I do not scare easily. I’ll stick my face right up against the window of the terrariums at the zoo – the ones holding the exotic bugs & scorpions. I’ll say, “EEEEEEEW,” while I’m doing it, but I’ll still look. I typically refuse to kill bugs, either – I leave spiders where they are (unless they’re particularly creepy looking, then I might try to shoo them out of sight). The only things I kill without conscience are the damned ants.
So this morning when I finally rolled out of bed because I couldn’t take it anymore – I flopped over onto the floor to do a little Pigeon pose to ease my back. I didn’t have my glasses or contacts in yet and noticed something on the bedskirt that seemed “out of pattern.” I cautiously peered closer and realized that no, while it was big enough to be part of the pattern it was decidedly NOT part of the pattern. And it was dark brown. The bedskirt is charcoal gray. And when I tapped on the bedskirt, it moved.
Mr Nikki knows that if I get creeped out and shriek like a girl, he better be worried.
He was still asleep as he heard me yell, “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!!!” He shot up and asked what was going on. I stayed there long enough to point out the location, then took off.
You know what it looked like? Well, I only have a vague idea, because I refused to put my glasses on. I figured it was better that I only saw what I saw. But in my blurry vision, it looked like one of those bugs I’ve seen in the zoo. The “exotic,” big bugs that live anywhere I don’t. Foreign places. Like, South America & Thailand.
Uh-huh. South America. Mexico. Southern California. I was told that this was, indeed, a cockroach – the “west coast kind.” You mean like, southwest. They don’t call it “La Cucaracha,” for nothin’.
It is the very first one we’ve seen here and I PRAY that it was aloner, driven in from the other day’s rain. Oh, dear god. I have chills, still.
Anyway. I suppose my back problems have some use, otherwise I’d never have been down there looking.
I was going to say that BACK PROBLEMS are the one thing that no one warned me about, with pregnancy. I got all the horror stories, but no one really talked about the BACK PROBLEMS. They were mentioned in passing. However, I’ve always had more than average back problems to begin with, so it’s par for the course that I keep on having problems now.
The thing that’s driving me nuts is that that went to the chiropractor & yoga on Wednesday. Had a lovely prenatal massage on Thursday. Then Thursday night, decided I needed to start walking regularly again. So I went for a short walk that seemed to completely undo the yoga, the chiropractic adjusment, and the massage, in one fell swoop. And last night was, by far, the worst night I’ve had in terms of back pain. Not just my lower back, but my hips decided to chime in, as well. And I think I may have felt the twinges of sciatica again.
Now, I know better. I’ve been living with back pain for as long as I can remember. I stupidly didn’t think it would actually get that much worse through pregnancy, but DUH. I should really know better. My back is temperamental – I don’t even sneeze like a normal person, because, when I feel a sneeze coming on, if I don’t get into a supportive position immediately, WHAM! I’ll be on the floor for days.
So how stupid am I not to be taking more precaution now?
I immediately invested in one of those goofy-looking pregnancy belts. Walking seems to be the thing that makes everything that much worse and I can’t NOT walk anymore. I just can’t. The yoga is good, but walking daily is excellent, not to mention by not walking, I just continue to stiffen up and don’t do a damn thing for circulation. (I would love to keep swimming – the cold doesn’t deter me, but the chlorinated water has started to irritate my skin to an annoying degree, so I’ve stopped for now.)
I also invested, for the last 5 weeks and odd days, in one of those huge, cane-shaped pregnancy pillows. (I’d been relying on a pregnancy wedge & regular pillows for awhile.) I’m curious if any of you have used them? I hadn’t gotten one earlier because the reviews of all the pregnancy pillows I’ve looked at are SO mixed. Well, I’ve already purchased the thing, so it’s a moot point – though if I hate it, maybe you’ll have some other recommendations. I was stupidly – STUPIDLY – being lax about the pillow/support/sleeping/back situation but knowing my back’s history & the constant warnings from my chiropractor that it’s only going to get that much worse… I best start being vigilant now. Last thing I want or need is to spend the last couple weeks of pregnancy trapped in bed because I can’t move.
Oh – and those of you who live in SoCal… ROACHES??! WHAT IS UP WITH THE ROACHES? Do you have them? Please tell me that it’s possible that there might sometimes be only one. I’m having visions of hundreds of them scampering around the house at night, until the lights go on and they scatter. The ants have driven me mad, but roaches will … I don’t know. Roaches will cause me to NEVER. SLEEP. AGAIN.
we have the roaches, too – we just started seeing them at night having a party on the kitchen floor when we would quickly turn on a light…this weekend my husband is declaring war on them, though 🙂 so hopefully we won’t be seeing them anymore after that!
i always used a body pillow when i was pregnant – it really helped A LOT when sleeping. and i had some major back probs, too – mostly on one side of my lower back. it was actually worse after the baby was born (sorry!) since i was carrying him around all the time in the sling on that side. but i went to a holistic chiro who worked WONDERS and i was pretty much healed after a few months. yeah, walking (and peeing, and sleeping, and…) pretty much feels terrible during the last trimester, unfortunately! at least you know you’re nearing the end!
yeah, I used the prego pillow – my husband called it the third man! he was very jealous of that pillow. Some nights (most) I loved that pillow more than him.