pregnancy 0.7

this is a post about gripes. you might have thought this post was about gripes...but it wasn't really. just facts. so here's the real low down about what's grating on my nerves

sleep

i've never been a good sleeper. when my husband told me he sleeps right through the night most of the time - my mind was blown. i literally didn't know that was possible! so that being said, the bar for pregnancy sleep was not set very high. still, there is a distinct difference and it's the result of dreams + back aches + comfort + having to pee. i would say on average i wake up every two hours, but sometimes every hour. 

dreams

i'm always a bit disoriented because the dreams i'm having are non-stop, realistic and totally confusing. most of the time when i wake, the dreams are so persistant that in fact i don't feel as if i have been sleeping at all.

pee!

so then i go to the washroom. i usually really have to, and if i don't, i just go anyway in the inane hope that i can sleep for the next three hours. it's never more than a couple tablespoons and yet it feels incredibly urgent.

comfort

i bought a snoogle, and have explained in previous posts The Wonderfulness Of It All. but i am still human, which means i can't stay in the same position all night. so even if i've managed to stay half asleep during the awakening and the trip to the washroom, then certainly the repositioning/flipping of the pillow wakes me up fully. lying back down on the same side makes me feel really uncomfortable though so it's necessary. every once in awhile i question whether it would be easier just to flop back into bed and not do the body pillow thing. 

but 1. at 23 weeks i'm pretty sure my days of "flopping" are long gone. and 2. my back, without support will immediately go on strike and scream "bring back the snoogle!!" i can still manage to get into my favourite position of stomach down, one leg hitched up (with some creative positioning), but if i don't fall asleep within two minutes the pain in my lower back puts the kaibosh on the whole affair.

anxiety/insomnia

so once i've woken, oriented myself from my crazy dreams, peed, rearranged the pillows, and tucked myself in - i just have to get to sleep! but wait...what was that sharp pain? why does my belly feel so tight? do i feel nauseous?? maybe the hokey pokey really is what it's all about! and alas...the anxiety sets in. and then i can't get back to sleep.

body

up until a few weeks ago, i hadn't really noticed the changes in my body.

physical

i can definitely feel the fact that there is a growing baby inside me. maybe it's a first timer thing but i'm very conscious when leaning over and getting up from a seated position. partly it's just uncomfortable, and part of me is scared i'm going to squish the lil guy! i've started doing the whole "one arm push, one arm balance, groan and lean back while getting up" pregnant lady maneuver. also, things like putting on boots, getting in and out of cars, and climbing stairs have become whole 'events.'

visual
i'm not joking when i say that up until very recently i was convinced that my belly didn't look that different (chubby) than before. but now i see it! it really does look like a pregnant tummy. most things i wear though don't emphasize it very much however, which is fine with me. now that i see it so clearly, i'm thinking i must not have been as big as i thought before! (if that makes sense). 

everything else is pretty much the same size as far as i can tell.

aside from the issue of trying to get up, or balance, i'm more comfortable in my body then i have ever been. and that feels great!

diet
i'm definitely not eating as well as i did in the first trimester. but i'm making proper dinners for jon and myself way more than i ever have in the past. i'm pretty into sweets...though not chocolate so much. but whereas before i might have eaten a whole box of cookies in one sitting, now i can't manage more than one or two. it's the same with meals, i can barely finish a recommended portion of anything! but it goes without saying that i am hungry often. as in, every 30 minutes.

vitamins

i've finally started taking proper prenatal vitamins (rather than the mix and match plus flintstones vitamin). but the morning pill includes a ton of iron which means i have to take it with food (though an empty stomach is supposedly best) and a huge glass of orange juice (so that it doesn't make me feel sick) i can't have any calcium or eggs three hours before or after the iron. which, when you think about it, is a huge bummer because it cancels out most delicious breakfast options (scrambled eggs! french toast! cereal! chocolate milk!).