I should know better. Or I should have knocked on wood when I wrote it.

In a previous entry, I mentioned that I had managed to dodge the bullet on a good number of prenatal discomforts that plague many pregnant women. Well, no sooner than I mentioned that, I was rudely awakened at 3:21 am by searing pain in my right calf. My muscle felt as tight and as round as a baseball.

It’s not so much the pain itself that is difficult to deal with, but the suddenness upon which it comes and in the middle of an otherwise peaceful slumber. I’m sure as I get closer to my due date and sleep becomes more elusive due to physical discomfort and fetal movement, these nighttime leg cramps will really prove to be a bane.

Perhaps it’s my body’s way of waking me up, because when the leg cramp came I was sleeping on my back — which, they say, is a big no-no after the fifth month of pregnancy.

I jumped out of bed, as gracefully as a third trimester gal can at 3 o’clock in the morning, and did calf stretches until it loosened up a bit. Back in bed, I massaged my muscle until the cramp subsided enough for me to fall back asleep. This happened probably within a span of 2 minutes. In another minute or two, I was fast asleep again.

Luckily, I can stay in zombie mode even in the midst of pain, so that I can get back to sleep quickly. I use this technique for my nighttime trips to the bathroom, too — which comes in handy since those trips are much more frequent now. It’s a skill, to be able to stay in a state of semi-sleep, navigating my way through the darkness, doing my business, and falling asleep again in less than 60-seconds flat.

My calf was sore for the next two days following the nighttime cramping episode. I’ve been doing calf stretches before bed ever since. I hope this won’t be a regular occurrence.