Third Trimester Woes

I may have spoken too soon when I said I was really lucky not to have had too many of the painful symptoms of pregnancy. The last few nights I've been experiencing unbelievable upper back and chest pain, and last night in particular was the worst. I never would have thought my back could feel such intense pain without having been shot or stabbed. I've read that lower back pain is more common, but that pregnant women experience upper back pain as well sometimes. The pain was horrible! I was up all night rolling around trying to get comfortable. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what, no matter how many pillows or where I put them or how I positioned myself. So I decided to try other things--getting up and walking around, stretching, sitting in our glider, leaning over the sofa, sitting in a chair with my head on a pillow on a table, taking a hot shower--but nothing worked. It was so bad that I even had a few frustrated crying fits. I kept Andrew up all night, poor thing. He was really sweet and rubbed my back, but even that didn't help, at least not for too long.

Finally I called my sister (while crying of course) and asked her what she thought I should do. I knew she had upper back pain during her second pregnancy. She told me to alternate ice then a heating pad on my back and try really hard to get in a halfway comfortable position to do so and to take Tylenol. Normally I would have waited to call my doctor to ask about taking the Tylenol, but I've talked to her about it before when I had the flu during my first trimester and knew she'd say I could take it, so I did. After about 30 minutes I felt much better and fell asleep. Now my back feels okay, but I still feel bad just from being up all night. I sort of feel like I have a hangover, ugh. I have 3 more weeks until my due date. I don't know if I could take many more nights of this though! If anyone has any tips, feel free to let me know.

Above is an illustration at 37 weeks, which is right about where I am now. The little bundle is getting big.