Crafting and Cramps

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep last night due to some very painful cramping in my left leg. Leg cramps are very common in pregnancy so I didn’t think much of it at the time…my only thought was “Ow! Please stop with the pain I want to sleep; I only have around 11 weeks of being able to sleep left available to me until I’m not able to sleep again for 13 years.” (I’m now starting to understand why people take maternity leave earlier than 36-38 weeks…) Sadly, and rather painfully, the cramping has continued for the whole of today! Nick has been wonderful; rubbing Olbas oil into my calf, flexing my leg and toes and buying me bananas, but nothing has worked! So after a conversation with my Mutti, who is an Emergency Nurse Practitioner, I waddled up to A&E just to make sure everything was ok and that my leg wasn’t about to drop off. The fantastic thing about the hospital here is that it has its own Maternity Triage for pregnant ladies 21 weeks or more (which we didn’t know about previously). The receptionist in A&E had a look of fear when I approached; I’m sure she’s seen her fair share of labour-crazed Mothers-to-be-any-moment-I-said-any-f**king-moment, and told us to go up to the Maternity ward. Once up there we were seen within 10 minutes; told that everything was fine (“Is this your first pregnancy?” *hangs head in paranoid, first pregnancy shame* “Yes”) and instructed to call if the leg starts swelling/turning red. Excellent news, but my leg still hurts a lot! Have eaten a banana, had some calcium (cheese for dinner) and waddled all the way to A&E and back… I’m hoping a warm bath, another Olbas oil massage and some paracetamol before bed will help me sleep tonight – otherwise I’m going to be very grumpy tomorrow! 

On the plus side I have done a lot of work on Grape’s baby book today! I lit my candle that smells of Christmas (it really does) and may have listened to some Christmas tunes before Nick got back from hockey…I then switched to musical theatre, and have spent the day singing away in my Craft room. I thought I’d post some photos of what I’ve done so far in case you’re interested; rather proud of the outcome. 

I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend; if any of you have any top tips on how to relieve leg cramp without chopping off your leg, then any advice would be gratefully received! Tweet me or comment below.

Also, some exciting news! Nick has agreed to be my guest blogger to write about pregnancy etc from a male perspective. I might get him to write something tomorrow, so watch this space. 

Goodbye for now – my bath awaits!