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Welcome back, old friend. Please keep your visit brief.
November 2, 2011
© Flickr user sara.lauderdale, CC Licensed.
So far my pregnancy has been largely uneventful. I'm growing as I should. Boo appears to be doing the same. I haven't suffered any major complications and have yet to feel the discomfort of a Braxton-Hicks contraction. But tonight I got the worst Charlie Horse imaginable. And I had no idea what the heck was going on. I mean, other than the fact that it felt like someone had just thrust a dagger into the back of my leg and I couldn't move or figure out any way to relieve it.
Holy hell. That was insane.
I was sitting on the couch next to my husband watching t.v. when it came on out of nowhere. One minute, I was happily cuddled up against him and giggling and the next, I was sort of half-hunched over, screaming, and pounding my leg with my fist. It took T a minute to figure out what was going on as it must've been a strange sight at first.
As I sat there yelling, he offered up helpful suggestions.
"Massage it! You need to massage it!"
"I CAN'T MOVE YEOWWWW MAKE IT STOP OMG"
"Here, let me do it. Where does it hurt?" <he starts to rub my leg>
"NOOOOO THAT'S MAKING IT WORSE DON'T TOUCH ME!"
From there, he moved on to Google while I tried anything I could think of to make. it. stop. Stretching my foot out. Standing. Moving positions. Whining. Finally, after a couple of minutes, it started to subside on its own and I was able to hobble to the bathroom sort of one-legged. Meanwhile, T is telling me all kinds of things I already know.
"That was a Charlie Horse. This webpage says they can be brought on by hormonal changes."
"Yeah, I know. Like this massive thing I'm doing right now. Y'know, pregnancy?"
I could've been less sarcastic, but I was just barely over thinking someone was trying to saw my leg off so I didn't have much else to offer.
The funny thing is that I got Charlie Horses in my last pregnancy, but I'd completely forgotten about them until tonight. I don't know that I ever had one quite this bad, but I definitely woke up in bed occasionally with my leg in a painful knot, hollering and yelling and trying to punch it out (and wanting to punch T out for continuing to sleep peacefully next to me). And now I'm worried.
If my pregnancy amnesia led me to forget this crummy side effect -- as painful and unexpected as leg cramps are -- what else am I forgetting?! I'm not sure I want to know. But with the third and final trimester looming just around the corner, I'm guessing I don't have a choice.
What sort of pregnancy side effects have you had to deal with, large or small? If you've been pregnant more than once, did you forget about them in between pregnancies only to have something come flooding back when you least expected it? Or do I just have a lousy memory?
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Follow Jo on Twitter at @outtajo or visit her personal blog, Outta Jo, Onto You.
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