Pre-birth pains

I was awoken this morning by a sharp pain that felt like a bad contraction. It was different from the dull ache that accompanies my sleep these days. My thought sequence ran from contraction-preterm labour-Chengdu-gasp*. The conclusion of that jolted me wide awake at 5am. The pain subsided but I felt a sort of mild cramping every now and then. Sleep evaded me at that point so I thought I'd sit up and read up on contractions, false labour & preterm labour from my trusty pregnancy bible, What to Expect during Pregnancy. The pain and cramping went away either because I was distracted when I was reading or due to the change in position. It was Braxton Hicks after all.

Braxton Hicks, a sort of practice labour, are more common in subsequent pregnancies. Well, the fact that they didn't intensify was proof enough that they weren't the real thing :) If I'm paranoid now, it is probably because the first time round with mb, I mistook the real thing for Braxton ;) That, and the fact that at the back of my mind, I've a fear of the delivery unexpectedly happening in Chengdu.

Another sign of the pregnancy advancing is the dreaded leg cramps! The first time for this pregnancy happened a few days ago at the cottage. And just like before, it came on the minute I woke up. Stretched my legs as a reflex and the calf muscles tensed up in a knot refusing to let up for minutes. They get so horribly painful that sometimes I'd to wake DH up to massage my calf muscles and I got them so frequently with minibeanie that I've developed another 'reflex' to counteract these rude awakenings - flex my feet upwards to stretch those muscles whose circulation has been blocked by the uterus during the night.

And my final grouse is that my tailbone is aching now. Lying on my back (accidentally) in my sleep makes it worse than sitting for long periods. Again, I think it's the simple fact that I've now got a basketball-sized belly that isn't just pressing on the nerves, blood vessels, organs, bones and what have you. Little wonder why women can't wait to get their babies out by the 40th week ;)


minibeanie is 1 year, 10 months & 4 weeks old
microbeanie is 27 weeks 6 days in utero