Quick out-take

I just thought that, amid all the grumping and recording of symptoms, I should take a moment to recognize that, in fact, I've been pretty lucky on some fronts. In addition to my and Speck's general good health, I've been spared the following common ailments of pregnancy:

1. Morning sickness! This one should count twice, since queasiness really affects your whole life outlook, and I've known people who had to tiptoe around their sensibilities for many months. I wore "sea bands" for a week or two, and I'm eating a lot of ice now, but there was no danger of losing my breakfast at any point. whew!
   
   Edit: this should include the good fortune that I've been able to take prenatal vitamins with no problem (even in the morning!); perhaps it helps that I started months before I was pregnant. Who knows.
   
   
2. Back-ache. I don't know if I was just in pretty good shape going in, or if some combination of the baby's smallness with my build just protected me, but I've made it into the ninth month with no aching back woes. My joints (esp. hips) get stiff, and there are plenty of other discomforts, but again, major back pain is the sort of thing that can color your whole experience to a much more substantial degree, and I appear to have gotten lucky. In fact, have considered a pregnancy girdle, and generally concluded that I don't have any sagging or pulling that needs intervention.
   
   
3. Stretch itch. In fact, only in the last week or so (say, week 35-36) have I had any stretch marks, and then just a couple of them (reddish welts) just in front of my hips (where I have other whiter marks from a weight gain in highschool). Have rubbed my tummy pretty religiously with a pleasant, thick, lanolin/cocoabutter cream from the moment there was a tangible bump, but really haven't had much sense that things were being painfully distorted. (Of course, this might just mean that I was a bit pudgy to begin with, so I did more rearranging than stretching, or it might reflect decent abdominal wall strength holding it all in...)

Hopefully the act of making this list won't tempt the fates. I am having various discomforts now (week 37), especially in finding good sleeping and sitting positions, and am tired and a bit queasy on and off all the time, but pregnancy is a long haul, so anything that's limited to the last <3 weeks is a pretty easy load . . .