Slow down.

Here is what I have learned in the last 24 hours:  I need to slow down.  My center of gravity is off.  My belly is protruding.  I am carrying another life inside of me.

SLOOOOOW.  DOOOOOWN.

Wondering why I bring this up?  I totally fell on Monday night after work.  Crashed and burned.  Yard sale'd.  Biffed it.  And it was not graceful.  I was rushing to catch the T and somehow managed to roll my ankle, sending me tumbling down, arms flailing and bag flying.  I lost a shoe.  Half of my bag got dumped all over the sidewalk.  It was not pretty.  I got up quickly and assessed the damage.  My hands hurt.  My knees hurt.  My left elbow hurt.  But my belly didn't hurt.  As far as I could tell, I broke my fall with other body parts rather than my expanding stomach.  When I got home and tearfully told Lee, he hugged me and said the wisest words I've heard during this pregnancy.

There will be another train.  You don't need to hurry.  Slow down.

He's right.  There is no rush.  I need to slow down.  For some reason, that concept is really hard for me.  Anyway, we ate dinner then I sat quietly on the couch waiting for a kick or a nudge from my daughter indicating she'd survived the tumble.  After a few kicks I felt reassured and we went to bed.

And then I woke up the next morning to soreness on the left side of my belly.  Tender to the touch.  And it hurt to cough or bend a certain way.  A little googling revealed that any trauma to your belly during the second half of your pregnancy should be reported to your OB.  So I called her knowing she would make me come in for a check-up.  And of course she asked me to come to the hospital after work to make sure I'd not done any damage to the baby or to myself. 

Here's the good thing, though.  I had a little tour of where I will deliver our baby in March!  My doctor had me check into the labor and deliver floor for monitoring to check that the baby wasn't in any distress and that I wasn't having any contractions.  After an hour or so of being on the toco-monitor and a quick ultrasound, it was determined that I hadn't torn or injured my placenta and that our baby was perfectly fine in there.

Lesson of the day... week... year... my life?!  

SLOW DOWN.  Both literally and metaphorically.  You do have time.  There is no need to rush.  

Just slow down.  It will be my mantra for the remaining 15 weeks of pregnancy (and beyond).