I always suspected the 3rd trimester would be the
hardest and now I know why. The physical toll is mounting, exhaustion is rising
and last night I had my first labour scare – 61 days to go!
I’m still not feeling great from my cold on the weekend so I
know that’s impacting how I feel. This is only my second pregnancy cold but it
seems to have hit me much harder than last time. There is no choice but to ride
it out because I can’t take anything. The best I can do is use a nasal spray to
help me breathe, suck on some cough lollies to ease the sore throat and take
some paracetamol for the headaches. As a
result, it just seems to be hanging around and I’m sure making the effort to
drag myself into work this week hasn’t helped.
I was desperate for a decent night sleep last night because
I’ve been waking up coughing and trying to snort through a stuffed nose. Alas,
it didn’t happen. I was asleep on my back and went to roll over when I was woken
up by a stabbing pain in the right side of my lower belly. I screamed out in
pain and had to roll back onto my back. I suspected it was my round ligament
playing up again but the intensity of the spasm was so intense I thought it might
be labour contractions.
I freaked out thinking it was far too early for labour but
couldn’t continue the train of thought because I had to breathe through the ligament
contractions. The pain was so intense I had to pant like a dog until it started
to subside and then start deep breathing until it stopped. My poor husband gets
so worried when this happens because I can’t talk. He wakes up, asks if I’m ok
and just has to wait for an answer. At least he has an idea of what’s happening
now but all he can do is just rub my side, back or arm until it all stops and I
can reassure him I’m ok.
It always takes me a while to get back to sleep after this
happens because the shock of waking up like this shakes me up a bit. I need to
spend time reassuring myself that Sticky and I are both ok, know the pain has
stopped and calm down enough to go back to sleep. Between this and the leg
cramps, I’m now at the stage where I would pay money to sleep through the
night!
The problem is, the repercussions continue the next day. I
feel exhausted from the disrupted sleep and I have a lingering pain from where
the ligament was contracting. As I got ready this morning, I felt like I had to
hold the right side of my belly up as it ached. The ache gradually subsides but
it’s reactivated everytime I sneeze or
cough.
So needless to say my desire to get on a train and trek into
work this morning was pretty much non-existent. It was made worse by the fact
we got to the train station to find out the trains weren’t working so had to
drive to another station. It wasn’t really a big deal but it was just a hassle
that required more energy to be spent from an empty reserve tank. By the time I stopped at the shop to get
something for my farewell afternoon tea, and walked the rest of the way to
work, it had taken me 1.5 hours to get to work. If I could curl up under my
desk and go to sleep, I would!
However, the day was not a total loss. My work colleagues
put on a lovely farewell afternoon tea for me including these adorable Tiny
Teddy chocolates! They gave me a beautiful gift including some wraps, a night light
and some body cream. I was very touched by their thoughtfulness and a little
overwhelmed by the reality that I finish work tomorrow. The prospect of no
longer coming to work everyday seems very surreal to me. I feel a mixture of
sadness, anxiety and excitement. But it
means Sticky will soon be here and that is something I’m very happy to
celebrate!
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