I fear I may have given the wrong impression with my lovingly-detailed posts about the incredible backpain & the PT who can’t do anything for it.

Actually, she can.  She can manipulate my sacro-ilial region and for a few blessed moments, there will be no pain at all.  And then I walk more than about 20 seconds and things slip back out of alignment.  And it hurts.

This is the same pattern (though less pronounced) when I simply get plenty of rest of a weekend – things improve!  and then go back to work (up and down 10-20 times a day, all day long – things go to hell.  I truly believe that if I were to go on a beach vacation today, the pain would be gone in a week.  I truly HOPE that after one week of R&R in Tuscany, I’ll be up for more excursions than ‘that daily walk between the pool & the dinner table’.  But for now, it is what it is.  I can keep everything well-stretched out, and it helps when I can shift often at night (despite the misery of two nights ago, I felt pretty good yesterday).  But until things sort of hit an equilibrium on their own, there’s no good way to stabilize the joints.  My pregnant body isn’t accommodating the belt all that well, but this discomfort bearable, as long as I don’t have to, you know, walk anywhere.

And last night?  Last night was bliss and joy and happiness rolled up into a sweet-smelling bedsheet.  I went to bed around 10 because the Boy was out playing poker with buddies.  I figured I’d wake up when he came home at 2 or so, but that would be fine because it would coincide with a desperate need to void my bladder.

I woke up at 8 this morning.  Folks, I haven’t slept for 9 hours without even a bathroom break in I-don’t-know-how-long.  Then, after he got up, I went back to sleep with a dog draped over me for another hour and a half.  Back doesn’t hurt (yet), no heartburn, and best of all?  I’m sort of – I don’t know – awake.

Plus I have coffee in front of me to make my morning go nicer.  And a microchipping appointment for the dog which, while I’m thrilled I found a low-cost clinic to do this before she’s kenneled for 2 weeks, I could wish didn’t mean a 1/2 mile hike each way.  Ah well.  It’ll be my exercise for the weekend.

Yesterday marked the beginning of my 29th week.  The mean Italian ladies (whom I love) at the bakery around the corner are treating me like a celebrity now that I’m so obviously showing – “Why didn’t you tell us?  Here, have another muffin, dear.  The baby wants a muffin.”

We’re having a cookout tonight for the Boy’s daughters, and it should be interesting.  I’ll let you all know how broaching the “do you want a stake in naming the baby?” conversation goes.  Could be good, could be disastrous.  With these girls you never quite know.  And now I’m off to do some cross-stitching.  Yay!