On Being Pregnant...

Well, I'm getting closer.  Five weeks to go...so close and yet so far away!  I'm at that point in my pregnancy (and I know some of you can relate) where I feel like I deserve a medal...for just making it through the day!  I need to be reminded now more than ever that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel.  My other two pregnancies were textbook perfect.  Take positive pregnancy test, have contractions 9 months later and then hold baby in arms.  Easy.  Piece of cake.  

This baby on the other hand has been more, well, should I say "exciting??"  Let's see, first there was the surprise positive pregnancy test, then the week of bed rest, two rounds of the flu and a bladder infection all while trying to relish in the day to day activities of my two precious toddlers!  Oh, did I mention the poor circulation in my arms at night and the excruciating lower back pain I feel most days by about 6:00 in the evening??  Let me first paint a picture of the arm circulation scenario:  I'm sound asleep in bed but feeling uncomfortable.  Feeling the need to roll over.  My body moves but for some reason my arms don't follow.  Awkward.  I need to roll over....arms...please...follow me!!  Ultimately, I end up having to do what I call the "heave ho" maneuver.  It goes like this: Roll body over, count to 3 and then "heave ho" my arms by twisting my shoulders so that eventually, they fly out from under me and flop to the other side along with the rest of my body.  If I'm lucky, they won't whack my sleeping husband on the face, or mine for that matter on their way over.  After it's all said and done, I get to spend the next hour and a half wide awake because by that point I can't fall back to sleep.

Now, for the lower back pain scenario:  By about 6:00 each night I can hardly bend, twist, or literally move from my waist down.  But with two toddlers, you do what you have to do and sometimes I just have to "go with it."  The other night, I think I pushed it a little too hard because I could hardly even feel my back by the time the kids got into bed.  I decided to lay on the couch where I eventually fell asleep (don't be so surprised, okay?!)  When my dear husband woke me a few hours later to come to bed, I found that I literally could not move!  I was standing there envisioning myself sprinting down the hallway to the warmth of my bed and yet, nothing was moving.  Nothing except for the burning pain moving from my waist to my legs.  I tried coaxing my legs to move forward and still, nothing.  Eventually, one leg started to move and then...wham...I hit the ground.  Okay, not a violent, dangerous fall but I did end up on my knee on the ground.  Jeff came to my rescue (FINALLY...I thought he was going to have to carry me!!) and helped me get to the back of the couch where I could hold on to something.  The rest of the trip to my bed consisted of a hunched over me holding on to dear life to the back of the couch and the hallway wall, hoping and praying that my back and legs wouldn't lock up on me again.  REALLY??  Is this really happening to me?!?!  Someone remind me WHY we as women "get" to do this for nine months!  

I know that in five weeks (oh, please Dear Lord make it sooner) I will be holding my sweet baby in my arms and all of this will be forgotten.  Somehow it will all seem worth it and I'm sure sooner rather than later I'll talk about wanting to do it all over again.  But for now, I sit here praying that my body will make it to delivery day and hoping that time will fly...I don't know if I can handle one more thing breaking down on me!