So for the most part, I have to say that I’ve been pretty relaxed about my various symptoms during my pregnancy. Actually, when most people ask me if I’ve had a lot of morning sickness or other issues, I always tell them how it hasn’t been that bad. And it really hasn’t, but I guess that’s not the full truth. And it’s not like I’m trying to hold back, I honestly forget soon after I experience them that I had them at all.
The morning sickness, for example. Sure, it wasn’t too bad. If you LIKE that sort of thing, I mean. I know women who have spent most of a trimester vomiting at work, being unable to go to work, etc. Not the case with me, but there were plenty of mornings where I woke up feeling pretty damn awful. Plenty of mornings when brushing my teeth would promptly have me yakking. Just it was so early in the morning that there wasn’t much to throw up. And when I think about it, this particular symptom lasted well into my 2nd trimester and even seemed to be making a comeback for a few weeks in my third trimester. Nothing like barfing JUST AFTER you've brushed your teeth. There were a few days in the morning also when I was tempted to stop the car and throw up (though I never actually did), or a few evening events that I went to where I hadn’t eaten and felt pretty miserable until I had the chance to nibble on something.
And of course, there was the constant tiredness, the coming home and wanting to do nothing more than lay on the couch and sleep. For a good month or more, the house was a wreck, the dishes unwashed, piles of clutter everywhere, laundry unfinished. G tried to do what he could, but it’s not like he was swimming in time either. Sometimes, it was all he could manage to come home, walk the dogs, and start dinner (because it certainly didn’t make itself and I was always STARVING).
And oh yeah, there was the bitchiness, too. I remember one time fighting with him because . . . I’m not entirely sure, but the sequence of events went something like this. It was the weekend. We slept in but that meant I woke up super hungry and it being way past my breakfast time. G tried to ask me what I wanted and nothing sounded appetizing. I might have gotten a little whiny about our lack of options. (He might have suggested waffles and/or pancakes and I might have also gotten whiny about not liking sweet things at breakfast). Not knowing what to do exactly, G busied himself with a few other things around the kitchen probably hoping that eventually I'd make up my mind and tell him what I wanted. Instead, I got peeved and warmed up some random leftovers, like spaghetti, because all I felt like in the early days were carbs. Anyway, G eventually started making something too. And it was WAY better than anything he had suggested earlier. So I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I think I got all mad at him for holding out on me, and for making breakfast without me. Or something. Whatever it was, it was ridiculous and I knew it even as I was arguing about it. But dude, those scones smelled delicious -- at the time, it seemed like borderline cruelty to hold out on his best ideas when a hungry pregnant lady was involved.
Anyway, my point is that there were plenty of symptoms, but I just let them slide by because well, I don't know. It's not that I don't like to complain, clearly you all know better. But they honestly seemed minor compared to the miracle and coolness of being pregnant. And I don't know, the symptoms always seemed less dramatic than other pregnant stories I've heard. I even handled the weird stuff with few complaints. The strange dreams. The totally bizarre few weeks earlier this trimester when I was horny as hell but it HURT to actually have sex (that, by the way, is proof a twisted god if there ever was one). And of course I mentioned the gross stuff already, too.
But THIS. . . this is the last straw. Never mind that in the last few weeks, I've just felt more and more awkward. It hurts to lay down, it hurts to get up. Sleeping is more difficult. My ankles and fingers have been super swollen and always hurt. I'm stiff when I get up. I waddle. Whatever, I'm hanging in there just fine until finally, last week the damn itching started last week. OMG -- my stomach looks like it's been a battlefield for a major ant war or something. And I can't stop! I can't sleep, I can't work. I've been lathering cream, taking Benadryl and just feeling perpetually groggy . . . nothing. First it was the stomach. Then it was my wrist and fingers, then my ankles. I finally saw my doctor yesterday because nothing was working (and poor G would try every night as I laid there tossing and complaining -- unfortunately for him, distracting me with sex only worked once). She started to say that although there are some rare serious pregnancy-related conditions that cause itching, mine seemed to be harmless. And I think she would have left it at that except that I kept begging for something, ANYTHING, to help, and she finally gave me some steroid cream to try. I don't know. We'll see if it works. I tried it last night and it was a lot better, but it was all sticky and pretty much stayed that way all night. So THEN I couldn't sleep because I couldn't settle into a position where the cream wasn't sticking all over the sheets.
So pretty much now, I've about had it. Even last week, I was worried about the little watermelon coming too early. I'm not even going on maternity leave until the week before, and I want my days off dangit. But now, I don't care. If it means the itching will stop, I want the kid out NOW. Seriously, I feel like a drug addict that'll accept just about anything to take the edge off.
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