New Mummy Blog: Managing The Impossible During Pregnancy

Perhaps it’s all in preparation for labour, when dignity really goes out the window, but the more pregnant I get, the more difficult it is to do some of the most mundane, everyday things that I’d normally take for granted.

Here’s what I’m missing the most...

Putting On Socks And Shoes
It’s winter and it’s cold. I want to wear boots but there’s no hope I can reach down to get them on my feet, or pull them up my water-bloated, pregnant legs.

Which means I have to enlist the help of my husband every time I want to put my outdoor footwear on, and involves me lying on the bed with one leg in the air at a time while he forces the boots on. I’m not sure he’s ever going to look at me in the same way again after this.

Seeing My Feet
Not that I’ve ever spent that much time looking at them, but now I can barely even catch a glimpse of my toes over my bump.

The upside is that it’s the perfect excuse to pay for a pedicure – if I can’t see them, I can’t possibly paint them.

Cooking Safely
As my pregnancy progresses into its final weeks and days, the bump has become a thing of its own, preceding me by a good foot or two, or so it feels. It makes it either impossible to get close to something or perilously easy to get too close. To the hob, for example.

The other day I was in the midst of cooking when I smelt a faint burning smell – it was my jumper, pushed into the line of fire by my protruding bump. I just hope the baby didn’t mind a sudden little blast of heat – kind of like a little sauna, maybe.

Measuring Distances And Spaces
I underestimate distances all the time, in fact. Forgetting quite how large I am, there has been more than one occasion where I’ve found myself ungracefully stuck in a small space and trying to extrapolate myself before anyone has spotted what I’ve done.

It makes me think of a lumbering farm animal, a cow perhaps, being herded into a pen.

Getting Up
Being pregnant feels a lot like how I imagine it feels to be getting old. Heaving myself up out a chair takes monumental effort.

And once I’m up, my back seizes up with the extra weight, the baby bounces down onto my bladder, and my knees creak when I take the first few hobbling steps while trying to uncurl myself.

Getting Down
Never mind getting up, getting down is even worse. And as I have a toddler, getting down on the floor to play is a non-negotiable. Even sitting on the sofa is unacceptable – she expects me in the midst of things.

She also seems to think my bump looks like a very comfortable seat for her and tries to climb onto it. Making a quick escape by getting up isn’t happening (see above) so I end up in a slightly odd and very uncomfortable wrestle to stop her. I often lose. To an 18-month old.

Rolling Over
You can pretty much forget this one. Once I’m lying down in bed, there’s no moving me. The problem is you’re meant to lie on your left side when you’re pregnant, and I sleep on the right-hand side of the bed.

This means I need to roll over every time I get out the bed. Which is a lot, as I can’t get through a night without at least two or three loo trips. It’s a cruel twist of fate that at a time when you want to get as much sleep as possible, your bladder won’t let you.

[New Mummy Blog: Pregnancy Is Making My Body Unrecognisable]

[New Mummy Blog: Dealing With Unwanted Comments During Pregnancy]

Is there anything you've found difficult since getting pregnant? Let us know in the comments.