23 weeks

I must say that the second trimester is not the fun times that everyone described. Thanks to an anterior placenta, I have a babe who loves to curl up around my spine. I'm so tired of this constant back and hip pain. Trying to get to sleep at night as been a constant challenge. Nothing feels comfortable and some positions make it worse. I need a good nights sleep so badly. Everyone keeps telling me that it just preparation for the baby. But I know that newborn sleep (wake up frequently but do sleep) and I'm totally ok with taking little naps throughout the day to catch up on sleep. Naps are tough when you are working your butt off so you can get a decent maternity leave.
The babe has been kicking a bit more. But again, because the baby is so far back it's had to feel anything really reliable or have an idea of how often I'm feeling it. Every so often I do feel little bumps against my cervix and on my left side.
I'm dealing with a little bit of maternity blues. A couple weeks ago I had a really bad cold. Being pregnant means you can't take any ColdFX, sudafed, Buckleys, etc. I was coughing so much it was keeping me up at night so the doctor said I could use a little Robitussin which did help a little. To spite frequent saline rinses and tons of garlic and vitamin C, I still ended up with a (very very bad) sinus and chest infection and had to do a week of antibiotics. So that all left me feeling a little down and now with the lack of sleep, I'm just feeling worse. I hope this all goes away soon. Maybe when Jon and I start our birthing classes and we interact with more expectant parents my mood will improve.
Well there you go...week 23. Do any mamas out there have a suggestion for dealing with the itch of stretching skin? I've tried belly butter and Aveeno cream but neither is helping much. I'm open to anything.