Pain

Let’s talk pain. I was not in particularly great shape before becoming pregnant, but I definitely wasn’t in terrible shape either. I would walk outside for about 45 mins before work, a few days a week. I had been working with a nutritionist to develop a healthier body image and eating lifestyle. So like I said, I was somewhat healthy.

Once I became pregnant, I was immediately so sick, and I couldn’t work out at all. I couldn’t even stand in the shower, let alone walk for 45 minutes. So I laid in bed a lot watching Netflix, and I would switch things up by coming out and laying on the couch occasionally to watch Netflix. TV got me through most of my pregnancy difficulties (which is so odd because I’m an avid reader, but it did not offer the succor I desperately needed).

Since I wasn’t in phenomenal shape before becoming pregnant, and then I didn’t feel well enough to start walking until I was 5.5 months pregnant, my belly was a decent size before I could actually start moving around. This meant there was pressure on my body to carry the extra weight, after basically being bed ridden for 6 months.

Let’s begin with the inner leg pain that ran from the sides of my bikini line to the tops of my inner thighs. It was as if that line was on fire, all of the time. It felt like my muscles were just on strike, saying, “We’re not holding this belly up anymore.” So this made everything difficult: walking, getting up and down, putting on PANTS. Anytime I had to put on pants, I ended up sweating, out of breath, and exhausted, as if I had run a marathon. And the pain was always worse after I had been sitting or laying down for an extended period of time. I would always need to take a couple of warm up steps before I could catch my stride. In the middle of the night, it was often so bad that Yev had to help me out of bed and carry me the first few steps.

There was even one time I remember, when I was super pregnant, and my inner thighs were just done. I was sitting at our breakfast table with my usual: fruit, eggs, chicken sausage, Russian bread, and Lady Grey tea. I had my fuzzy robe on with my fuzzy socks. I try to find some comfort in a very uncomfortable body. Well let me tell you folks, that was a mistake. When I went to push myself away from the table and planted my feet firming on the floor, they began to slide. Yes SLIDE, like I was trying to do side splits. Because of my inner thigh pain and fuzzy socks, I couldn’t bring my legs back together. I braced myself on the table with my arms, hoping to take the weight off my legs and slow my descent towards the floor, and screamed for Yev. Luckily, he’s gigantic (his nickname is Shrek), and it was no big deal for him to pick me up under my arms and deposit me safely back on the floor, feet firmly next to each other. You can bet I switched to slippers with a no slip grip after that! No more fuzzy socks during pregnancy for me.

This leg pain was intense and especially fun when I had to walk up stairs for work (I started using the back entrance stairs, so clients wouldn’t see me take them excruciatingly slowly on bad days. They would even make comments i.e. “You look like you’re slowing down there, Jacque.” I’m not kidding.). I found I felt better, as long as I kept moving. This was also true of back pain.

In the beginning of my 6th month, I developed excruciating back pain that required weekly adjustments to alleviate discomfort. My doc told me I was the size of most women at the end of their 3rd trimester (i.e. before they were about to deliver) because I was carrying twins. Great. So in addition to weekly adjustments and occasional acupuncture, I made sure to take one to two 20 minute walks every day.

I LIVED by Newton’s first law of motion: An object in motion, stays in motion. I believed that if I kept my body moving, I could escape bed rest. Twin and multiple pregnancies are considered high risk, and some women can end up on best rest for the last couple months of pregnancy. That would have killed my spirit. So I kept moving, bolstered by my faith in Newton (Yev’s a science guy, if you can’t tell), and this worked for me.

I met a woman who took the last four months of her pregnancy off of work. I felt like, what the heck would I do at home? By MYSELF? No thanks, I’ll go to work, vomit in my waste basket, prop my feet up, and chat with coworkers in between reports. I would be doing all of the same things at home but without the support of friends. To each her own though ☺.