Sunday, July 31, 2011

RLS & Other Pregnancy Pains

I have RLS tonight ... or should I say, this morning.  I have an awful mosquito bite on my leg and it's just causing me all sorts of RLS problems.  I should be planning my Sunday School lesson for the girls, writing in my journal, reading a good book, or something useful with my time, but I've just been looking through blogs and writing on my blog a bit. 

As I looked up RLS Treatments on Google, it auto guessed that I might be looking for RLS during pregnancy and it totally reminded me that I have the worst RLS during pregnancy.  Ugh.  It's absolutely awful.  I can be completely exhausted but RLS keeps me awake.  And that is not something I look forward to with my next pregnancy. 

RLS is one of the most miserable things ever.  There's no real cure for it and at times when all you really want to do is sleep, that's the last thing that your legs allow you to do.  Instead, I have this unbelievable desire to wiggle them.  I remember when I was younger, my parents would comment on my antsy legs and how I couldn't keep them still.  Then a friend, a few years ago, said he couldn't sleep in the middle of the night so he was watching television.  An infomercial came on about RLS and he immediately thought of me and how I have the hardest time keeping my legs still.  And now I know - I'm not just an antsy person - I have an actual condition!  But I wish I didn't.

I also am not looking forward to the stomach aches and the back aches.  Those are so miserable as well.  The stomach aches - my actual muscle pain as it begins separating because my belly is growing so big - keeps me up at night as well.  It seriously feels exactly like my muscle is separating but after going to the doctor and him telling me that that is what happens ... yuck.  I didn't even know that was possible without it being a huge problem!

I've seen quite a few pregnant ladies recently (I think I'm just looking for them as reminders that pregnancy is not easy) and they all look so uncomfortable.  They waddle and they just look awkward.  I'm not looking forward to that, for sure.  Although I don't think I waddled until the very end.  I felt like I was waddling but everyone said I looked normal.  ... Wait, were they telling me something?

Ha, anyway, I can't get a little brand spankin' new baby boy out of my head.  I think about him constantly.  And seriously I am going to be in serious shock if our next kid is a girl.  Because Mike and I are 100% sure that we're having a boy.  We even know his name.  In fact, we've been talking about him ever since we found out that we were having a girl for our first child. 

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

the question is: when?

As we draw nearer to being pregnant with our second child, but not actually pregnant yet, the big question on my mind is, When?  And another good one probably is, How (... not that 'how,' sickos)?  Because some days with K are just too much.  I can't even imagine having a 2-year old and a newborn.  Will K have the capabilities to help herself for parts of the day as I tend to a newborn?  I would hope so by age 2.  The other 2-year olds I've seen seem capable of doing a bunch of things on their own but wow, I just don't know.  It's overwhelming.

And when?  Do I really want a 21-month old and a newborn?  Or do I want a 3-year old and a newborn?  Or can we even get pregnant again?  I don't even know!  Do I even have a choice?  Should we have a house instead of living in a basement?   Should we wait until Katie has outgrown her baby stuff like car seat, crib, etc?  And so many more questions that I don't really even want to think about right now.

It's also what's been on my mind all day today.  I don't think I'm worried about the cost, the space, the time it takes to take care of a new baby - I think I'm just worried about whether I can handle this or not.  So far I've decided that I probably can handle it because millions of people have done it before me - if they can do it, I probably can too.

But I can imagine that walks, getting ready in the morning, getting out of the house, and everything will be much more difficult.  And not to even mention sleeping - K and the new one will have to share a room.  K doesn't sleep well - will the baby?  Will either of them sleep?  When will I get to sleep again without being awakened in the middle of the night?  (I've heard that for most parents, it's not for a long, long time.)

Despite all the worries I have, I am really excited to become a mother of two.  I have no doubts that it will be tough, but I'm sure it will be worth it.  This is definitely what I was supposed to do in life so bring. it. on.