Dare I Say It?

29 Weeks.

I am almost afraid to say it out loud, but it seems that my pain in the butt is starting to go away! It was just wonderful to have so many folks concerned about me and giving me loads of ideas on what to do to help relieve me of my pain. I am so grateful to be lucky enough to be surrounded by such caring people!

I am now able to walk without wincing and sucking in my breath. The searing pain has been reduced to an annoying sharp poke. The strength in my left leg is returning allowing me to walk up and down stairs at an almost normal speed. I am finding that there are moments when I even forget that I have any pain at all! For many days it was all I could focus on.

Here are some things that seemed to set me on the road to recovery:

Heat. I continued to use my heating pad on my leg and lower back everyday. On Monday, I started bringing it to school and using it there too. I switched it on for 10 or 15 minutes and tried to relax my leg. The heat helped loosen my muscles that had become very tense from anticipating pain.

Sitting. One of the hardest things for me is to stay in my seat. At work I am usually up and about helping students and running around the school doing things. I made a conscious effort to rest and sit more. Students came up to me for help whenever possible and when it wasn't possible, I sat in my wheely chair and rolled around to them. I only used my right leg to push myself around and avoided straining my left leg. I also did a lot of sitting at home. Griffin has been just wonderful. He hops up when I need something and tells me to stay put. He has done my laundry and cooked several meals. I really am lucky to have such a kind and generous husband.

Pillows. A pillow in the proper place seems to make a huge difference with my positioning. I took the advice of a couple of people and am sleeping with my body pillow between my legs all the way down to my ankles. I am focusing on keeping my legs aligned and not crossed over each other. Before I started doing this, I think I was sleeping with one leg tossed over the other and it was twisting my spine and hips. This is probably why my sciatica hurt so much when I would first get up in the morning.

Shoes. I switched to only wearing my Earth Shoes. I love my Birkenstocks, but they were doing nothing for me with this pain. My Earth Shoes have a negative heel that pushes your posture up. I always feel a little taller wearing these and they also exercise your calves at the same time. It also helps that they are not clogs so they stay on my feet without effort.

Back brace. When I first got my Mommy to Be back support, I was skeptical that it would do anything for me. It took me a few days of experimenting with the position to figure out what would help, but now that I have, it has been a great addition to my back repair regimen. I have to wear it really low below my ever-bulging belly. It lifts my belly up and takes the pressure off my lower back a bit. Piper seems to hate it. She kicks at it every time I sit down wearing it, so I guess it must be squashing her happy home a bit. She certainly seems to be aware that I have it on.

Distractions. DVDs, PBS online, books, emails, buttons, felting and ice cream have all been great distractions for me. The more I focused on the pain the worse I felt. My lowest moment was over the weekend when I decided to take a hot bath and soak for a while. Well, the water never really was hot enough and it was a major struggle to just get into the tub. Once I was sitting there every little movement triggered the pain and I was then trapped. Out of nowhere, I burst into tears. It was just a moment later that Griffin came into the bathroom to tell me he was going to leave to pick up his brother David from work. He saw me crying and rushed in and saved me. After he got me out of the tub, fetched my clothes and helped me get dressed, I became a little more composed and parked on the love seat with my heating pad for the rest of the day. I was forced into relaxing and it was a very good thing for me.

Feeling the love. It was also really reassuring to hear from so many people that they have gone through this too. Sometimes I start to feel a little crazy and alone with this pregnancy. I spend a lot of time inside my head thinking about everything. I was reassured by the outpouring of kindness from so many people. Thank you.

Who's Got That Voodoo Doll?

Many years ago I remember watching an episode of Gilligan's Island that had a crazy witchdoctor running around on the island. He made voodoo dolls of all of the castaways and would do evil things to the dolls and it would effect the person the doll was made for. I seem to remember him jabbing pins into one of the dolls and that person having excruciating pain on their body in the exact the spot that the witchdoctor pricked on the doll. The person had no idea where the pain was coming from and was shocked with agony at the most inconvenient moments. It was funny at the time.

I am now wondering who has made a voodoo doll of me. Who have I slighted so badly that they are compelled to stick pins in a cursed doll made in my image? Gosh, it could be so many people! Being a teacher for 12 years, I am sure I have made a few students angry. I have also purposely driven slow too driving someone nuts. There was a time when I even said painfully truthful things to people with total disregard for their feelings. It could be just about anyone.

The shocking and now debilitating pain I am experiencing is in my butt; my left cheek to be specific. Some might call the pain sciatica, some might call it pelvic girdle syndrome, I call it one big pain in the ass.

It started almost two weeks ago. Every time I would bend at the waist to pick something up I would get a shooting pain from my lower back into my left butt cheek. I started bending at the knees to pick things up and it prevented the pain from striking me. I thought I had this all figured out.

The pain started to hit me when I bent even slightly at the waist, the position I often take when I helping at student with something at school. They ask me to look at something, they are sitting at a table, I walk over, bend to look and WHAMMO! Pain in my ass. Okay, no more bending at the waist.

I started sitting on a chair with wheels and rolling from student to student to help them. It looks a little silly, but the expression I was making as the searing pain coursed through my ass cheek was far more ridiculous. At home it is a little more difficult to wheel around, so I was just trying to watch my posture and avoid bending. I never realized how often I need to bend during the day.

The pain, being a clever nemisis, found a new way to attack me, it's called 'one false move'. Virtually any movement now that involves bending, twisting, stooping, crouching, leaning, crossing my legs, or breathing sends a variety of pains into my already sore fanny. I have begun to limp around, favoring my left leg. I am the Hunch-Belly of Lake Mohawk.

My face, normally filled with the joyful glow of a successful pregnancy, is now masked with a miserable grimace. This pain is ruining my chances of getting more compliments about how great I look. People are starting to notice my expression of ass-horror. They look a bit worried.

I have been looking around online to find a cure or solution to my problem. A pregnancy back brace seemed to help a lot of people, so I ordered one. It came by FedEx today, and I am looking at it now with fingers crossed. Of course, I couldn't put it on as soon as I got home because today is my day for my progesterone injection. The brace would cover the spot that I get the injection and I would have to take it off anyhow.

Well, my visiting nurse has come and gone and I got my shot. She alternates sides each week and it figures, today was my left side. Man did that hurt! I am so tired of being in pain, but I have been told it will get worse before it gets better. Great.

For those of you who were wondering why I hadn't blogged in such a long time and if everything was okay, well there you go, the past week and a half have been a pain in the ass. I haven't had the energy to sit and write, don't really have it now, but the school nurse convinced me to take tomorrow off and sit on the couch all day - so that gave me a little lift.

And if you are out there, somewhere, in cyberspace with a voodoo doll of me with a bunch of pins in the butt, please have mercy! Stick me if you must, but switch to the other cheek for a while. Please!