Physical and Sleeping Challenges. February 27 through March 4, 2011

As my belly continues to grow, I am having to relearn comfortable sleeping positions. I am so conscious in the deepest sleep when I roll over onto my back, my former favorite sleeping position, that I wake up and alter the pillow walls I have surrounding me so I can't do it again. Everything says you're not allowed to sleep on your back, so my brain is trained to wake me up now. One painful thing about sleeping on my side is my ears. I guess if I roll over, I fold the top of my ear down, and you would never know that a folded ear for any extended period of time was so painful unless you've experienced it! Not just that, but my lower back isn't taking this whole side-sleeping bit too well, either. Luckily, my sister-in-law told me to have something always supporting my lower back, and my dog Cotton (who is five pounds) apparently read that too, because for a few nights following that advice, Cotton slept directly in the crevice of my lower back, creating just the support I needed for a great night's sleep! One other more embarrassing aspect of sleeping on my side is the fact that I am a chronic side-sleeping drooler. Yep, I said it. I DROOL. So do you; it probably just dries in the morning and gives you an excuse to deny it. =D Anyway, waking up in the middle of the night to that is just as unpleasant as it sounds. Shew. Sleeping really is a production nowadays!

I've also been noticing another change. Slowly but surely, I'm seeing what used to be my belly button as an outline on my skin. And I find that, when I lean either to the left or to the right, it begins to poke out. If I've had a big dinner, it pokes out. If the baby puts pressure on it, it pokes out. WHAT?! So, I've vowed that when the inevitable happens and my belly button protrudes from my body, I shall resort to putting a bandaid over it. Not just for me, but I don't think my husband likes it too much, either. Not because it's gross- but because- IT'S WEIRD!

With a bigger belly comes more attention, of course. I'm sure you all remember in a previous blog the gentleman of whom I spoke when I was in the kitchen at work. I'll give you a reminder: The one who had the proper manners to tell me he thought that marriage was just causing me to get fat. Right, him. So, I'm cooking my lunch in the kitchen and he strolls on in there and exclaims, "Wow! You're looking more pregnant now, huh?" I took this opportunity to use subtle wit and said, "Yeah, it's not just me getting fat." Very kindly, smiley, and all of that good stuff. But, I just had to!

I've implemented an at-work workout routine as well. I tend to run into a lot of people while I'm doing my six flights of steps, three times per day, and sometimes I'll take the stairs down to the third floor to see some of the folks on my team, or help out a few of the linguists who need it. This particular day, I was headed downstairs to get my gas mask and as I walked into the third floor, I of course saw about 10 people I knew immediately, all of whom wanted to talk to me and make sure that the baby and I were doing great. One lady in particular is a lady with whom I do not often converse, nor do I know her very well. So, I found it quite odd when she walked up to me and began rubbing my belly. My friend looked at me and said, "I don't know how you let people do that." You know, at first, I really didn't enjoy that. I'm not someone who enjoys being touched. But, when I thought about it a while longer, it's not me they're excited about; they're not touching me just because they want to. They're touching my son. This little life inside me and they're giving him a pat or rub of encouragement and love; and I decided that I'll take as many of those as my colleagues would like to give.<3