Going, going ...

My belly button is disappearing. It makes sense, I guess—all my insides are getting squished by the growing Donger, and my innie really has no where to go at this point, other than outie. Still, I wasn't expecting it. It's not something that the pregnancy books talk about, as far as I can remember. Right now, I think it's at critical mass—is that the right term?—and is about as flat as it's going to get. It's just starting to get a little bulge-y. It's actually a little uncomfortable. You know that feeling when you stick your finger in your belly button? (Come on, you know you've done it.) For the past couple of days, it's felt like that all the time. I don't relish the thought of having an outie, but I'm almost looking forward to it popping out so that this poking feeling in my belly stops.
Speaking of poking feelings, the Donger has been dancing around my insides for several weeks now. As much as pregnancy sucks (and it really does, most of the time—don't let anyone try to tell you any different), it's pretty cool to feel the little flips and pokes. It makes it real, somehow, even more so than hearing the heartbeat did. We had heard the heartbeat on the left side, but now it looks like he's moved over to the right. All the movement and the heartbeat are over there now.
I'm still having some back pain. Actually it's in my hip more. The last few days haven't been too bad, but the two weeks before that were horrible. I'd have these stabbing pains in my hip (low, like where the actual joint is, in my butt), that were actually incapacitating. I had to have Joe help me off the couch, lean on him when I walked, etc. And it actually made me collapse more than once. I'm counting on this helping to prepare me for labor (I know I'm grasping at straws here), because I don't know if I've ever had that kind of pain. Anyway, I went to the orthopedic surgeon this morning and it pretty much went the way I expected it to. I'll start physical therapy for my scoliosis (if my HMO approves it), and hopefully that will help. He said the hip pain is probably not related to the scoliosis, but more to the release of relaxin (a hormone that's released during pregnancy that does just what it sounds like—relaxes your joints, ligaments, etc., so your pelvis can expand to fit the baby out) and stress on my sacroiliac joint (near the base of my spine, I think), both of which are common during pregnancy. It's not safe to do an MRI or x-ray during pregnancy to diagnose it further, or to take painkillers other than tylenol, so I'm pretty much stuck with it for the duration. So, like I said, hopefully the physical therapy will relieve some of it. Right now it's not too bad, but as I start packing on the weight I've got to be careful to "practice proper body mechanics," in the words of the othopedist. So, I guess I've got to find somewhere better to use as a desk than the dining room table.
I'll update more on the Donger later. Right now I'm going to go take a nap.