One Pregnant Day

This is what an average day now looks like for me:

2:00am and 5:00am (with surprising accuracy): Wake up and go to the bathroom. Some nights I wake up every time I need to turn over (because the muscle pain and odd sleeping angle makes it too complicated to do unconsciously).

8:00am: First alarm goes off. I take a maxolon without getting up. Usually have a cramp or two.

8:30am: Second alarm goes off. Drink a small glass of water, then get out of bed (probably visit the bathroom again) and go upstairs. Prep frozen raspberries to defrost on the table, put a tape on for three hours of daytime TV (which will take about two hours to watch due to all the ads, infomercials, and cooking segments). Eat Special K for breakfast (and vitamins B, C, D and iron) while checking email, posting the day’s twittertale segment, and perhaps writing a blog or reading some others.

9:00am: Go back to bed feeling ill.

12:00ish: Wake up and watch that morning’s tape while eating yogurt and raspberries, then a milo (can’t handle water yet, but I’m probably already dehydrated. The milo makes me feel sicker but the chocolate content makes it worthwhile), then a lunch of either peanut butter and honey weetbix sandwiches or bread with butter or nutella. I try to have at least 100mL of water with lunch, which quite often comes straight back up (but not into proper vomit; just a warning shot). Some chocolate or lollies as a reward for drinking water, and some kegel exercises.

1:00ish: Feeling good. Brush teeth, then immediately eat cheese and crackers (with up to 200mL of water) to dissipate the resulting nausea. Have metamucil (yuck).

1:30: Shower and/or pick one of the following: household chores or one errand or one visit to a friend or some writing or two minutes of extremely gentle riding on the exercise bike.

3-6pm: As above, but if I have a student I see them in this window, and try to avoid leaving the house at all that day so I’m well enough to do my one pathetic hour of work. Eat something starchy for afternoon tea as nausea comes back. Try to drink more water – or, failing that, another milo (while distracting myself with repeats of old comedies on TV).

5:30: Take one zofran, then keep still for half an hour, then have a snack to minimise pre-dinner nausea, along with at least 100mL of water. Cook/defrost dinner.

7:00: CJ is home, and we eat dinner (I sneak myself some chocolate while he’s not looking). I try to drink at least 100mL of water with dinner, and it often causes another regurgitation attempt. I reward myself with more chocolate, then have gaviscon and stay still for half an hour. Kegel exercises. Usually feeling pretty good nausea-wise although the lingering smell of dinner is gross.

8:00: I do some very gentle stretches on an exercise ball to help with back pain. If I’m doing well, I’ll do two minutes on the exercise bike. If I’m doing really really well I’ll do the dishes (about once a month).

10:00: Another snack (ideally yogurt, sometimes popcorn or more bready starch), and some more gaviscon.  Stay very still for the next couple of hours (other than back-pain fidgeting) as muscle pain and nausea increases (generally I swallow vomit once or twice). Start getting super excited about bed time.

11:30/12: Go to sleep.

There are so many things to do every day (all the medicines and exercises and making sure I don’t get hungry), especially in the non-nausous window in the afternoon, that I often feel oddly busy despite devoting most of my days to passing the time until I can give birth and be non-nauseous once again.

My standard day is made up of about 11 hours of sleep, 8 hours of TV, 2 hours of staring into space, 1 hour of other activities (reading, talking on the phone), and 2 hours of doing something useful (including showering, brushing my teeth, and checking the mail). Some days – like yesterday – I do absolutely nothing. (I was so tired out and spacey that I cancelled my one tutoring hour, and also cancelled my plan to drive thirty seconds to the local shops to buy milk.)

I do think my nausea is decreasing (probably at least partly because I’m simply doing less) but the fatigue is amazingly intense. I felt drunk absolutely all day yesterday, and my whole body was heavy and sore. Lifting my arms was a huge effort, and walking across the room took a lot of pre-walk psyching up (and generally chocolate – I gained over two kilos this week, yuck). Talking was difficult, too (not for the first time). I concentrated super hard on reaching the end of a thought or sentence, and I still often failed. Slurring felt natural.

As of today, it is four weeks until I reach what CJ calls the “fully baked” stage – when Louisette would be considered early rather than premmie.