Third Trimester Vertigo

In exciting pregnancy news, I am officially in my third trimester. Whoohoo! I am slowly gaining girth and losing speed, but very much enjoying the vigorous kicks of Dixon Chick #2. Or I guess it should be Dixon Chick #3 if I am Dixon Chick #1? Hmm... I'll have to think about that.

So, the first week of trimester three brought some fun times. I woke up early Tuesday morning, turned over in bed and experienced the most intense vertigo I've ever had. It was awful. When I flipped over, the room literally started spinning. I closed my eyes and really thought I was going to lose my cookies. This lasted about 20 secs and finally subsided. Then I was afraid to move. After awhile, I decided I should flip back over to my left side, which is optimal during pregnancy, in case I was having any blood flow issues. Bad idea. Complete vertigo once again. At this point I'm mildly freaking out, it's about 6:30am and I'm wondering if I need to wake up Dean. I'm feeling weak and nauseous and hear Natalie starting to make her waking up sounds. Uh-oh.

I lay there for awhile and then wake up Dean and tell him I need some help. I explain what I'm feeling and that I am afraid to move. He goes to get Natalie and I try to get up after awhile as I really have to pee (what woke me up in the first place). I try to sit up and again have this horrible dizziness and lie back down. After a couple times I finally am able to make my way the 10 feet to the toilet while holding on to something every step of the way.

So I'm basically completely debilitated at this point, lying in bed and Dean has to work. So Natalie gets some tv. I hear her constantly calling Dean for a show, for food, etc, and poor Dean is having a really tough morning at work, with constant conference calls and trying to manage. I finally get through to my OB and get a 1:30 appt. Dean calls our neighbor and thankfully she takes Natalie for the afternoon. The OB basically tells me I probably have water behind my ears, it's not pregnancy related and gives me a prescription for a motion sickness pill. This helps, but I'm still down for the count for the rest of the day and the next day. Things begin to subside but it is only, Friday, that I am feeling able enough to drive a car. What a nightmare. I'm still waking up early in the morning with some dizziness, but it seems to abate once I get up and start moving. Scary times. But I'm back in the land of the living (moving?) and very happy about that.

Also, I've had many requests for belly shots, so here is one from last week at 27 weeks. The thing about subsequent pregnancies, is no matter how big and uncomfortable I feel now, I know I haven't seen anything yet. I know what's coming.

Notice the gummy bears on the counter in the foreground. This is the bribery we resorted to for potty training Natalie who starts summer preschool in one month. After a slow start, it's going well. More on that later.