Absolutely Exhausted

I am absolutely exhausted.  Dead tired.  Thoroughly beat.  Downright tuckered out. 

I thought I was tired the day after Prom in high school when I was basically up for 24 hours straight.  I thought I was exhausted after working 31 our of 37 consecutive hours at the hotel one weekend.  Even in my first trimester, I thought I was just plum tuckered out.  I realize now that was nothing compared to how I’ve been feeling the last few days.

Unfortunately for those around me, that means I’m also crabby, testy, irritable or “sensitive” if you’re being nice.

My amazing husband (he really is) has the bewildered look down pat.  I don’t blame him for looking at me like I’m crazy, because I feel a bit like that sometimes when I’m upset for no particular reason.  He does what he can – rubs my back when I’m trying to get to sleep and preemptively brings me cookies or candy sometimes, assuming that I’m cranky.  And for the record, bringing me baked goods or candy will cheer me up for a bit at least.  My mom knows me well enough to count on this and brought chocolate cake when they came over the other night.

I blame my tiredness on the obvious – I am growing a baby!! – and the related, but less obvious.  I have trouble falling asleep, because I have too much running through my mind – What do we still need to do to get the nursery done?  Will I have a job after BabyMort arrives?  What will we do about our finances if I don’t?  Did I change the dog’s vet appointment?  The list goes on and on…  Once I’m lucky enough to fall asleep, I wake up because of heartburn, achey hips and/or back, because I have to pee, because I’m thirsty or because one of my extremities is asleep.  Usually, once I wake up, I start thinking about all the things that kept me up in the first place and the fun starts all over again.

I have a plan to (hopefully) get at least a few nights good sleep though.  I have yoga tonight and I usually sleep pretty well after that.  Then I made a chiropractor’s appointment for first thing tomorrow morning, hoping that after stretching at yoga, he’ll actually be able to adjust me and relieve some of my back and hip pain (something he hasn’t been able to do since for 20 weeks now…)  And the (chocolate buttercream) icing on the (chocolate) cake – I’m getting a massage on Saturday!!  We’ll put blankets over the windows in the bedroom Saturday night so the rising sun doesn’t interrupt my slumber on Sunday morning and I’d be perfectly happy sleeping until Monday morning if possible 😀

Hopefully I’ll look something like this:

30 down, 10 to go!!

I had another doctor’s appointment today.  I’m really hoping that our doctor will be around when I deliver, because he never fails to make me laugh.  Today, he came in and started writing in my chart – putting down that it was my 30 week appointment.  Then he stopped, held my chart up and said, “Well this is just wrong.  You’re 75% done and we’re still on the first page, all black ink.  I don’t feel like I’m earning my money here!”  He proceeded to measure me and listen to her heartbeat.  He said he’d take anything, “a yeast infection or a stretch mark.  Just something so I feel better about taking the money.”  After listening to her heartbeat, he let out a big, fake yawn and said, “30 weeks and the heartbeat’s 140.  Boring…”  Then we agreed that boring is good (even if he does claim to feel guilty!!)

30 week belly shot

It’s amazing how much has changed in the 20 weeks since I wrote this post.  At 10 weeks, BabyMort weighed about a quarter of an ounce and was about an inch long.  Now, she’s about 3 pounds and 16 inches long.  Our “little kumquat” has become our “little cabbage.”  It doesn’t sound quite as endearing, does it??

I still feel sick a lot, but now it’s heartburn, not morning sickness.  The fatigue I thought I was experiencing at 10 weeks is nothing compared to how tired I am now and I still have trouble sleeping (or have trouble again – I had a few months when I felt fairly ‘normal.’)  In addition, now my everything hurts and I’ve accepted that I’ll only get more uncomfortable in the coming weeks.

However…I now have the joy of feeling her move around and knowing that “it” is a “her” (although I’d prefer if she’d keep herself out of my ribcage!!)  I’m also lucky enough to have had a healthy pregnancy, something I was very worried about at 10 weeks, when we hadn’t even heard her heartbeat yet.  The next 10 weeks don’t seem like an eternity away like 30 weeks did.  In fact, it feels like we hardly have any time at all to get ready for her arrival!!

Like I said before – We’re getting an amazing little girl out of this, so I can deal.  Plus, I’m already 75% of the way through my pregnancy!!

You know you’re pregnant when…

There’s the standard, stereotypical answer of, “When you crave pickles and ice cream.” For me, not so much.

My answer would be, “When your house is only 60 degrees and you’re dying of heat with a tank top on!!”

What would your answer be??

All Sunshine and Rainbows…

Well, not quite.  I will admit that there seem to be a few perks to the second trimester, but it’s not symptom free as I’ve heard many people describe it.  (I’m sure I’ve also read/heard from people who still had plenty to deal with, but that didn’t give me as much hope, so I probably blocked most of it out!!)  

The nausea seems to have subsided some, and I think I’ve learned how to deal with it before I become absolutely miserable.  I can keep my eyes open past 8pm, but I’ll still sleep for 12 hours given the chance.  The taste or texture of some foods still disgusts me, but I’ve learned to suffer through it for some foods, such as apples, realizing that it won’t actually make me sick.  I still wake up during the night to use the restroom and I don’t expect that to stop, even though I’ve heard it goes away for many women for a few months.  And I still get sick every now and then, mainly from coughing or brushing my teeth, but, sadly, I think I’ve even gotten used to that a little and can pick myself up and move on rather quickly.

However, there is one symptom that I’m not happy to still be dealing with and haven’t adjusted to – constipation.  I’ve had a belly-ache and felt fairly miserable since Saturday evening.  I called my doctor’s office yesterday and spoke to a nurse, who’s suggestions were to use some sort of fiber supplement, Colace, increase my intake of fruits and veggies and drink lots and lots of fluids.  (Apparently increasing fiber without increasing fluid intake has the opposite of the desired effect.)

Today I decided to keep track of my fluid intake  to make sure I’m getting enough.  I’ve been told that pregnant women should get about 80 oz. a day- water is best, but anythng other than soda and coffee counts – which seems almost impossible, especially given the number of trips to the bathroom that means 😀  So, I thought that keeping a record would be a good reminder for me, help me to see how much I’m actually drinking and hopefully be encouraging if I made it to 80+ oz.

• 12 oz. of 100% Apple Juice with Benefiber before work.
• 16 oz. jug of water finished at 9:15 am.
• 8 oz. hot tea finished at 11 am.
• 16 oz. jug of water finished at 1 pm.
• 16 oz. jug of water finished at 3:45 pm.
• Another 8 oz. of water before I left work.
• 12 oz. Crystal Light with Benefiber with dinner.
• 12 oz. water finished at 9pm.

Total fluid intake: 100 oz!!

Now I just need to figure out a way to reduce the number of trips to the bathroom…

“What would you like for breakfast??”

This isn’t a funny question, right??  Unless of course your husband follows it up with, “A smokie sandwich or a poop-tart??”  Ok, then it sounds disgusting, right??  But he was really being quite nice and sympathetic to my current bloated and constipated state.  When he went grocery shopping yesterday, he bought Fiber One Toaster Pastries for me.  So, it’s a brand of toaster pastries, or “Pop Tarts” as they’re commonly known, that are meant to get things moving.  Hence the lovely name my husband gave them.

Fiber One Toaster Pastry, Chocolate, 11-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)

I don’t know if they worked, but they made me smile 😀