hip of choice into the 'canyon' of the two parallel pillows. By doing this, I have the majority of my weight distributed on both pillows and my hip is somewhat relieved. Pretty clever I must say...
Well even though this post might seem a little negative...its really not too bad. The heat is tolerable since I'm indoors all day and yes my belly is getting big but the doc says I'm measuring normal. Everything else that is happening is also normal...so I have nothing to complain about. Just thinking how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to be parents to our little girl who will be arriving in only three months! And yes, three months in a lifetime is very soon.
I hope you are keeping cool and doing well :)
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