Pregnant and roughing it

The phrase “roughing it” has a whole new meaning when “roughing it” for two.

Last weekend, my husband and I joined my family on one of their annual camping trips. And while I would normally confess that staying in a tent with a big queen sized air mattress, three fans, a heater, a TV and a stack of DVDs isn't exactly roughing it, the description is appropriate with a baby on board—after all, pregnancy by itself is rough.

After arriving late Thursday evening (being very proud of the fact that I only needed one bathroom stop in three hours), we immediately started unpacking in an attempt to get everything ready before dark. The tent went up without too much of an issue, unless of course you count the extra time it takes for me to reach the ground and then haul my extra weight back up. We quickly discovered a problem, however—the air mattress was leaking. I ache from sleeping on my own bed, I told my husband, I am not sleeping without an air mattress. After trying three different patches, each of which only made the problem worse, we headed to the nearest 24-hour “we've got it all” store to pick up a brand new one.

After finally getting everything set up, I was pretty surprised that sleeping on an air mattress only slightly exaggerated the hip and back pain but quickly found a solution—water. Walking until the water was past my belly, my hips felt better then they had in months. The cold water cradled the extra 20 pounds in my stomach instead of having all the weight sitting on top of my hips. I'd even say it almost felt like a trip to the spa, except for the squishy lake sand and seaweed.

Water also deserved heroic status for relief from the heat. My parents welcomed me into their camper for some AC (and a bathroom that wasn't halfway across the campground) whenever I needed—but when it reached the 90s on Saturday, it just wasn't enough. Nothing a little trek back into the lake couldn't solve.

Though camping is rather a rough way to vacation, I wish I could have stayed longer. There's just something about not having any sort of schedule and being able to just slow down (and take a nap whenever you want) that was a relief after the stress of buying a house and prepping for a baby while continuing to work full time. I had to skip out on the water skiing this year—but I'm looking forward to sharing some favorite family traditions with my son next year. I wonder how rough “roughing it” will be with a crawler…