You've come to my Archived Blog, The Little Blueberry, from 2009- 2013 with a few popular posts remaining up for reading purposes only. This site is no longer being actively promoted or included in searches and is not maintained.

Thanks!
Erin

I can't Turn Over. Week 34.

I now officially weigh in at 146. I know most women hate discussing their weight, but to really understand how pregnancy changes you mentally and physically, you've got to comprehend such quick weight gain. In 8 months I have gone from 105 to 146. That's 41 pounds extra on my 5'2" frame. And I'm still a little over a month to go, which means more weight to gain!

But this isn't something I haven't ever experienced before. For the first few weeks on the Appalachian Trail (back in '06), I carried a pack that weighed a little over 40 pounds. While the calorie intake probably isn't too different than my AT hiker hunger, the difference between then and now is that: the baby is in the front of my body and my belly doesn't have movable straps that allow for adjustability when I'm uncomfortable.

Sometimes he pushes on some nerve near my back and pain shoots down my right leg... sometimes it even makes me lose my balance and appear tipsy, which is fine if I need to blend into a bar setting (of course, then my belly is a huge giveaway to the fact that I'm not drunk). Other times it's as though I've got something round and hard like a rock (or a baby's head) internally bouncing on my bladder. Each step is like my poor abused bladder is being forced downward. In fact, I keep waiting for it to launch out of my body and land on the sidewalk. I'd probably look down and shrug, since I knew the fall was inevitable. Then I'd discretely pick it up and shove it into my purse to reposition later. At least that way, I'd get a brief reprieve from making the bathroom the most popular room in our house.

In any case, the most difficult thing about the physicality of being pregnant? Not the sickness, the fatigue, the swollen hands and feet, peeing every hour or two, or the weight gain, but the fact that I am stuck on my back, limbs flailing in the air, shell shifting side to side in an attempt to roll over.



So, I've been trying out all sorts of techniques for getting out of bed. No matter which I've used, each is equally embarassing and will definitely take away part of the independance that you have felt prior to being pregnant while leaving you feeling a little less dignified about being feminine and feeling more like a cliched beached whale.

1- The Pull-Up: In this situation, I use the bed's headboard to pull myself to a semi-seated position and then use my arms and legs to get me sitting up.

2- The Grip and Go: By stretching my arms across the bed to the lip of the mattress, I get just enough mattress to roll myself the remainder of the way over.

3- The Roll: If I rock back and forth enough, I eventually get over.

4- The Assist: This is when someone else gives you a hand and helps you out of bed. It's also my personal favorite.

So after trying these and various other versions of these techniques, what kind of solution could really help? Carrie from Babycenter.com writes, "In the third trimester, turning over in bed is a nightmare. The solution? Big satin pajamas and even satin sheets — the slipperiness of satin helps tremendously!"

I like the idea, especially since it involves wearing soft and comfy PJs. It'd also be fun to run and slide across the bed. So, I'm going to head online and do a search for some Soft Silky Satin Sheets and a Satin Pajamas Set and try to get a good nights rest. I'll let you know how it goes.