Thursday, April 4, 2013

Swelling, Carpal Tunnel, and the Belly

When I saw Dr. Mac yesterday, we did talk about the pain I've been feeling in my hands.  It's pretty much Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Apparently it's common during pregnancy.  See article here.

The pain started out of nowhere this weekend.  I have been noticing more swelling as time moves on, but there was no pain associated with it.  By no means is it anything unbearable, but it is uncomfortable.

In other swelling news, my legs and ankles are huge by the end of the day!  I take many breaks while doing stuff around the house, but the swelling is here to stay.  Our church prepares dinner on Wednesday evenings so I showed up at 3:30 pm yesterday to help.  The meal was delicious (as always)!  Once I got home around 8 pm my ankles looked awful.  When I know that I'm going to be on my feet for a while I wear sneakers.  This is the aftermath...

The socks I was wearing had hearts on them, so I had hearts imprinted on my legs!!  The funny thing is that my ankles and feet didn't hurt too much at all.  They were just funny to look at!

My Dad helps cook at church on Wednesday evenings and he made the remark that I looked bigger than I did on Sunday.  I believe him!  I actually feel bigger and have been gaining some weight this week.  I anticipate weighing 160 lbs by my weigh-in on Saturday morning.

Adult Large t-shirts are now tight over my belly.  

The linea nigra is growing up past my belly button now.  My belly button stays out about 99% of the time except for when I lay on my back and Elliana shifts position.

The belly doesn't look as big from this angle but it's definitely hanging out there.  I cannot imagine how big I will look by the end of the month.  I may end up with some stretch marks on my tummy before Elliana makes her grand arrival.

Rant:  My growing belly is now starting to cause me much more discomfort.  My back only hurts when Elliana is nestled under my right rib.  It doesn't matter if I sit or stand, my back aches.  The belly also makes bending over incredibly difficult.  Sometimes I cannot even roll myself out of bed.  I scoot my legs off of the bed and wait for them to find the floor and I do a weird slide off of the bed.  Rolling over is also difficult and I'm sure that I'm funny to watch.  It was almost impossible to carry Nesia on my right hip last night because of Elliana.

Realization:  With all of that being said, I still find myself so very blessed to be carrying this big belly around.  In the tearfully pain moments I remind myself that we prayed for this child and waited for God to give her to us.  There are so many women who would give anything to be in my shoes right now.  This pain and uncomfortable-ness will pass and our lives will be filled with joy.

51 days until our due date...



6 comments:

  1. I'm so thankful that your pregnancy is doing this well. Hoping that your feet and ankles don't swell too much more and that you can find some time to put them up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Poor ankles. You need a nice foot and leg massage!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok... I know you're very grateful for your pregnancy and you have such a good attitude about it, which I know comes from the appreciation that IF brings. But, you HAVE had a difficult pregnancy, and I think it's ok if you're worn out of it. Of course it could always be worse, but I think it's ok to be tired and feeling icky and to rant about it a bit. I've never been pregnant and I understand that it must be super uncomfortable! You're getting so close though and it will be worth it! (ANd I know you know that too.:-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You poor thing! I have bad carpel tunnel too and it's no fun! Hope it's a temporary thing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my! You poor thing. You have not had it easy. I hope some of these issues ease up a little for you. I love that you still find gratitude amidst all the discomforts and problems. I have hit some problematic issues recently, and it's harder than I imagined. Hard, but worth it in the end for sure :-D
    Hugs!

    And I don't think I mentioned, or if you knew, but this is Lisa Lynn from the Facebook group. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog! I appreciate your comments and support on our journey.

As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
Psalm 71:14