Nevergirl’s

I woke up five minutes before lunchtime to find Alex thrusting dibidis into my hands. She was grinning from ear to ear, proudly, as if she had done something stellar. “Tita Line left that for you. Ako ni-talk niya because you and Dad were sleeping.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Rember* Dad said he will be mad at me if I disturb you and Charlie while you’re sleeping?”

Ah yes, strict orders to let the pregnant woman sleep. The hub gave it, the doc gave it; but the pregnant woman has trouble following it because a) her stomach is so heavy she aches all over and it doesn’t matter whether she’s lying down, sitting, or standing; b) the bump has gotten so huge there’s no comfortable way to sleep at all; c) the neighbor – the one whose one-time win in a local singing contest has convinced her she’s the next Sarah Geronimo – just wouldn’t stop trilling, “You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand.”

I wonder how other pregnant women sleep. It’s the one thing I’m having a lot of problems with. The bump has gotten so heavy it interferes with my gravitational center. No matter which way I turn, I hurt. My back hurts, my waist hurts, my neck hurts, my shoulders hurt. And it’s not just sleeping I’m having problems with. The weight I’m carrying has turned simple activities into mini-ordeals. Sitting down for lunch is painful and so is going up and down the stairs. The only activity I can do freely and easily is eat, and I’ve been having a go at it like it’s nobody’s business. Before lunch, you’d find me eating fruit and crackers. After lunch, I’d be happily lounging before the TV eating salad and qaurtered apples. I refuse to worry about the weight gain. Eating takes my mind off the boredom and the pain.

I will be happy to pop. I’ve been dreading the day because while I may have forgotten many things about getting pregnant the first time around, the pain is the one thing I vividly remember — and this recollection becomes increasingly clearer the nearer I get to D Day. Still, 15 pounds is a lot of weight to lug around. I need respite from all this weight-lifting, and I need it so bad I’ve actually taken to begging my doc and the hub to let me walk about. Walking counts as a strenuous activity for me and if I do it often enough, I’ll go into labor. In theory, anyway.

Here’s to turning 34 weeks tomorrow!

* Rember – Alex’s way of saying Remember
** Thanks Line for the Dark Angel DVDs.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 1:54 am and is filed under While on baby leave. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.