23 weeks, 3 days

This baby is killing me. No, no, not true. This back pain caused by that fabulous pregnancy hormone 'relaxin' is killing me.  So is the constant need to get up and pee on an hourly basis throughout the night.  So far, I have been pretty good and actually managed to get up most mornings and exercise.  I have even gotten up at 6:30 am with my husband to go to the gym and fling myself on a cardio machine.  This morning, not so much.

It doesn't help having to lie on my side.  I have created a barricade of a single body pillow from Ikea and a number of stuffed animals that I can rest my belly against to keep from flopping over on to my stomach. It takes me literally 5 minutes to maneuver in and out of bed with this construction.  And poor husband, trying to find room to fit in the bed.  I guess I can't feel too badly for him.  He contributed to this state!  Unfortunately, while supplying a healthy blood flow to baby, this is not helping the back pain.  I'm sure waking up every hour isn't helping either.

A new pregnancy symptom has presented itself in the last couple weeks!  Gas and bloating have always been my friends but man, have they ever transformed!  The bloating is my body's way of slowing down digestion so that baby has more of a chance to get nutrients... but the gas? Last Saturday at the gym, I decided to use the cross trainer.  I think the two guys who joined me must have seen me from the back because if they had seen the pregnant belly, I am guessing they would have chosen to work out elsewhere.... i.e. next to a non knocked-up blonde.  Every cross trainer was empty saving the one I was using so I know their choosing to join me on either side wasn't related to lack of options.  I am thinking that because my uterus is now taking up so much room in my body, it is leaving limited space to my intestines and namely, my colon, which is probably related to my inability to hold these noxious waves of death in.  Working out and bouncing around really doesn't help this.  Let's just put it this way.  They didn't stay on the cross trainers next to me for long.

I am trying not to be self conscious about this.  Okay , yes, I feel badly every time my husband and I are in the car together and it is too cold to open the window and he practically asphyxiates.  However, like my expanding belly and my new found need to wear only Crocs, this too is outside of my control.  I have to accept it.  After all, there are only four months left of this.