Pregnant road-trips are getting harder

I would consider myself an expert road-tripper. So much so that I would rather drive this December for 3 days with a new infant than get on a plane (a story for another time). I can’t even count the number of times I have driven from one side of the country to the other in the last 7 years. I have to say though, that I find this reality ironic because for the first 21 years of my life the longest I had been in a car for one stretch of time was about 7 hours and that was torture. And the thought of driving actually out of California was unheard of in my mind. However, when I packed up my belongings in my car for my last year and a half of college and headed from Cali to Ohio my thought of road trips changed forever! Luckily my wonderful dad made the trip with me and took care of a lot of the driving.

Although I made it through the three days of 12-14 hour driving with out any major repercussions I still wasn’t a huge fan of long car rides. I remember when I met the hubs and I had to laugh because to him a 7 hour car ride was a short little trip (not an all day torture experience like I thought of it). And as with most things, as the year went on which included several 9-10 hour trips to DC my thoughts about a long car ride slowly started to align with the hubs. He also introduced me to audio books which have made road-trips a thousand times more enjoyable.

That summer my sis and I made the long 3 day trip back to Cali from College and three months later made it again back to Ohio. Can we say crazy. However, I was really starting to enjoy the feel of the open road and the bleak surroundings of Kansas (well not really the last part but you get the idea). One of my rules for these long road trips was finding really yummy and fun restaurants to eat at. I figured it gave us something to look forward to.

Once the hubs and I got married and I joined the rank of Military Wife road trips again took on another new meaning. I was no longer driving from home to college and back but all over the country. And I was loving almost every minute of it. So much so that I made my first solo cross-country road trip from Cali to Washington DC last year with the Charles. After that trip I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t handle. It is no surprise that our 2009 Corolla has almost 90,000 miles on it!

One of the hardest things about living in NJ for me was being so far away from my family. When we found out we were moving to Utah and would only be about an 11 hour drive from my folks I was ecstatic..I mean 11 hours is nothing right?! I made the trip solo and with others several times during our first year in Utah. So when we found out we were pregnant and people warned me that my love of road trips might wane slightly I laughed. Obliviously they weren’t true road-trippers like I was. With the hubs being gone earlier this summer I drove the 11 hour dive with the Charles to Cali to spend time with the fam. Since I was already about 5 1/2 months pregnant and it went great I figured not even pregnancy would slow me down on the road.

..Until Tuesday. With the hubs gone again I decided to head to Cali for a few weeks to hang with the fam. Side note: part of the reason was also because I am in a wedding here and they are throwing me my first shower this Sunday..yay! Okay back to the story. Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early ready to get the last minute details out of the way and hit the road with the Charles. My leg and hip were bothering me some (maybe the hour and a half intense fitness class the day before wasn’t the best idea) but I didn’t really think anything of it. I figured that if I managed fine last time at 5 1/2 months pregnant than I should also be fine at almost 7 months.

About an hour into the drive the pain moved into my back and basically wrapped around my rib cage on the right side of my body. Let’s just say this is when the rude (and I do mean rude) awakening happened! The next 10 hours were misery as I tried everything I could think of to relieve the pain while safely driving. I treasured my potty breaks because it provided some relief but about 20 minutes later the pain would start again. I could barley talk on the phone because it made the pain a lot worse. I think I stopped about 7 times which is unheard of for me. I finally made it to Cali and cried tears of joy (or maybe they were from the pain too).

I was so glad to be out of the car and if you would have asked me at that moment I would have said I was never getting in one again. Although my back and hip continued to hurt that night, it wasn’t too bad the next morning. So what did I decide to do..well go for a run of course. As soon as I hit the pavement I knew this probably wasn’t the best idea but I didn’t want to give in an turn back yet. I thought about only doing 1 mile but then the pain seemed to lessen some so I decided to at least get in two. When I stopped running and did my cool-down I could barely walk due to the intense pain in my right hip, butt cheek and down the leg.

In my mind this was nonsense since just last week I walked about 20 miles, ran 9 miles and took 4 fitness classes (including my first spinning class which is highly addictive). Yet a measly 2 miles did me in for the whole day. I did some yoga to see if that would help. Sadly though for the rest of the day and even into today walking has been a very painful process. It is slowly getting better but I think it is time to face the sad and harsh reality that maybe pregnancy has changed my love for road-trips (at least for the present time). I am dreading the return trip in a couple of weeks!