My chiropractor is a genius. All my terrible back pains are GONE! It’s like the pain was never there. I am truly awed by what he’s been able to do in a few short weeks.

CS and I had quite the journey in getting pregnant, and to us, this pregnancy is a gift. I relish every moment of it–sore back and no alcohol and weight gain and all–because I really had my doubts whether it’d ever happen. Further, I have had a really easy pregnancy (thank my luck stars)–no morning sickness, reasonable weight gain, no cravings or aversions, no stretch marks or varicose veins (yet), etc. And I don’t want to sound like a complainer, but, well, I have a complaint.

Tuesday my ankles looked swollen to me. I have the family “bird legs.” All of the legs in my family are thin, stick-like things. And frankly, I’ve come to like ‘em that way. I mentioned my concern to someone in the office Tuesday, and he assured me my ankles looked fine. Hmmm. “Normal” ankles are far fleshier than my bony things, so I wasn’t so sure. But then, last night there was no mistaking it–my ankles have started to swell. I guess I thought this maybe wouldn’t happen to me (I’m naive that way) or that it would happen in the last three or four weeks of my pregnancy. But I have 15 (FIFTEEN, people!!) more weeks to go.

I’ve read up on what to do to reduce the swelling–drink lots of water, elevate them, lay off the salt (my favorite food group!), sleep on my left side. Yeah, yeah, I’ve already been doing all of that. Best I can do is to redouble my yoga efforts, try to exercise more and try not to look at my ankles. I’m not even in the third trimester yet, and all indications are that it will only get worse as it gets hotter. Summers in New Orleans are not inviting–a friend has described a quick walk during lunchtime in the summer “like walking in warm spit.” God help me.

Oh, and did I mention the Braxton Hicks contractions started this week and have been oh, so much fun? Ugh.