Pregnancy Update

Well, I haven’t said pretty much anything about this pregnancy, so I guess it’s time for an update.

Everything is fine and the baby boy (at least according to the ultrasound; the tech seemed absolutely convinced, but I am never 100% convinced by any one tech or ultrasound) seems to be healthy, too.  I am 23 weeks along, though at my appointment this week I was measuring 25 weeks – I don’t know if I’ve ever measured big before, but I am hoping this baby isn’t large.  I like having small babies.

Note – the rest of this post is probably TMI but I do not care.  I am ready to complain!

Otherwise, I am completely tired and worn out of being pregnant and am ready to be done – and I still have almost 4 whole months left!  I always thought that my pregnancies were relatively easy affairs and I couldn’t complain too much about my maladies.  After all, I never (this pregnancy) or rarely (other pregnancies) throw up.  Of course, this doesn’t mean I don’t have morning sickness.  I had all day nausea for the entire first trimester.  I just am not a thrower-upper.  Although, it’s obviously that bad.  And eating does relieve it somewhat.  Which also leads me to gain way more weight than I want too … oh, well.

And all my kids have been healthy, I have never had any real problems, like gestational diabetes or preeclampsia or anything worriesome on an ultrasound.  Heck, my heartburn actually even seems to go away when I’m pregnant.  (Don’t feel too jealous, I have almost omnipresent heartburn when I am not pregnant, which of course, is a much larger percentage of my life).  I don’t really get cravings (except for cheese, pizza, dessert, and anything that generally packs on the pounds) or aversions or heightened sense of smell.  (In fact, I get a perpetual runny nose usually which blunts any sense of smell I may have had).  Of course, this and last pregnancy I have gotten a few headaches here and there and I seem to catch lots of colds which turn into sinus infections, but really nothing large.

But then, we get to the pain.  Yes, it deserves bold.  And somehow I think I should probably revision my definition of “easy” pregnancy to preclude everyday almost constant pain.  Thankfully, I have a pretty poor memory, so I can’t remember how much pain I had in previous pregnancies, but I know I had it with both.  But the pain this pregnancy must just blow the other two pregnancies out of the water.  You see, as soon as my body hits that “glorious” second trimester (and I swear, this time around, it was to the day), it starts to freak out.  “What – you’re pregnant!  What are you thinking!?!  This is awful!?!  What are you doing to my poor pelvis?!?”.  And the pain begins.

I didn’t used to differentiate between pain much.  With Andrew, I thought it was round ligament pain.  In fact, in reference, I just looked up “What to expect when you’re expecting” and there actually is NO reference to pelvic pain (but other really compelling ones, like hand pain???), so how was I supposed to know the difference.  When I brought the pain up this time, my practitioner said that it was just round ligament pain.  With Seth, they said it just must be my “special pregnancy pain”, unique to me, since I get it every time.  Well, I get round ligament pain, too – the sideways sharp pains around your abdomen when you over-exert yourself a bit.  Yeah, those do not hold a candle to this pain.  And sciatic pain – yes, I get that, too.  And sometimes it stinks because I literally can not walk.  But thankfully, my sciatic pain is intermittent.

But let me tell you about my pelvic pain.  First, there is a dull, almost burning almost constant pain in my lower front pelvis.  Annoying, but usually not too worrisome because it is dull.  Then, there is the rest of the pain.  Why doesn’t the English language or lay medical terminology have enough words for pain?  Seriously.  Anyways, this pain is definitely more sharp.  In fact, last night I would have classified it a 8-9 on a 10 pt scale.  Yeah, in fact, right up there with contractions (although maybe not transition contractions).  In fact, the best way to describe this pain is to imagine someone taking all your pelvic muscles and ripping them to shreds.  Imagine how you shred meat or chicken, for a burrito or something.  Then, imagine that being done to your body.  Yes, it hurts.  Thankfully, this pain is not omnipresent.  And it is not always 8-9.  In fact, it starts quite low.  But this is when I do any pelvic movement.  Think, walking, climbing stairs, lifting up my leg, separating my legs.  Wait – in fact, that comprises almost all movement.  By jove, you’ve got it.  Literally, every step I take hurts.  But only moderately.  You want more pain, try putting on pants.  Or getting into the car.  But the very worst of the worst pain – rolling over in bed and getting off of a futon (though I’ve found I can mitigate most of the pain of getting off a futon through an elaborate procedure, first kneeling, then gradually pulling myself up to standing).  Literally, I was crying out in pain and almost in tears each time I tried to roll over in my sleep last night.  Poor Katsu.

Now, I know that all women complain about rolling over in bed and the pain of putting on pants, etc, as they grow bigger.  So, I always assumed that all women had some sort of version of my pains.  But I have gradually come to realize that this is not the case.  It is uncomfortable, awkward, difficult, but not so pain provoking that you are in tears and telling yourself never ever to get pregnant again.  And all at 5 months, when I am still not so big.

In fact, I for so long found it perplexing how so many people talked about glorious second trimesters, and trying to explain to people how I am actually in a fair bit of pain (I don’t want to make it sound too bad, in fact, in the mornings, I actually usually don’t feel too bad, but by evening, I just want to collapse on the couch and do nothing – of course, trying to find a way to collapse without actually causing pain is quite difficult).  “Pelvic pain – like contractions?”.  Um, no.  Because actually that is one thing I never get.  I have yet to have feelable contractions pre-Pitocin.  My body is just fun like that.

But after googling, I have found that I am in fact, not alone.  But the numbers are smaller (like 1 in 35 women perhaps) who have this pelvic pain.  It seems the pelvis separates too much making the whole thing somewhat unstable.  Which must be why I have never met a women who has this much pelvic pain in the second trimester (although many women do suffer from sciatica, which also stinks really really bad).  But it has been so nice to know that I am not crazy, even if my doctors and the pregnancy books don’t seem to know so much about it.  And at least it goes away after birth (at least for me).  Thank heavens.

And that, is how my pregnancy is going.  CAN NOT WAIT until it is done.