Pootling around the house

Hubby's car is being looked at so he's stolen mine to get to work. Given that I can't make it past the end of the street on foot (and there's not much to do between here and there) we are in the house today. The boys' great aunt (who is only a decade older than us!) has taken them to the park, which is ace, except it's a bit of a hike for them and I'm concerned about overtired boys.

I'm so tired today. I cannot get motivated to write any dissertation. I should theoretically get some done while the boys are out, but I'd rather kip. Trouble with that is that I then don't sleep at night, but am too tired to work. It's the getting started that's tricky. I've got less than 3 weeks left!!! We go away two weeks on Friday and I have to submit it by then as the due date is the Monday we return. And I need to allow time for binding etc.

I shall watch Neighbours and then do an hour. That's a fair compromise.

Sleep last night was better, but interrupted for no obvious reason. Possibly just needing to pee. I haven't left the house today but did some housework so I am hurting because of that. It is not possible to do any form of housework without bending at all, and there's only so much even willing five year olds can help with. I quite enjoy my park-keeper effort of picking up rubbish with my picker-upper, except it's no good for pieces of paper and the likes. It is also good for the elusive socks that wander into every corner. Mostly I pick up everything non binnable in an area onto a table or similar, then I can sort and distribute.

Oh that reminds me, I binned some documents as I seem to have recycled all of the papers, good and bad. I must retrieve those. At least the recycling is all clean paper!

Dishwasher: can't do, I can only do the top rack as I can neither reach the lower rack nor the low cupboard the plates and bowls live in.

Hoovering and sweeping: I can sweep, I can't collect the sweeping. I can't hoover at all. Most of our floors are wooden or vinyl (carpet only in bedrooms) and O is getting better at sweeping up the collected sweepings with a dustpan. Mopping is fine!

Washing: not too bad, but I struggle to hang it up. Solution: small loads that all fit on the higher rungs.

It occurs to me not for the first (or thousandth) time that summers without a garden are even more impossible the older the kids get. I need outside space for them to run about in, to dry washing in, and just to be in. Hopefully this will be the last garden-free summer. Hopefully.

Foetal movement regular and reassuring. Nothing else unusual.

Miracle baby

I'm not entirely sure pregnancy is ever touted as a cure for maladies but this baby has so far cured my various ailments. It does remain to be seen whether the recovery persists when the baby has been born, but to date the baby, or the hormones connected to her existence, have "fixed" the following:

1) my whiplash. In April 2009 I was in a minor car accident that resulted in persistent severe pain in my neck. As little as two weeks prior to knowing I was pregnant, I was unable to reduce my maximum dose of tramadol at all. Movement in my neck was limited through pain. On discovering I was pregnant, I tried to wean myself off the drugs. I didn't take one until I needed one, until I noticed I hadn't taken one all day. Or the next. Or the next. And still my neck is like it was before. Normal. It gets a little achey on occasion but no more than that. I can assume it was ligament related and the relaxin has loosened the tautness caused by the accident and allowed the ligaments to return to normal.

2) vegetarianism. In the last three years I started off a fully signed up carnivore, then a complete non-meat eater (I am loathe to say vegetarian for fear of being lynched as I did eat jelly babies). I then returned to eating poultry and so that remained until I was pregnant. I don't eat fish partially for ethical reasons (I have to remind myself that smoked salmon and scallops are fish) but now I am enjoying red meat again.

3) I had some sort of skanky nail thing which resulted in a couple of my fingernails almost entirely falling off. I had a paint on solution that I was to apply for the nine months it takes to regrow an entire nail. Or, apply for a couple of months then stop applying in case of detrimental effect on baby and lo and behold, full nails a month later.

I am trusting fully that none of the above will return post partum in light of departing hormones. I am also trusting that the pelvis will return to normal fairly swiftly and that such things as bending will be possible again. And I should be, like, normal. Woo.

Once I've recovered from the birth and my pelvis returns to form that is. 2012 will be the year of good health and no debilitating conditions. It will.

While still dealing with the pregnancy induced pain, my parents brought me a "helpful hand" grabber which is ace. I think I'd be utterly depressed if I needed one permanently, but for convenience and just a couple of months, it's kinda useful.

Baby still v active, I amused myself for a while earlier by placing a small stuffed lizard on my bump and watching it twitch in time with kicks. I love that, I could interact with a kicky bump all day.

Return to work dependent on sleep. No napping all day should at least provide tiredness. Indigestion could provide wakefulness. We'll see. If I can't make it to work I think I'll have to get signed off properly. I don't really want to do that, but if I can't cope, I can't cope.

Fear and loathing in the bath

Aaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!

I'm very cross today. With everything. Nothing has happened to annoy me, more that I am annoyed at things. Most of them.

People mostly.

Baby moved a lot less than usual today which naturally caused a mild panic. And a mild psychotic moment when I expressed concern and was told if I was actually concerned I wouldn't say "I'm concerned".

Heartbeat is normal. Movement in response to prods and music is normal. There's just less tummy jiggling than normal. So I worry. A little. Not enough to do anything. Just a little.

And then I get cross again.

I've had a day of nasty heartburn and an unnecessary number of occasions where I have had to bend down to the floor. I can't do this, or I shouldn't. If I drop something on the floor, which happens often due to being sleep deprived and dozy, I instinctively stoop to pick it up. And it hurts a lot. If I want to get something off the floor I have to do elaborate moves to get there, because if I just duck down the way I have done forever, it hurts. So if I want my shoes from the floor beside the bed, I have to lie on the bed and lean off. But if I drop something, I'm down there and cursing before I remember. Squatting is absolutely not going to happen, I'd be stuck in a permasquat for the rest of time.

I'm not sure how the clutter is going to clear itself off the floor, although I did manage to declutter the boys' room by sitting down on the floor and shuffling around.

So the list of things I can't really do are:

Stay awake, unless it's bedtime
Walk more than 100 yards
Bend over
Lie on my back, front or right side
Lift anything

I've got 15 weeks to go. Aieeeee.