Ugh, the Aches and Pains of Pregnancy

Here we are, a little over 30 weeks along. If we go by months, I have two months and six days left. It doesn't seem like it should be coming up so fast. Less than ten weeks left! I haven't really thought much about labor itself, no need to stress over something I can't control. I guess the pain would be the only horrible part aside from any complications that might arise. And boy, is my body already trying to prepare me for the pain part! Starting on Wednesday, my mid to upper back on my right side started hurting. I'd felt this pain before, it's ligament pain as my uterus and other organs pull on the supporting ligaments and stretch them out. So I learned what certain movements to avoid, certain ways of bending down to do things like flush the toilet, or open the bunny's cage. Even so, there were certain times I just couldn't avoid the pain. It feels like someone is digging their finger into this one certain spot on my back when it happens, not a pleasant experience at all. But, since I could avoid making it hurt for the most part, I was okay. I slept on my left side that night, to support my belly and take some of the pressure off that ligament in my back. But the next day, the cramps started. Wednesday night, I got a little taste of them, but it was gas pain, and was relieved quickly once I let the gas out. But when it started again Thursday, it didn't go away, even after a bowel movement. But it was tolerable, if very annoying. I laid on the couch most of the day, reading. In that position, my back didn't hurt much at all. There wasn't anything I could do for the cramps except ignore them. Friday was worse. The cramps started right when I woke up, even though the back pain was lessened. I also had an earache from sleeping on my left side. I took care of the earache easily, popping my ear. But as the day wore on, the back pain got worse, and so did the cramps. Junior's moving around tended to make the cramping worse. Again, a bowel movement didn't make it go away. I took some Tylenol, but it didn't help. By 3:00pm, I couldn't take it anymore. The constant, neverending pain was starting to get to me mentally. I took my next dose of Tylenol and went upstairs to bed. And I could not get comfortable. Lying with my back straight helped the back pain, but lying in the fetal position helped the cramping. Finally, I found a position on my side that seemed to relieve both pains sufficiently. And then the heartburn started. Lying in that position loosened the valve at my stomach. I ended up in tears, simply because I was so tired of being in pain. The Tylenol wasn't kicking in, and it was too late in the afternoon to go to the doctor. I was so so miserable. I had gotten so stressed that I triggered Braxton-Hicks contractions. Parts of my uterus tightened up, and stayed that way for several minutes. It didn't hurt, but it kept Junior from moving, so I finally made myself relax. I laid there for half an hour before the Tylenol set in. And I still had heartburn. So I took some Tums, and finally slept. I woke up when the phone rang, and Bryan came up to see me after he finished talking to the caller. He brought me a bottle of water and a puzzle book, and sat with me a while. I laid there listening to the news on TV for a while, working on a puzzle. Bryan came upstairs again a little while later to tell me to let him know when I got hungry for dinner, and he'd bring me something. I decided that I could attain this comfortable position on the couch, I wanted to be a part of the world, not stuck upstairs in bed. So I went downstairs with my giant pillow and watched television. Bryan went out and picked up Burger King for dinner, since there was no way I was cooking that night. We watched a movie while we ate, and then I watched TV until 1:30am, when we both went to bed. At least I'd found a decently comfortable position in which to sleep. This morning seems better. I didn't wake up with pain, and thought maybe I was going to have a pain-free day. Nope, my back's still acting up. But at least I can avoid making it hurt. I might look a little funny bending over at times, but if I can keep the pain at bay, I'm gonna!

In other news, totally unrelated, IT'S SNOWING!!! We didn't even have a white Christmas this past year, and here it is, April 7th, and it's snowing! It's a kind of snow-rain mix off and on, but the snow's been steadily coming down. It's already covered the roofs of the cars outside, and it's starting to accumulate on the ground. It's so crazy! I am not stepping foot outside if I can help it. If there's snow and rain, there's bound to be ice, and there's no way I'm risking a fall right now.

Good news, I'm over the depression. After we found out that the baby is a boy, I started getting depressed. I don't really know why, since having a boy first is what we both wanted. I think my biggest fear was being left out, mostly by my own hand, when he's first born. I was afraid of that carrying over into later years, when he'd have more in common with Bryan once he wasn't so dependent on me. I can see myself letting Bryan do everything he can with the baby aside from breastfeeding, just so he didn't feel left out, to my own exclusion. But if this baby had been a girl, I would have taken over more as she got older, just because she's a girl and so am I. But being a boy, Bryan would be the one to wrestle with him, and do the boy stuff. But I talked it out with Bryan, and then my mom, and realized that I did a lot of the boy stuff with Alexander, there is no reason why I can't join in on the fun. Of course, Junior and Bryan will have to have their father-son time, too, but I can handle that. And shopping helped. I made myself buy clothes for him, and when I went with Sam to her ultrasound, I stopped by the hospital gift shop and picked up a little cap for him that said "Boob Man" and booties that said "Daddy's Little Boy." That seemed to help. But I'm totally over the depression now, which is awesome. I don't want to have to go back on antidepressants if I don't have to.

I never did get an email back from TriCare, so I called them to ask about getting their authorization to travel. They had no idea what I was talking about. When I explained what was going on, I was told that authorization isn't something I request. My primary care manager had to submit a form for something like that. But authorization wasn't needed in my case. I needed my PCM to refer me to an OB in the area. If I needed urgent care, I just needed to call my clinic to get authorization before I'm seen, and if there's an emergency, I have to notify them within 24 hours. So next week, I'm going to see my PCM to talk about that. I'm going Monday morning, because this trip's coming up fast, and I want to make sure I have all my bases covered.

Anyway, that's about it for this update. Sorry for all the complaining about my pain, but that's what's going on with me. That was almost all I could think about yesterday.

TTFN!!!