A Little Christmas Whining

I know it is Christmas Eve and all is supposed to be merry and bright but I am swollen and tired. With about 8-12 weeks left I am still happily cooking this little turkey but I am definitely becoming aware that pregnancy is an endurance event. I have hit the third trimester at the tail end of my work stretch and I am getting tired. My joints hurt often. My hips and the joint that connects my pelvis and my sacrum (sacroiliac joint for you anatonerds out there) is cranky a LOT. I get up from sitting or from bed and have to walk gingerly for a few steps while things settle. My hips are starting to get sick of being the only show in town for sleeping. I even have a body pillow but side sleeping for 5 months when you are naturally a tree frogging belly sleeper makes your usually agreeable hips resentful. I am back to needing naps during the day or risk suffering mainframe shutdown. This was a common occurrence in first trimester often accompanied by crying or obsessive worry over nothing. I am happy to report this trimester it is mostly just crushing exhaustion that comes after a day of what my alter ego would call "normal life". I am not "upset" per say. I am more a little wistful for my bygone days of sleep as solid as a tree trunk and as deep as the north Atlantic. If I had known my sleep was going to be so patchy and uncomfortable I would have paid better attention to the last few bliss full nights while I had them. Another fun thing is the swelling. I think it might be time to watch my salt intake as I have woken up with my face feeling swollen the last two days. It goes away after a water bottle and several trips to the bathroom but it is damned uncomfortable. It makes my fingers and feet ache too. I am looking at three more work rotations. I work 4 on 4 off so that means 24 more days until I am done. I am ready to be done. Work is hard and uncomfortable and makes it hard for me to find the energy or strength to do the things I need to do like get to the friggen pool, meditate, read about breast feeding, set up the baby's room. I have a lot to do in the mental and physical world and those 5-8 weeks are going to fly by. I had been worried about working the last three rotations but I have a buddy in his premed period who will be off of school for a few weeks over the break. He is a part timer and looking for shifts. He happily took my 4th day for the next 2 weeks and I need to offer him the last one as well. A 3 day week is much more manageable for my body right now. Thank GOD or Garry. I am not sure what I would have done otherwise. Probably cry and spend several days pay on expensive massages. :) Anyway, I am chugging along. Sort of perpetually tired, and swollen and in need of a bathroom. I would not change a THING. My pregnancy has been so easy compared to some. I am a very blessed woman. I have the best husband in the whole wide world. He understands (somehow) that I am working round the clock on this kiddo and he has no expectations of me except to take the best care I can of myself and to ask for help when I need it. He is always supportive of a nap or a snack and always very supportive when I manage to accomplish something around the house. Why, just the other night we cleaned the house like CRAZY and then had a 14 person dinner party. It was awesome. I was totally exhausted the next day. I know this is not the hard part and the hard part is the sleep deprivation where you are also getting shat on, yelled at and robbed of your vital nutrients for the production of the yelling and the shitting.... but, I am excited for that phase. At least then, I will be able to sleep on my belly. :)