Month: September 2018

Lucky

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Maybe I shouldn’t say this (because of the possibility of jinxing – again – I swear I’m not ACTUALLY superstitious), but I’ve been pretty lucky this pregnancy.  All of the classic symptoms and irritations, if I’ve had them at all, have been pretty mild.  My version of morning sickness in the first trimester was just a terrible taste in my mouth for weeks on end.  And sure, I complained plenty (it was disgusting), but it didn’t keep me from doing anything and it was WAY better than constant nausea or vomiting.  I’ve been dealing with pregnancy brain (John just referred to it as my inability to function) when I need to eat, but I haven’t had ANY food cravings or aversions, I haven’t been terribly uncomfortable physically (even now, at 38 weeks), I’ve barely had any hot flashes, I’m not super tired, and any swelling has largely confined itself to my feet and mostly only happens on really hot days.  That has changed a bit in the last week – my feet are almost constantly swollen now – but if that’s the worst, I can hardly complain.

The worst thing that has happened during this pregnancy isn’t pregnancy-related at all.  We (me, John, the doctor) think I had a brush with poison ivy about a week ago.  It’s mostly on my feet, maybe a little bit on my ankles and my fingers, and IT’S AWFUL AND I HATE IT AND WHEN WILL IT GO AWAY?

It’s a constant burning/itching that gets worse at night and nothing seems to help except soaking in cold water, but I can’t live my life with my feet in a tub and my hands in a bowl and JESUS CHRIST IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY.  Also, I can’t sleep through it, and for the last week or so (since Saturday, maybe?) I haven’t slept more than an hour at a time until around 2am, when I get up to soak my feet for an hour or two, and then I’m able to sleep for 2-3 hours until I can’t anymore and I just get up.  I have to fall asleep quickly, while my feet are still numb-ish, and if I accidentally rub them on something, it’s game over.

Weirdly, I’m not napping during the day and I don’t feel as exhausted as I should.  Maybe I’m adapting early to the (lack of) sleep schedule I’m anticipating when the baby comes.

On the bright side, I’m getting a lot of reading done in those hours with my feet in the tub.

Mosquitos have some nerve

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I have been really lucky in the mosquito bite department this summer.  You all know how irresistible I am to those bastards, and from everything I’ve read, the increased blood flow from pregnancy is supposed to amp that up, but I’ve only been bitten two or three times the entire summer and that’s without using bug spray (mostly – I’ve used it here and there).

I realize it’s still summer and I’m totally jinxing myself, but I’ve been thinking it for months and how different is thinking it to myself versus writing it down when you get down to it?  If I were going to be jinxed, it would have happened already is what I’m saying.

Although maybe my jinx has occurred, but in a sneakier form. More on that in a bit. Maybe tomorrow.

One of my tiny handful of mosquito bites was about six inches above my belly button.  That bloodsucking jerk was trying to get at the delicious innocent goodness percolating in there!  I found it one morning and also found that I took my revenge and killed the perpetrator by rolling over on it in my sleep.  I don’t particularly like waking up to smushed mosquitoes in my bed level with my midsection, but at least it won’t strike again.

(Note the lengths to which I’m going to avoid saying “baby bump”. Not my favorite term. Too cutesy.  But distended abdomen is a bit too clinical…)

Hi

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This has been one of my worst years, if not the worst, for blogging.  I don’t really have a reason for it.  I mean, I’ve been pregnant the entire year so far, and I’m sure that has plenty to do with it, but I’m not sure exactly in what way.  It’s not like I don’t sit in front of a computer all day, every day (still), and it’s not like there aren’t things to talk about.  I suppose I’ve been trying not to be all-pregnancy, all-the-time around here, sometimes consciously, sometimes not.

I have no intention of stopping (the blog – I have every intention of not being pregnant anymore REAL SOON NOW), but it seems kind of sad that I’ve been so absent THIS year of all years.  In a couple of months, we’ll be looking at the 10th anniversary of my blog, and I feel like this year shouldn’t count.  Especially since I can’t imagine I’ll be writing all that much while the baby is tiny.  Maybe I’ll surprise myself (and everyone else).

My plan, that I will not stress myself into sticking to, is to not worry about whether I’m all-pregnancy or all-baby or all-books or whatever and just write something.  For nearly 10 years, my only theme has been that there is no theme (and no standards – thank goodness I set that expectation up from the start!), so why worry about it now?

Anyway, hi.

Butterfly in Amber by Camilla Monk

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Started: 9/1/18
Finished: 9/3/18

The fourth in the Spotless series.  I nearly put this one down (lack of caring what happens to these characters), but it’s the last one (I think), and it was easy enough for me to keep going in the middle of the night when I was soaking my feet in the tub.