OMG the back pain.

I did two days of heavy eliptical work in a row, which initially just irritated my hip flexors and side abs (or whatever). And then BAM. Lower back stiffened up again. Ryan did some awesome massage work on it, which involved me laying on my belly, which I love.

It's weird, because right now I feel the baby most when I lie on my stomach, and I thought maybe I felt movement, but I'm not sure, so it doesn't count. I tried describing feeling that the baby is there to Ryan, and all I could come up with was a comparison to carpenter levels. You know the little air bubble in the water in a level? The baby feels like the air bubble. 

Then I did some hot shower work on the back. I love, love, love taking really hot showers in the dark. I light a candle so I can see what product I'm using and (as Ryan puts it) steam my flesh off. Tonight I did some easy yoga back stretches with the hot water pounding my lower back, and it helped a LOT.

My Ina May book came, and I LOVE it so far. The first half is just positive birth stories. They involve pain and interventions, but they don't stop there. It's not just "Ohmygosh it hurt SO BAD! Get an epidural or you'll be so miserable." It's "the pain was really intense, so I focused on my breathing, kissed my husband (look into that! We will be making out during this birth), visualized an opening flower/ocean/watched the baby in the hand mirror. 

It doesn't gloss over the pain and discomfort, but it takes a mature "this can be handled, here is how these people did it" approach. So, I think at my shower there will be a ban placed on negative birth stories. And I will be stopping anyone who tries to tell me one. When you expect to feel pain you become programed to feel pain, and when you expect a horrible experience, you're much more likely to have one. 

I've started doing some practicing. At meditation I try to practice focusing on breathing (so hard for me, that sitting still). During massages that get intense I focus on breathing out the pain and trying to relax. Next up is thinking of a few things for me to visualize opening and preparing, I haven't figured out what that will be yet. I want a few options in case some don't work for me. 

In basement news, the amazing guys came and cut out the affected walls and carpet, cleaned and disinfected the floors, carted away all the ruined items, and left fans that will run while we are gone (can run for weeks) to dry everything out. So impressed they got it done before our 6 am flight. Wednesday the plumber will come snake the system, and then the appraiser will come and cut us a check to get it repaired. Trying to decide what kind of floor we'll replace with, thinking tile with throw rugs might be the way to go in case this happens again. Wood would just absorb it.  We'll figure it out later, would like to do something that will be as beneficial to our house value as possible. 

Flight leaves in 7 hours! Off to bed...err...finish packing.