Page 29 of Sincerely, Pack Pucked
I had expected morning sickness and sore boobs. What I hadn’t anticipated was the sheer exhaustion that came with being pregnant. It hit me only a week after I learned about the pregnancy, but when it came, it came with avengeance. Before I was pregnant, I needed a very comfortable nest in order to fall asleep. If there weren’t enough soft surfaces, I wouldn’t be able to get any shut eye. But now I was falling asleep in chairs at my desk. Even standing in line at the cafeteria, I’d begin to doze off.
The class dragged on, painfully so, but I had to get through it, since attendance was counted towards my grade. I already knew I would have to research after the class to figure out what the heck I was supposed to learn that day because I was absorbing none of it.
The moment it was over, I made a beeline for the door, not bothering to talk to anyone. I was too exhausted to chat. Exhaustion weighed heavily on me, and all I could thinkabout was crawling into my nest and about forgetting all the assignments I had due. They were a post-nap problem.
Climbing to my third-floor dorm room was almost impossible. My feet felt like they were weighed down with bricks. It was exhausting in a way I’d never experienced. I had pulled a few all-nighters in my time, and even in those instances, I had never felt so lethargic.
When I closed the door behind me, enveloped in my own space again, I almost sobbed with relief. One of my biggest pet peeves was wearing clothes in the nest that I had worn outside. I much preferred to wear comfortable pajamas or loungewear.
So, despite being tired enough to drop at any moment, I went to the bathroom and turned on the shower, pulling out a comfy pair of lightweight pajama shorts and T-shirt while the water warmed up.
I kept the shower basic, not bothering with my hair and just rinsing off my body before drying off and pulling on my pajamas. The warm water had felt glorious pounding down on my sore back, but if I had stayed in there a moment longer, I probably would have fallen asleep under the spray.
The familiar scent of my nest made my mind hum with happiness. It was the scent of comfort and home. In the back of my mind, I realized I probably should have looked into getting something to eat, but that felt like too much effort. I could order some takeout after my nap.
My plan was to sleep for no more than an hour at most before getting back to my tasks for the day. When I finally opened my eyes, my entire body was heavy. That kind of muscle-deep exhaustion you experience after a really good, long sleep.
Through the gap in the windows, I could see that darkness had descended. It had only been lunchtime when I crawled into my nest. Huffing, I rolled over and stared at my ceiling. I knew I needed the rest, but I couldn’t help but mourn how many hours I had lost to my elongated nap.
From somewhere deep within the fabric depths of my nest, my phone beeped. Sighing, I sat up and fumbled around, searching for it. Many times, I’d thought about getting a little dock for my nest-side table, but I’d never actually done it. My phone always ended up under my pillow or tangled up in the masses of blankets, lost to the abyss of fabric.
It took a few minutes, but I eventually managed to find it tangled up in a fluffy yellow throw blanket. The screen was full of notifications, but I swiped most of them away, things like university emails, and social media notifications.
I had a private message from D—and one from J.
D
Did you remember to pick up your prenatal vitamins?
Everything I knew about this alpha led me to believe he was the ultimate caretaker. Granted, he was a bit bossy, but not in a way that seemed too insufferable. Would I like having that kind of alpha in my future pack? I was under no illusions that I was particularly organized or put together. If I remembered to buy fruits and vegetables to eat throughout the week, I often let them go bad in the fridge, forgetting they were even there.
Maple
Not yet. I’ve been exhausted, so I’ve been spending every spare moment napping.
D
Chronic fatigue is quite common in the early stages of pregnancy. The prenatal vitamins may help with that.
Maple
Are you the expert on early pregnancy now?
D
I may have done some reading.
I bit my lip. Had he been doing some reading because of me? I didn’t want to make assumptions, but it did seem like quite the coincidence that he was reading up on pregnancy shortly after learning I was knocked up.
Maple
I’ll pick them up tomorrow morning, everywhere is closed now.
D
Make sure you do.
Smiling, I switched to the conversation with J.
