Love and Hate

Let me start by qualifying all pregnancy complains with the statement that being pregnant is already one of the most wonderful things that I've experienced in my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

That being said let me proceed with a new hate. I hate the fact that at six months pregnant my feet are already swelling. It is terrible. I'm supposed to be getting a lot of exercise, whatever that means considering I'm not supposed to do anything too intense or that could include falling and now that my belly has rounded out nicely my centre of gravity is off so the list of activities that could include falling as greatly increased. Anyways, walking and swimming are my two main sources of physical activities these days, especially walking cause it requires no planning. However, walking which I used to be able to do for hours and hours has lead to my terrible swollen feet and ankles. Hell, even when I'm not walking for exercise (i.e normal walking, not my dorky power walking on my lunch breaks) my feet still swell. Everyone seems to have a solution to this problem. First, avoid salt, cause my diet's not already hugely restricted; avoid crossing my legs, because I'm not still dealing with numb bum on a regular basis; elevate legs, cause my desk at work is for sure designed of that. Thanks world but your advice on this one has not turned out to be particularly useful, although I will try all these things anyways. So far the best solution is running shoes (no matter what I'm wearing, if I'm walking I'm wearing running shoes) and a cold water foot soak before bed (painful but truly effective). I learned this one on the hike I did across Spain. If anything is going to teach you how to deal with swollen feet it's walking 750km in 30 days. Anyways this is yet another mild inconvenience that has come with creating and carrying life.

Now let's move onto my newest love...

I am feeling kicks all the time which is absolutely fabulous. I used to only feel them in the evenings when it was quiet because they were very mild but now I get these fun little bursts of life throughout the day. My husband has felt a few from the outside but he isn't getting what I am that's for sure. He said last night that the kicks were a sort of pay back or secret joy that only I get which sort of counters all the tough stuff like being fat and having swollen feet. I have to say I agree and I have a feeling that this is one of the deals with motherhood. We, the women have to deal with some difficult things but we also get some amazing bonus' that the men folk cannot experience. I think I can handle that, in fact I think I feel a little lucky to be a women right now despite some of the challenges I have and will encounter along the way.