Short Version: I'm alive! but with sore muscles.

My excuse for not posting is that, as I work my way through the Creme De La Creme of 2007, it occurs to me that everything must have already been said. Wowee, are there a lot of posts up there. Good ones, too. Seriously - have you checked it out properly yet?

Nevertheless, since you've been sweet enough to ask, let me reassure you that I'm ok. Well, I'm ok apart from some sore muscles, which doesn't really count. The Foetus seems ok, if that's what you're asking, and we all know it is.

My right calf muscle is sore from the leg-cramp-to-end-all-leg-cramps several nights ago, and yes, I am still limping from it. Holy fuck that was some leg cramp. It was intense enough to wake not only me at about two in the morning, but also to bring Mr Bea from his peaceful slumber and into a state of instant panic, until I managed to force the words, "Leg... cramp..." between shuddering gasps of pain. Plus it woke The Foetus. Poor little guy was hit with a sudden dose of adrenalin and it took him some time to calm down. At least now I have an extra trick up my sleeve for those times when the Dead Baby Thoughts start to overtake me - I can just slam one of my least-cherished body parts in a door somewhere, or cut off one of my fingers. Voila! Instant live baby feedback. And you can email me for more handy pregnancy tips at the usual address.

Anyway, I decided a nice antenatal yoga class might help ease the cramping, so that's where I was earlier today - doing antenatal yoga with a woman whose ideas about the limits of the human body are very, very different from mine. I'll let you know how everything shapes up tomorrow after the twenty-four week appointment.


19 Comments

ColourYourWorld said...

Ouch! They are VERY painful. The trick is...if you don't know already is to pull your toes up towards your shin and give the calf a really good stretch, it works for me.

I was going to ask if you were OK but saw that you were commenting so you must still be alive and just having a break :)

All the best for tomorrow.

Serenity said...

Yowch!!!

I used to get really bad calf cramps when I was dancing - there are some that make it impossible to walk for a few days. I'm sorry to hear it!

Vee's trick about pulling your toes up towards your shin to stretch is a good one. If you can catch the cramp before it really seizes up (which sometimes is impossible when you're, well, ASLEEP), the best way to avoid it is just flexing your foot. For whatever reason pointing your toes is what does it.

I've also heard that bananas (potassium) and milk (calcium) helps with those too, but I never really saw that much of a difference.

Glad to hear you're mostly well and Foetus us ok too. 24 weeks - amazing!

Serenity said...

"what does it" = causes the cramp. Flexing your foot helps release it.

Apparently it's a bit too early here for me to form coherent thoughts. :)

Bea said...

Yeah, I tried to flex the foot, toe-to-shin, but it had really seized and I just couldn't move it. I've heard that manually flexing it (ie by hand) also works, which is probably what I should have asked Mr Bea to do instead of getting ice. (??? Don't know why that seemed like the right thing at the time.)

Anyway, I did get some stretches from the yoga chick to hopefully reduce the incidence.

Bea

beagle said...

Ouch. I've had those before. You know it's bad when you wake up yelping and your bedmate wakes up scared.

The CDLC is the best reading on the internet. Fertiles don't know what they're missing. Luck us?

Life is so ironic.

(Maybe I shouldn't post comments before 8am.)

Somewhat Ordinary said...

You know I woke up this morning with very same thing and I'm limping around, too. I had heard they would happen during pregnancy, but this was my first experience. I thought because I eat a banana and drink half a cow everyday that I was keeping them at bay, but I guess not. If you find anything that helps please let me know!

Caro said...

wow ouch!

Glad to hear everything is going ok otherwise.

Rachel Inbar said...

Yuck. Poor you.

I can sometimes have several in a night and it's no longer 'just' my calves. It can be the front of my leg, the side, all the way from my toes to my hip... and it takes *forever* until they go away and they hurt like hell...

I've found bananas do help (though Kirby just told me that potatoes contain even more potassium) and, apparently zinc and magnesium help too (like if I were taking my prenatal vitamins...)

I was also not able to pull my toes up and when I was, it didn't really help much. Sometimes walking on it does.

Schatzi said...

Owwwweeee on the leg cramp. Can't say I've ever had one quite that bad.

Looking forward to your check up report.

megan said...

eek! sorry to hear about your leg cramps. they can be so painful. glad to hear all else is well. good luck with the yoga and with the appointment tomorrow.

Cibele said...

I;ve had many many calf cramps that left limping for days... One thing that helps me is to eat babanas because of the Potassium.

Jess said...

Sorry about the cramp! They say walk on them, but yowza!!

Glad to hear from you! Good luck at your appt tomorrow!!

Pamela T. said...

Ow. Just hearing about it made me instinctively try to stretch my calf muscle. Hard to remember all those muscle fibers until they remind you they're there in such a visceral manner!

Lut C. said...

OUCH!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry you're in such pain - I used to suffer from hideous calf cramps and the only way I could release them properly was to dig my fingers in there and physically pull the muscle back - disgusting yet effective. I had way too little salt in my diet, and the doctor decided that was the cause of them. Touch wood, it's been a fair while since I've had another.

Anyhoo, I'm so glad you checked in. I was going to have to go all stalker-like on you.

x

Anonymous said...

I have heard rolling pins can help to work out the cramp. Keep one near the bed, and if Mr. Bea won't help you work out the cramp, you can hit him with it.

No Minimom said...

I had TERRIBLE leg cramps with my first pregnancy. I was afraid to stretch in the morning because it always ended in horrible pain. Sometimes bracing my foot on the foot of the bed (basically the flexing up thing) would help, but, you're right, sometimes it's just too strong.

FYI: Sometimes eating more Potassium will help with those.

Mel said...

DH gets leg cramps. I imagine they are painful by the look on his face.
Did you do yoga before? How hard is antenatal yoga compared to the normal one? Is it the same?
I've beendoing taebo for a few weeks now and started doing yoga. It looks easy but if your not flexible (and i'm not) its really hard.

Lollipop Goldstein said...

The leg cramps are the worst. And they come out of nowhere.

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