And The Real Pregnancy Begins

Aw man! And it was going so well. A few people have asked me why I suddenly seem less excited about this pregnancy (even the Doctor snuck in a Depression Check on me, just to make sure I'm OK.) I am OK, really! Just... disappointed.

Last week, you could say I got really, really pregnant for the first time (not that there are gradient levels of maternity!) The 2nd trimester had been going along so well... I could hold my pee again, I could sleep again, I had no bowel issues like so many women do, I was not really in any pain or having any issues other than skin issues on my face -- but even the skin on my growing tummy is looking beautiful, so I wasn't concerned. I knew changes were a-comin', but I thought I had a few weeks.

I thought wrong!

Record of Pain
Last Sunday, as with all recent Sundays, I went to bed exhausted. It's the busiest day of my week (so much for the Sabbath, but that's what I get for becoming very involved at church!) I woke up in pain. Pain! My lower abdomen hurt on and off all day. I thought it was gluten-related -- perhaps I had a piece of candy or a tortilla chip somewhere that had gluten in it? It had to be hidden in something. Eventually it started to subside, so I thought I was good.

Monday night, I hardly slept at all. I was in so. much. PAIN! But it was really low pain, down where there's nothing there. It couldn't be the baby. I didn't think it was my bladder. By evening however, it had greatly subsided. Dinner actually seemed to ease the pain, which is not how gluten intolerance usually goes! Given my dramatic post-dinner recovery, I thought I'd be fine by morning.

Wednesday morning, I woke up in pain. Pain. PAIN!!! Now it was time to call the Doctor. I thought I had a bladder infection that I'd let fester over the past couple days until now it hurt hurt hurt like heck. But I had no other symptoms that usually go along with such an infection. But it Hurt, and there are no other organs down there. The Doc managed to squeeze me in in the early afternoon.

The Doc Offers Congratulations... and Sympathies
The urinalysis results in, the first thing my Doctor did was... congratulate and thank me for having the healthiest, cleanest pee she'd seen in a woman 22 weeks pregnant in a long, long, very long time. No bladder infection here!

Then we talked, and the reason for my pain became clear. There are two parts to it:

• The minor annoyance and occasional pain caused by the baby kicking my bladder all night long as I try to sleep. All pregnant women deal with this.
• The previously undiscovered hernia/damaged tissue in my abdomenal wall caused by celiac disease, which did not have time to fully heal before I got pregnant.

Thus, the baby had grown large enough to kick pound kick my damaged tissue -- right next to my bladder -- and aggravate it, which would further aggravate the pounding also being done to my bladder. And Ooh does it hurt! There were a few times last week I could hardly move, let alone stand up and walk. Ouch!!!

Simple Solutions (Sorta)
So I am allowed pretty much all the Tylenol I want (not to exceed yadda yadda), I have a maternity band to releive pressure on my battered innards, and I must change positions several times a night in order to encourage the baby to kick different parts of me rather than just one or two spots all night. So far, it is really helping, but I'm pretty much guaranteed to not feel comfortable/entirely without pain again until after the baby is born. Plus the position the Doctor wants me to use when sleeping on my back - small pillow wedged under right hip - makes my hip hurt pretty bad, but it's preferable to the abdominal pains. As I lay in bed in the middle of the night, I make my choice: hip or bladder? I chose one and go with it. Fortunately I can't forget to wake up and change positions -- with all the assault my bladder is taking, it has again become impossible for me to sleep more than 2 hrs at a time.

I would have rather had a bladder infection!!!