6.16.09

Vest: Thrifted (same as yesterday); Necklace: Thrifted; Tank: Gift from mom, bought at Target; Jeans: Thrifted (and unbuttoned); Sandals: Thrifted

Last night was awful and I want to complain about it. Feel free to skip over all the text here – I probably would.

I’ve always had back/neck problems (I went to a physical therapist every week for almost six months for my neck and it didn’t fix it), and being pregnant has really aggravated them. I can’t sleep on my back, and I can’t use my neck-stretcher long enough or often enough to make much of a difference. The neck-stretcher is pretty self explanatory – I strap my head in, lay down on the floor, and pump it until there is about 15 pounds pulling my head away from my body. This separates the vertebra and stretches the muscles/tendons/everything else. Yes, it is sexy. Usually works pretty well, but right now I can’t lie on my back without cutting off circulation because of my big fat belly.

Anyway. On to last night. I put off going to the chiropractor for too long, and it caught up with me. I felt uncomfortable but functional at a late-night breakfast at Denny’s, but about 45 minutes after coming home my neck became insufferable. I couldn’t lie down, I couldn’t sit or stand because holding my head up made it worse. I took a couple Tylenol, tweeted about it, and hopped in the shower. Doctor says the only pain relievers I can use are acetaminophen, caffeine, and heat. After the shower I tried to get back to bed, but really it had only gotten worse. So I walked around the back yard for about half an hour, trying to think of solutions that didn’t involve me having to wake up my dad – we live in the same house, he in the main home and I in an attached mother-in-law apartment. This was at about 2:30 a.m.

So, by that time I couldn’t stop crying, which was just making it worse, and I couldn’t think of any good solutions – there are no 24-hour chiropractors in Utah Valley, and it seemed silly to go to the hospital because of neck pain that I should have fixed days ago. So, I woke up my dad.

My 60-year-old father is really the best man I’ve ever met. I like him more than I like Harry Truman, Barack Obama, and Winston combined. Even though he shouldn’t have to be the guy who has to wake up because the pregnant lady can’t sleep, he didn’t complain once. In fact he encouraged me to inconvenience him as much as possible whenever I feel like it. He massaged my neck by hand for at least 20 minutes, even though it’s a pain in the ass and I know he hates it. And he did this with a recently severely injured hand.

Since my apartment was out of hot water, he let me use up all of his, which helped a bit more because his shower has great water pressure. Afterward he offered to give me another massage, but I said I could just go to bed. I was totally wrong. Without any heat or pressure it just got worse, and I had to wake him up again about an hour later. This time he used a device specifically made to massage backs (thank goodness he can’t turn down a good clearance), and it helped so much. It was kind of cool because the baby would kick a lot when he was using the massager – I think she could feel or at least hear the vibrations. Dad then loaned me a heating pad and vibrating pillow, and with the help of these two things I was able to get two precious hours of sleep.

After the two hours, I took another shower in the apartment, and another in the house. Then I was at least able to lay still in bed without crying or fidgeting until dad got me out of bed and drove me to the chiropractor.

The chiropractor – a wonderful, polite, to-the-point old man whom I would recommend to anyone – scolded me slightly for not coming in earlier, and then twisted me up like Emily Rose. And now I’m feeling much better.

Being pregnant really sucks sometimes. Any tips would be appreciated.