Four More Weeks

"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."  This has been my mantra lately.  I am 36 weeks pregnant today, meaning I have four more weeks to go!  Somehow, that sounds like a long time.  This pregnancy has been tougher than the last.  Granted, I had a sort of magical pregnancy with Caleb - besides being positively gigantic, I had no real complaints.  I didn't have back pain, I didn't have heartburn, I didn't have swelling, I didn't have trouble sleeping....  It was quite smooth.  So compared to that, I suppose anything less would make me grumpy.

My morning sickness was definitely worse this time around.  I was throwing up every day for awhile, and once with Caleb crying and clawing at my back while I hovered over the toilet because he decided he needed me in that very moment for whatever reason.  It was awesome.  When the nausea subsided I hit a smooth phase for awhile and had no real complaints.  I thought I was back on Easy Street.  But then our son started walking and getting into everything which meant he needed to be chased around fairly constantly, which meant I was bending over and picking up his 25-pound frame quite often.  This, combined with my steadily growing mid-section, led to my initial back pain.

That was earlier this summer.  Now it's the end of September and I've had steady back pain for months now.  I've tried a belly band, I've tried Tylenol, I've tried ice.  Sometimes they help, sometimes they don't.  Tomorrow I'll be trying physical therapy.  Now, however, an even worse calamity has befallen me: SI joint pain.  I didn't even know I had an SI joint until Eli told me that's what was causing me pain.  Basically, I have intense pain in my butt.  Sounds lovely, huh?  It hurts to move, and going up/down stairs (which I unfortunately have to do a lot) is dismal.  By the end of each day, if not before, I am limping everywhere I go.  People might see me and think I have an odd waddle.  But it's not a waddle.  It's a true limp because my butt hurts so much!  I'm so angry at my SI joint, now that I know it exists...

Oh, and my hands have been swollen for weeks, and I haven't slept well in what seems like forever.  And I've still been so exhausted that my doctor even checked my thyroid levels to make sure there wasn't something else going on besides pregnancy (there's not).  But at least I don't have heartburn!

So anyway, there are four weeks left (at most!) and I am surviving one day at a time as I chase our toddler around.  Eli is currently finishing his last day on one of the worst rotations he'll have all year (he's currently on Day 7 of 13 days straight without a day off....have I ever mentioned how much I love my husband's job?) but then the next couple months should be much better.  I've struggled this past month with taking care of Caleb by myself, but Eli should be around more in these next four weeks as I huff and puff up the stairs and limp my way around Duluth.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

36 weeks

Do I look ready to pop?