Why pregnant women waddle

I was walking through the halls of my office the other day thinking to myself, "Nice! You are walking totally normally. No waddle yet!" The scientific reason that pregnant women start waddling is because our hips start to separate to facilitate labor. Kind of gross when you think about it. But I disagree. I started waddling yesterday for one very specific reason: back pain. Yes, I have experienced my first back ache in conjunction with the pregnancy.

I have always poo-pooed people who complain about back pain. Suck it up! It can't be that bad! Well, yes, in fact it can. And to think, for me, it has only been my lower back. I ended up going to bed at 8 PM last night because I couldn't find a comfortable position watching TV. Pathetic. And of course I don't want to take any pain medication. Oh no. I'm tougher than that! Or I will be until labor sets in and DH will be responsible for getting me the good drugs.

The waddle comes about because I can't really straighten up fully (although my mom would argue that I never really walk with a straight back). I know that the pain was caused by sitting at my computer all day, leaning forward. So I'm on a mission to do better while at work. First up, sitting up straight. I've moved my keyboard towards me so I don't have to reach as far. I have also promised myself that every hour I will get up and do a lap around the floor. Lame but it serves the dual purpose of stretching and an excuse to stop and talk to people. It should get the circulation going and keep me from agony after 9 hours in front of the computer.

I'm better this morning and very glad that my sleep was not interrupted by back pain. I was woken up by dreams of bugs attacking my husband, but that's another story.

Any other suggestions?