Well it's been 1 week since I broke my ankle and 3 days since my surgery. I'm getting used to my new normal. The pain on Friday night was terrible - by far the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. Every day since then has been better, which is encouraging. Today I'm starting to try to take less pain medicine and stretch doses out over longer periods of time and that's leading to more pain, so we'll see how it goes. Meds or not, it still hurts like hell when I put my leg down to get out of bed and go to the restroom - hopefully that will get better with time. I swear I can feel the metal in my ankle and that freaks me out! I haven't left my bedroom since Friday afternoon and the only times I've gotten up have been to go to my bathroom. That might sound depressing, but I'm determined not to push myself too hard right now, especially this first week while everything is still setting from the surgery and stitches are still in. Plus, at 37 week pregnant, I just don't feel like doing much. Cam and my Dad installed railings in our bathroom yesterday that have been absolutely life changing for me. They're just like the ones at the hospital. I can now stand up and sit down to go to the bathroom on my own, although someone still has to be right there in case I fall. If you had told me a week ago that something like bathroom railings for the elderly would make me this happy, I would've thought you were crazy, but alas, this is my new normal. Sometimes I see pictures of myself before this happened and wonder if I will ever be like that again...can you say dramatic much? But it is hard to have your whole life change so fast and lose all your independence in an instant.
I'll be 37 weeks on Wednesday...full term! I'll go see Dr. Orth that day. We were originally scheduled to have a growth ultrasound, but it's canceled since I had one in the hospital on New Years Eve and insurance won't cover another one this soon. Claire's estimated weight was 6 lbs, 8 ounces then. At this upcoming appointment, we will probably schedule an induction for 39 weeks. This is because of the blood thinning shots I'm getting every day. It's not safe to go into labor unless I've been off this medicine for a certain number of hours, so we need to be able to control when I go into labor. It's exciting and crazy that we may know Claire's birthday soon! Please don't tell me any induction horror stories - I know people can be very opinionated about inducing, but this is medically necessary. I know it may make for a rough labor, but there's no way to know that. Plus, after all that's happened, it will really be easier to just know how this is all going to go down!
Unfortunately my school district is screwing me over on my maternity leave. Even though this ankle injury is clearly a separate event than having the baby, I'm having to start my maternity leave now, meaning I'll lose time with the baby after she's born since I'll have to go back to work three weeks sooner than I'd planned to. It's really disappointing, but not surprising - unfortunately, they never miss an opportunity to screw people over. The way that America handles maternity leave is absolutely insane compared to the rest of the world! Anyway, so given my leave situation and the fact that I'm nearly full term, part of me wants to go into labor really soon so I lose less time with the baby at home, but the other, more practical side of me knows I need to heal more from my surgery. Saturday night I thought there was a small chance I could be feeling the beginnings of labor (I wasn't!) and I was excited but also scared! While that obviously wasn't the real thing, I've definitely been having more contractions - I think they're mostly Braxton Hicks and needing more water? There's nothing more ironic than being this pregnant and needing to drink lots of water, but not being able to freely go to the bathroom. Someday I'll look back and laugh, but not yet! I have a feeling Claire will stay put until she's induced, but she could have a plan of her own!
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