Eugenious

Warning: Contains pregnant belly shots.

In case you’re wondering . . .

Pregnancy doesn’t really feel like this anymore:

That was taken on Father’s Day. I think I horrified fewer than half a dozen people when this photo was taken. Maybe. I’d performed only three weeks before this in the Traduza show. If anyone was taken aback by a 6 1/2 month pregnant woman doing back shoulder rolls, they kept it to themselves.

This is what I look like now:

And, no, it’s not just the angle of the camera that makes my belly look so low. It really is that low — and has been for a while. When you have a seven-pound person pushing on your pelvis for so many weeks, it makes for occasionally painful hips, hip flexors, and lower back.

I alternately feel like this — because I’ve developed what’s known as PUPPP, or pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy, which is when a pregnant woman’s body decides enough is enough, I’m allergic to being pregnant, and I’m going to make you itch like you have a remarkable case of poison oak until you get this child out of me (some women are induced because the itching is so bad) — and this:

This look is also known as, “I’m almost as big as this house. Please finish my house.”

Really, though, this pregnancy is easier, aside from the wake-you-up-from-deep-sleep itching. My feet aren’t swollen; I can breathe easily, since my diaphragm isn’t pushing up into my lungs; I’m rarely in any pain; and I’m still riding my bike, even while pulling Sylvan (although for short stretches, nothing over two miles; 25 extra pounds on that little bike seat can be challenging).

And, if you’re a pregnant woman suffering from PUPPP: Grandpa’s pine tar soap and scaldingly hot water. Chris learned, from many years of hashing through poison ivy and oak, that hot water (just turn off the cold in the shower) will relieve the itch, usually for 5-6 hours. I’m not man enough to stay under the stream, so I just take down the showerhead and let a couple of jets spray tangentially against the itchy areas.

This entry was posted in the categories Julie by julie on Thursday, 31 July 2008, 16:32. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.