I feel old

This past weekend Steve and I did a lot of walking in DC. This comes after being quite sedentary for the past two weeks on account of my mom being out of town and unable to convince me to get off my tush and go for a walk. Well, now I can add round ligament pain to my list of symptoms. It came out of the blue as we were strolling through vendors' tents outside Eastern Market and I felt shooting pain like someone was tugging on a nerve attached to the front of my pelvis. We'd sit for a few minutes and I'd be fine, then we'd walk until the pain got bad again - sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes it didn't go away. Needless to say this was VERY frustrating for me, but Steve was super understanding about it.

Another new thing is arthritis-like hip pain. Actually it's been going on for about a month during the night, but this weekend (when I really needed my hips to work well) it decided to rear its ugly head during the day. So with the ligament and hip pain, we cut back on a lot of the activities I was hoping to do. Guess we'll have to go back when we need to get away!

I think the thing that freaked me out the most about being in pain like this was that this pregnancy really hasn't been that painful so far. Yes, the acid reflux is annoying. Yes, my lower back aches regularly but that's kind of normal for me even pre-pregnancy. But this ligament and hip pain caught me by surprise and makes me feel like a weakling. With the RLP and hips combined with the inability to fall asleep at night (no matter how tired I am), Tylenol PM is my new friend.

On a happier note, I've noticed that the fetal movements are becoming less like the baby is jumping around and more like slow stretching. It's great because it gives me a chance to put a hand on my belly and feel for body parts. Sometimes I can feel the baby stretching in opposite directions, and I'm amazed at how far around my abdominal cavity (and the baby's entourage) goes. I'll see a lump to the left of my belly button (foot?), and at the same time I can feel the baby poke me all the way to my right side under my ribs (hand?).