The joys of pregnancy.

I shouldn't complain too much...I'm nearly out of the first trimester and have dodged the morning sickness/nausea bullet that plagues 80% of pregnant women throughout their first trimester. However, I have had some other unpleasent issues.

I've been having some serious back pain. The past week+ I've found that if I do anything requiring me to lean over, I get shooting pain in my lower back. By the end of the day, just normal activities leave me feeling like someone has taken a bat to my low back. I finally caved in and bought a heating pad last weekend to help sooth my pain. Mr.P makes fun of me and says I look like an old lady laying on the couch on a heating pad.

I think the cause of this pain is that my uterus is retroverted (meaning, it tilts backwards). The OB said this is nothing to worry about because as the ute grows it will correct itself and rise up. I think that as it's rising out of the backwards tilt, some kind of pressure is being put on the low back. I've also noticed that my stomach is looking even poochier than normal this week, which could be an indication the ute is getting bigger.

We went on a cruise right after finding out I was pregnant, and well, cruise food is good. Too good. I probably gained a good 5 pounds on that trip (but it was so worth it). Add that to the lovely bloat that comes with early pregnancy, and I'm starting to look like there's something there. Truth be told, the baby is the size of a lime, so it's definitely not baby that's showing. Just fat and bloat. I've deployed the use of the Bella Band that my SIL sent me. It is a wonderful creation! It's a stretchy band that I can wear over my waist band under my shirt that allows me to wear pants unbuttoned or unzipped. It's much nicer than buying maternity pants (which by the way, I've tried on several pairs and they do not work with my body shape).

Another one of the joys of pregnancy that I did not know about until becoming pregnant is the whole frequent urination thing. I drink a lot of water normally so I'm used to peeing many times throughout the day. What I was not prepared for was the waking up 2-3 times a night to pee. Seriously. During pregnancy while blood volume increases, there is more fluid pumping through the mom's body. At night when she lays down, excess fluid that settles in the lower extremities during the day finds it's way through the kidney filters, and a full bladder wakes her up. Her being me. (It doesn't help that the ute also sits right on top of the bladder, and as it expands it puts pressure on the bladder). It's annoying because I can't always fall back to sleep right away. I guess it's nature's way of preparing me for waking up to feed/comfort BabyPhinney at night. I feel slightly ripped off though...I was looking forward to enjoying my pregnancy time of sleeping through the night before baby comes!