In the last 36 hours, I've had four charlie horses (one of which was a double calf/foot cramp, requiring you to flex your foot to the right while flexing your calf at the same time--attempt that successfully on the first try at 2am in the morning. I dare you) and a bout with what I was almost convinced was preterm labor, most of the day yesterday. I was so convinced, the only thing saving me from a trip to the hospital to be seen, was a warm bath, a liter of water, a two hour nap and contractions that finally slowed from less than every 5-10 minutes to 1 an hour to not at all over the space of a 4-5 hours.
After the whole episode was over, I told my mother about it. Her response was, "Well, what did you do yesterday??"
Hmm... let me think about that.
"Nothing. I did nothing yesterday."
Inside I'm thinking, 'Why are you asking me what I did yesterday? What does that have to do with anything?' Instead, I said:
"This morning, I walked Max to school with Rowan. It's a 30 minute walk there, up a steep hill. It's not like I haven't done it before, but I hadn't done it in a week because of the unyielding rain. Afterwards, my back started bothering me and then I finally realized that the tightening in my abdomen was actually contractions."
"Oh," said my mother. This left me feeling like all of the above was my fault....
Between the leg cramps and the preterm labor scare, I've successfully chalked off every experience I recently read about in the weekly "What to expect when you are expecting" information, information I hate to read but am drawn to anyway.
Why do I hate to read it?
Because I find her style of writing ridiculous and trite. Just give me the facts, baby. Don't throw in the cutesie little things about holding a sweet potato in your hands because that's the size of your baby in your uterus and then rocking it like you will be in a couple months. It makes me want to vomit to read that.
Why do I read it?
Because I'm ridiculously drawn to the countdown timer mentality associated with pregnancy. I try to ignore it and will even go several weeks between reading the weekly updates. But eventually I am drawn back into it... like an addiction.
I'm heading into the 24th week and have what feels like a ballooning basketball of a belly to show for it. It is incomprehensible to me that I could look and feel this pregnant already. I know, I know... by the time you are having your third child, your body just knows what's coming and starts making accomodations and arrangements ahead of time. But, how can my belly be this hard and ballooning this fast when my uterus is really only a couple centimeters above my bellybutton? What's in the top part??
Yoga is the only thing keeping sacrum pain from overwhelming me of late. I've been doing it religiously, daily, multiple times a day since 16 weeks and I still wake up feeling mildly hobbled for a bit until things start working themselves out. I shudder to think what I would feel like if I wasn't continually stretching everything out through yoga.
Yoga is a pregnant woman's friend.
I wish I had realized this with my previous pregnancies. It's not as if I didn't hear it and read it. It's not as if it wasn't suggested to me a million and one times. But, I happen to be a rather stubborn person and sometimes I won't do something simply because I keep getting bombarded with how great it is. This is a character trait (or flaw) of mine.
I am working on it....
I am.
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