The Latest Rude Awakening!

I’m used to waking up in the middle of the night to do the potty shuffle; or because BabyW is having a raging party but the newest Rude Awakening is super painful- leg cramps. For the past four days I’ve had to deal with horrendous charley horses in my right calf- the first day literally brought tears to my eyes. I quickly tried to sit up to rub out the cramp (remember that nothing is done quickly when preggers?) and proceeded to hurt my stomach from squishing BabyW from her nice comfy stretched out position back to fetal style. (and she wasn’t happy and proceeded to give my liver a Tyson-esqe one-two punch); got a nice little head rush from sitting up too fast and rubbing does not help the cramps. You have to flex through it, but that’s easier said than done! Anyways, these cramps are quite common in the third trimester- but they suck.




I’m also finding that my body temperature runs a bit on the warmer side lately; especially this weekend when it was hotter than hell here- the nice balmy 108 degree weather is the hottest that it has been in Sacramento in over two years. Fab.U.Lous. And I get to experience it 7-1/2 months pregnant! Don’t remind me about being pregnant during the Summer- I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that since I’ve been baking BabyW. In all of my 35 years, June through August typically means Summer in North America and temperatures over 90 are pretty much the norm. I have been taking cool showers right before I go to bed and still wake up to turn on the fan (another rude awakening??) So, for comforts’ sake, if I had to choose my last trimester, it certainly wouldn’t have been during a heat wave, but since BabyW is a fertility baby, we’re blessed with what we have! On the positive side- my usual craving of fresh fruit is easy to fulfill during the summer- and strawberries, watermelon, nectarines and pineapple have been SO GOOD this season- not to mention it will be nice to have my maternity leave during the holiday season and the slower period at work.




Speaking of hot, I broke down and purchased a ‘real’ pair of maternity shorts from the Motherhood Maternity outlet- and it was- eek- full price at $29. Ugh- but you have no idea how comfy (and cute!) they are. Or how glad I was to have them on hand on Sunday… I made a pitstop at my parents to soak in their pool yesterday and it rocked. (I think my next purchase is going to be a kiddie wading pool for me to soak in when I get too hot.) Of course my hoped for wading pool pales in comparison, I hope it will get the job done, because as I’m reminded on a daily basis- I’m pregnant in the summer!

Shopping While Pregnant Can Be Dangerous to Your Health...

It’s happened…. I knew it would, but that didn’t cushion the shock any less. I put on my favorite pair of denim shorts (to enjoy the toasty weather...of course I do have to say that the fact that we've had two days that were over 100 degrees in mid-May is not very comforting for someone that is going to go through high summer in their third trimester!) and I couldn’t fasten them- at all! The old rubber band in the button trick didn’t even work. Well, I could but breathing was completely optional then…. I’ve been able to wear most of my pre-preggo wardrobe up until now and have enjoyed “trying” out new maternity clothes (Mom says: “you’ll get sick of those soon enough, you should avoid them while you can.” Smart woman- hope BabyW takes after her!) From here on out, I have a feeling that my daily outfits will consist of those clothes that can fit my growing (and growing…) tummy. At least those clothes are cute, but I have to agree with mom at this point that I will be happy to ditch the maternity clothes soon enough. I read somewhere along the way (while I was still reading the pregnancy books- more about that later!) that you should just box up all of your ‘regular’ clothes and revisit them about four months after the baby is born. I’ve done that with most of my seasonal clothes in preparation for BabyW’s arrival. (The baby’s room is going to be in the room that was formerly another walk-in closet/ catch-all room since we moved into this house) But I wasn’t prepared to do that with the rest of my wardrobe; and my dear hubby would have to say that I am the Immelda Marcos of the clothes world. I love a good deal and hardly pay full price, but I never quite grasped that concept of the “one in, one out rule” with my purchases!




So this little run-in with my shorts…. I swear I didn’t shed a tear. Or even throw a pregzilla tantrum! It did mean one thing… shopping for shorts! To any normal woman, a shopping trip might be fun, but add on a few extra inches and hormones, and it’s a crisis. I couldn’t go for the maternity shorts though; the ‘secret hidden panels’ that really aren’t so hidden or secret are made out of polyester and is scratchy. Not to mention, if you throw bridal/wedding or maternity in front of anything in the retail world, it automatically jacks the price up 30%! I was on the hunt for cotton shorts with a stretchy draw-string waistband… I bought a pair at Kohl’s but after wearing them once, they definitely won’t fit the bill for the rest of the hot summer. So here comes the scavenger hunt: Old Navy- nope; Target- nope; Ross- uh-huh; same with Marshall’s, Wal-mart, or Gap. Aargh! You would think that I was looking for a freakin’ Christmas Tree in June! In comes the rescue call from BFF- Lane Bryant- duh! I’ve been shopping there for years! Thankfully there is a Lane Bryant outlet near my work and I finally found some that will work. Crisis averted.




Oh, I won’t even tell you how hard it was to find flat sandals for work- everything has a 2” heel right now. Like I said, shopping is not quite so fun when you’re pregnant unless it’s for baby clothes, but I’m so banned from that right now. BabyW already has three large storage tubs full of clothes- the kid is still in the womb and she’s better dressed that I am! ( :




<--- See, what looks "secret" about that panel? Ugh.