Early in my pregnancy, I turned down a lot of Matt's offers of assistance. I was still perfectly able to walk and bend and stand up and sit down and pick things up without much (or any) help.

My one concession to the pregnancy was, after helping Matt carry some furniture upstairs and experiencing some pretty bad abdominal cramps, I decided to forego anything resembling heavy lifting. But other than that, I was just fine.

Matt continued to offer help, and I continued to politely (usually) turn it down. "I'm saving it up," I said on several occasions, "for that last bit, when I really need your help."

Even over the last couple of months, I've insisted on picking things up off the floor myself (especially if I'm the one who, in my pregnancy-induced klutziness, dropped them), despite Matt hovering and looking anxious at the involuntary grunt that accompanies such exercise.

It wasn't as easy as it was before I was pregnant. I've got this extra ten pounds hanging out in front of me. It throws me off a little. But I learned to adapt - spread my feet wide before bending over, to give myself a good base. Put one hand on something fairly stable. Above all, move slowly.

This is humanity's big evolutionary trait, after all - we're highly adaptable, and we learn fast. One episode of cramping, and I stopped carrying heavy things. One good dizzy spell from standing up too fast, and I started moving slower and making sure I was balanced as well as possible.

So, while I've appreciated Matt's concern and dedication, I haven't really needed too much help from him in the last seven months.

Yesterday represented a change.

I've mentioned hip pain a few times. I try not to talk about it too much, because there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it, so why dwell? Sciatica is one of those things that occasionally happens to pregnant women. There's not much I can do but wait it out. But it gets pretty bad sometimes. Especially at night.

But yesterday, as we were getting to the end of the grocery shopping, my back started to hurt so bad I was about to sit down right there on the floor. I just couldn't take it any more. I leaned heavily on the counter throughout checkout, and I asked Matt if he minded putting the groceries in the car while I sat and rested. And I didn't even put up a half-hearted protest when he offered to bring them into the house and put them away.

I sat for about an hour before the pain subsided enough that I could make dinner, and I was stiff for the rest of the evening.

I don't know what I'm going to do next week. I'd actually been feeling pretty good when we left for the store. Send Matt to the store by himself? Or go anyway (and take the cart from Matt so I have something to lean on) and let him put everything away again?

And then this morning...

This morning it wasn't pain. I'd woken up at about 4:30 and piled up my pillows so I spent the last hour or so of the night sleeping sitting up, which is the best relief I can get for nighttime sciatica. So when the alarms went off, I wasn't quite as well-rested as I might have been, but on the plus side of things, I was actually able to move around.

No, this morning it was my turn to make our lunches for the day. One constant in our lunchboxes is a piece of fruit. We keep the fruit on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. I used to put it in a bowl on the kitchen counter, but it started going bad too quickly.

This morning, after getting out my can of soup and making Matt's sandwich, I bent over to get the fruit, and almost couldn't reach it. The baby's head is situated right about where I have to fold to bend over, so I can't go quite as far as I used to. This wasn't painful, just kind of embarrassing.

I eventually recovered the fruit, but my feet and hips really aren't up to deep-knee bends that early in the morning on a regular basis.

I told Matt when I went back upstairs - we need to move the lunch fruit so I can get to it in the mornings.

Another battle lost.

Less than two months to go. I'm trying to hang in there. But this is less fun than it used to be.

On the plus side, Matt picked up the drop cloths and peeled up the masking tape in the nursery last night. He also put the blinds back up, and put the outlet covers back on. The nursery now looks like an actual room again, instead of a work in progress.

Busybusy tonight. I'm trying to think of something I could do to help. Hanging the curtains wouldn't be a very difficult chore, but it involves climbing up on a chair to mount the rods, which I probably shouldn't do. Though I guess I could hang the curtain-holder hooks - those'll be at a reasonable height. Maybe I'll be able to help with the crib assembly somehow. Read the directions or something, maybe.

(I still have not heard any happy stories about crib assembly. At the moment, I'm kind of hoping this will turn out to be like the first trip to the dentist after years of neglect - bad, yeah, but not quite as awful as I'd come to anticipate.)

But I am kind of eager to get the crib up. A friend of mine from work came into my office yesterday to say she was going to be out of town and couldn't make it to the baby shower, but she gave me a gift anyway. It turned out to be a pair of crib sheets and a blanket. A blanket that looks wonderful and cuddly and soft.

Matt promised that after we got the crib up and in position, I could make the bed, with sheets and blankie and everything. (Like I was going to wait just because he thought it was silly.)

--Liz