No, in fact, pregnancy does suck.

This is the last week of my second trimester.  On Friday, I will be 12 weeks away from the end of this pregnancy.  THANK YOU JEBUS!  As far as I'm concerned I couldn't get un-pregnant fast enough.  Naturally, I want to go full term for a healthy baby, blah, blah, blah... But damn if I'm not sick of it already.

This pregnancy continues to be different and full of more unpleasant side effects than my first pregnancy.  To name a few that have cropped up in the last week or two:

• I can't breathe.  I'm like a wheezing, asthmatic hippo.  This is common in later pregnancy, but did not happen to me with Alex.  I remember because I expected it to happen and it never did.  This time I feel like I'm drowning all the time.  I can't seem to fill my lungs up with enough air and I'm constantly gasping for breath. 



• Incontinence.  A word to the wise:  DO YOUR KEGALS!  I was the Queen of Kegaling during my first pregnancy.  I had pubococcygeus muscles of steel.  This time, I think I've done maybe a half dozen sets in the last seven months.  Apparently, those kegal exercises are pretty darn important because as I was horking up my breakfast this morning (never did get 100% over morning sickness), I peed my pants like a nervous preschooler.  I know, I have no one but myself to blame, but still.  SUCK!  Guess I'd better get some Depends.



• Braxton Hicks contractions.  Guess what?  Sometimes they do hurt!  They didn't hurt at all during my first pregnancy, this time, I'm actually doing Lamaze breathing during them.  This does not bode well for my real labor.



• Did I mention I still throw up a couple of times a month?  Yea, yea, not as bad as the beginning, but still.

Luckily I'm not experiencing anything that isn't completely normal, it's just, I don't know, exhausting.  I'm not the mom I want to be for Alex or the wife I want to be to John.  These days I'm more Jabba the Hutt than gestating earth mother.  I know having a newborn won't be any easier, but I admit, I am looking forward to being the only inhabitant of this body soon.