Numb Tummy! And other pregnancy woes...

I've had a good pregnancy, I'll admit.  Compared to the horror stories that I hear women going through, I've been lucky.  No morning sickness, no constant backache, no sciatica, no major swelling.  

But just because I've not gone through major problems for the past 35 weeks doesn't mean that it's all roses over here.  Here's some of the issues I'm beginning to have:

• Swollen, tingly hands.  In the morning when I wake up my hands will be so sore!  It's difficult for me to bend my fingers and sometimes they feel like the joints are popping in and out!  They tingle and they feel swollen, though they don't look that swollen.  (Well, except for the one time that I tried wearing a wrist brace to help the soreness... when I woke up, my hand extending out from the brace was very visibly swollen!!)  My midwife says it's probably because of the mix of the hormone relaxin and water retention.
• Sore wrists.  This is carpel tunnel syndrome.  It creeps up during pregnancy because of pressure on the nerves in your wrists.  So far it's just my right hand (my dominant hand), and it mostly just hurts when I'm trying to hoist myself out of bed for the bathroom or waking up in the morning.
• Numb tummy!  The skin on my stomach around my belly button feels numb all the time!  It started at around 30 weeks and the numb area has just gotten bigger and bigger as my stomach does the same!  Some think it's due to the baby pressing on a nerve, others (and myself) think it's because your skin is stretched so tight.  It's totally fine, and my midwife says not to worry.
• Sore feet.  Duh!  I'm carrying around 30 extra pounds for hours and hours every day.  I'm a teacher and I'm on my feet all day running around the classroom, so of course my feet hurt at the end of the day!
• Feeling so tired!  At the end of the day, when I come home after working for 8+ hours, it's all I can do to fix dinner and get some chores done.  It's not every day that I feel this way, but it's starting to be.  I've been lucky that it's only just now hitting me, but I hate it because I want to be working on Adelaide's room or getting other baby-related projects done... I just don't have as much energy.

So there's my list.  It's not too bad, but then again... I still have almost 5 weeks to go.  Who knows what will creep up on me?  If you're preggers like me, hopefully you don't have any major problems that you're dealing with... and if you do have major issues, just remember it's for the best reason ever!