Is this the sucky part?

So I think I have to start admitting to myself that the sucky part of pregnancy has begun.  Or maybe I just had a bad day yesterday, I don’t know.  But some of the fears I had had about the third trimester have at last begun – and thank goodness only in the final month.  You want to hear all about it?  Sure you do!

I have had a very unwelcome return to the nausea.  It’s not as bad as the first trimester, but it is there.  I had intended to have a pleasant evening at home last night, maybe even do a little nursery organizing, but instead got knocked out by a wave of illness and had to just lie down uncomfortably on the couch for hours until I had to admit defeat and get into bed around 10 PM.  This has happened off and on for the last couple of weeks.  Usually after I eat I just don’t feel so hot and have to take it easy. Couldn’t have dinner because nothing looked appealing.  Well, if this is my lot from now on, at least it’s only four more weeks!  Anything will beat that three month marathon in the beginning, for sure.

My new waking up mantra is “ow ow ow”.  My legs cramp in the night from sleeping in the same side positions, and it’s extremely painful trying to work them out.  Although the heartburn is nothing like it was a few weeks ago (the baby must be moving down), it’s still there from time to time, so I still get a sudden sharp pain in my heart especially when I’m trying to sleep.  And here’s a new one – I think I’m developing that third trimester carpal tunnel, because my hands, especially my left, hurt a lot all the time.  Sure, they’re a little swollen, but I don’t think that’s it – the joints, especially my wrists, kill, and it makes it very hard to make a fist or grasp anything.  So my morning routine usually involves trying to turn over so I can roll out of bed, and the cramp in my leg firing up, and then trying to grip something with my left hand and that being extremely painful, and then getting a jab of old heartburn in my heart, and then some weird pully-stretchy feeling in my stomach if I move too abruptly.  Good times! “Ow ow ow” indeed. 

I was super wiped out yesterday all day long which makes me worry about some of the things I have coming up – mainly my two day photo shoot, and some remaining gigs, and spending this entire week doing my taxes, anything that will tie me up for more than a few hours.  Will I be able to do this stuff?  And also the normal household duties which are endless when you’re a single homeowner – dishes, laundry, cooking, garbage out, taking care of pets, getting gas in the car, keeping things neat?  Was yesterday just an anomaly?  I actually kind of feel up for a hike today which means maybe I’m on the mend.  But I am a little worried that Manatee Season is at last upon me.

At least today I get to enjoy a nice Oscar party and that’s pretty much it.  And then it’s taxes all week, and I am still trying to squeeze in that kitchen facelift before the end of the month – I kind of can’t afford it, but I think I’d really regret it if I didn’t just suck it up and get the damned kitchen painted already, because once the baby is here I’m just never going to want to take care of projects like that because of the fumes/dust/inconvenience/expense, and then it’ll be another ten years of deterioration before the kitchen gets spruced up. So it really needs to happen now.  Oh, and my nursery is still a mess of boxes and piles of clothes with nothing actually practical for the baby – like prepared cloth diapers, wipes, a place for him to sleep, etc – ready to go.  *le sigh*