Transitioning Trimesters

I have noticed around the transition of trimesters, I will start to get a hint at what I'm in for about 2-3 weeks early. I double-checked how the trimesters are divided (this information is in one of my posts back in April) and learned I'll celebrate the third trimester at 27 weeks. I cannot believe I'm already three weeks away, but perhaps that explains a few more recent things I have been experiencing:

1. Over the last couple days, I have started to notice I'm feeling very warm (and I don't think it is only because it is July!). I asked other people in the room what they felt, and most said it felt slightly warm but no one thought it was uncomfortable. To me it felt hot. I have to run the AC in the car a lot more too. Sometimes, I get hot enough to start sweating! I even took my temperature last night, just to be sure I wasn't running a fever, but it was only 98.0 degrees!

2. I'm having a lot more trouble multitasking, and when I try my accuracy levels are going way down. This has manifest itself in several ways recently. Last weekend, I completely forgot about a baby shower for a girl at church because I was absorbed in researching things for our registry. I felt so bad, I totally intended to go! When writing emails, I have been leaving out words or just writing more poorly than usual (maybe you already noticed!). If I send an email like that to you, please ignore. Also, at work sometimes I have been getting confused by similar school names. I also make more little errors on what I'm doing. It is so weird when I used to be more proficient.

3. Recently when I have eaten pasta, I end up with so much gas in my stomach it feels like I swallowed a balloon. I don't know for sure if it is the pasta or not to blame, but that is the only thing I notice this with. I don't have much heartburn yet, but I noticed after I eat at potlucks (where there is a huge, random mix of food) I sometimes get the mild, acid feeling in the back of my throat. I had so much gas and bloating before, but enjoyed a break from it for most of my second trimester.

4. I received a very unpleasant wake up call this morning, as I stretched out my legs pointing my toes....a painful charlie horse!! I have never actually had a charlie horse before....I used to be able to notice when one was coming on and relax the muscle before it seized me. This morning, I just rolled around moaning for about 30 seconds, when Michael woke up tried to help--as soon as he touched the spot and rubbed, it stopped. My Aunt Teri (Mom's sister) had these a lot when she was pregnant, and it is common for many women. I did a little research and saw there are a lot of theories and misinformation about what causes them, but there is no definite causes. The theory I most bought into is it might be from carrying all the extra weight. I learned the best defense is to try not to point my toes in the morning, and to keep up my walking (I let this slide a little lately as we are in our most busy season at work).

5. My belly is now feeling tight and sometimes starts to itch! Now it is time to break out the cream, not to prevent stretch marks (don't believe marketers, they are as impossible to prevent as wrinkles are when you get older. Stretch marks occur deeper under the surface of the skin and have more to do with genetics than anything). Creams do help with the tightness and itching.

6. Finally, on my way to work in the middle of the week I was flipping through radio stations and the song "Cat's in the Cradle" came on. The story about a the father who never made time for his son, and who's son later ended up being just like him, made me cry! It is now so sad! This song never did that to me before! Now facing parenthood myself, it has all new meaning. I researched the song on http://songfacts.com/ and saw that it was intended to be a warning not to put your career over family. It was written by Harry Chapin about his own neglectful father, after he was upset when he missed the birth of his own son while on tour. I told my Mom about this, and she said the same song makes her cry her eyes out too. On this topic, I remember as a kid thinking my mom was funny because she cried over little things....now I'm being just like her ;-)

Just for fun, it occurred to me there are some interesting trivial parallels between when I was born and when my first child will be born. I don't attribute any meaning to it, but I have a knack at noticing little patterns or relationships between dates and years without really thinking much about it (for example, Michael and I had a lot of 4's in our history: we started dating on the 24th of June in 2004, got engaged on the 14th, got married on the 4th of a month---NOT on purpose). I used to actually be afraid of the number four for whatever odd reason when I was little, but apparently it wasn't all bad! ;-) As for the parallel between me and my first child: I was born in the Fall of '80, my parents first child. Now, I happen to be having my first child in Fall of '08! Further, when I was born inflation was at 13%, the economy was in deep recession, and it was an election year. Things are truly not quite that bad in 2008 (unless you believe our fear-driven media's exaggerations), but still again there are real inflation and recession concerns, and it's an election year! It's just interesting.

By the way, thanks to those who gave me other places to search for bedding ideas! If anyone else knows places where I can find fun, designed stuff at excellent prices feel free to keep passing them along.