Due Aug 8th 2009

I started a blog about me being newly married and pregnant quite awhile ago and didn't keep up with it at all. When I decided to blog again, I considered just updating that one, but I didn't think that it fit. So much time has gone by that instead of trying to catch everyone up, I thought I'd just start again. I looked at the date and saw that I have exactly 2 months left until my scheduled due date. These last two months will be a completely different experience than anything I've gone through so far, and I hope to get any feedback/advice that anyone has to offer.

Last night, if I'm counting right, I woke up seven times. Four of those were to get up and pee, and the other three were sharp reminders to stop sleeping on my back. I purposely fall asleep on my side with a body pillow for support. It appears that I really hate that position because every time I wake up, I'm on my back. This has been a struggle since the middle of the second trimester as sleeping on back left me with little lung capacity. Apparently that wasn't enough to break the habit though because now when I wake up I am in horrible pain. When the pain starts, when my lower back starts to hurt and my muscles start to tighten, do I automatically turn over? No, my sleeping-self ignores it and I only wake up when I can feel my back seizing up over and over and it hurts to even breathe.

Last night I woke myself up twice not by the pain, but by me crying out in pain. As soon as I wake up, I get out of bed and start trying to stretch my back out to soothe it. When the pressure (that would be my belly) is off my spine, it gets better quickly, but even now I am left with reminders of last night in form of extreme soreness and an inability to stretch or crack my back at all. (Normally I can still crack the upper and very lower parts of my back.)

With that, there is also the fact that I am exhausted. There is no way that a person can get out of bed 7 times a night and be fully rested. I've gotten to the point that I can stumble to the bathroom with my eyes barely open to pee and then fall asleep pretty soon after I climb back into bed, but I'm still yawning and considering taking a nap, although my back wants me to go swimming instead.

I googled the problems sleeping that I've been having just to see if anyone had any advice other than limiting liquids before bed and sleeping on my side (I TRY!), but was just rewarded with a reminder that frequent urination, back pain, and trouble sleeping is simply a part of the pregnancy condition.

Cheers.