Monday, September 21, 2009

How to Continue Life While In Pain

Recently, I had one of those days where I barely left the couch. I'm 37 weeks pregnant and had a bad case of sciatica. Sciatica is when my precious little one gets him or herself on my nerve, my sciatic nerve. Usually this effects my right side. I joke about wanting to cut my leg off. But seriously, when I have sciatica, I want to cut my leg off. It hurts that bad.

For one day, my precious little one was on my left side. This brought on a new sort of pain. With my baby on the left side, I couldn't stand up without the most severe pain, worse than wanting-to-cut-my-leg-off pain. It took me a long time to walk just a few feet.

Two lessons came out of one excruciating day.

#1) I am thankful that our apartment is small. I got a lot of grief when I posted that our family lives in a 445 square foot apartment, and my kids have a room that is 6'x8'. But their small room is for sleep and toy/clothes storage. They play in the living room and our room, and that's the way we like it. I could watch them no matter where they played and they could still play underfoot, the way they love, and climb all over me. Living in a small place is a frugal choice for a lot of reasons. It is also a lifestyle choice, and one that I'm glad we've made.
#2) I can still be productive. I slowly gathered my carrots, peeler, grater, bowl, scale, and containers and grated ten pounds of carrots for my carrot bread. After all, it was my leg that hurt, not my arms. This will make it so that I don't have to grate carrots when I whip up my next batch, and the batch after that. If I have another day like this, I have a hand-sewing project that I am working on. There is always something to do besides reading. Productivity is crucial to people living frugally.

No need to worry about my sciatica, though. My midwife found the spots on my back that if pushed, makes the pain go away. She marked them with permanent marker for my husband, who remarks them as they fade. I can't reach the spot with enough pressure myself, but my husband can, so this is only a real problem when he's gone.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oy, I never had this problem but I've been hearing a lot about it lately. Hoping I won't have this issue, but I do have terrible hip and pelvic issues when pregnant. I've already begun a regular schedule of visits. Thankfully my chiro has a very generous discount, actually fifty percent off, if you pay in advance.

Captain Cleavage said...

ack sciatica...*shiver*

I get the willies just thinking about it! hope you feel better.

(sooo not looking forward to thst particular part of pregnancy)

Robin said...

Oh, but I feel for you! I had sciatica and bursitis with both of my pregnancies. It's debilitating! I visited a chiropractor and that really made a difference the second time around. Stretching and back rubs helped, too. I used a heating pad to lay on when it was really bad.

Anonymous said...

I can relate!

I had sciatica really bad with my dd and also with ds. I even had it when I wasn't pregnant and it got so painful that I had to go to the chiropractor, who DID fix it, but kept trying to get me to come back, like, 2 times a week...and at $25 a pop (even with insurance) that was SO not happening.

Jessica said...

Sorry about the sciatica! I had it with my second for a short time and it was torture!

I hope you get some relief soon.

Sarah said...

First of all, sorry about the leg. I hope you can make it through these last days of the pregnancy a bit more pain-free.

Second, I can't help but mention I noticed you have Grimmway Farms carrots. I'm wondering if we live near you?

Emily said...

The leg is doing fine today. Most days it just acts up in the evening, but thanks for your well-wishes everyone!

Sarah, we live in Maine and got the carrots at Sam's Club. (:

No I wasn't Sleeping said...

Try doing those leg stretches, where you stand on a step and rop you heels down as far as you can, and then raise and drop. I don't know ifyou are sore inthe same spots I was, but that was the most amazing trick I learned from my mid wife.

Sarah said...

Duh! I always though Grimmway was a local farm here. It is, but I realize now that they ship all over the place.


Just got excited that we might live near one another!

Emily said...

Life is Good, thank you thank you thank you! I tried it when you posted the tip, and the constant dull pain that I had forgotten I had went away. I've done it a few more times and my evening sciatica has not come. So, big thanks!

Cynthia said...

My chiropractor has me sit with an ice pack on the sore spot when my sciatic nerve acts up. It does wonders. And depending on how firm the back of your couch is, you can put a tennis ball or softball between your back and the couch to get the pressure you need.

MarineGurl020412 said...

Get a tennis ball. As long as you can place the ball at the needed points yourself then the only thing you need is a wall. Place the ball on the pressure point and use your body weight. I use this regularly when my husband is deployed.

Also for general back issues (i.e. a ridge of knots along your back) a door frame does wonders as well. But a tennis ball is wonderful for individual points. :)

Anonymous said...

I had sciatica with one of my pregnancies and it sucks but your attitude is great (or was great since this is an old post:)

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