Mommy Wrist

I don't recommend taking care of a baby OR teaching a class a few hours after a wisdom tooth has been pulled out. OUCH! I was bleeding for hours and in pain the whole day. I think after a procedure like that it would have been nice to spend a few hours in bed or on the couch. I wish I hadn't agreed to let him extract that tooth but too late now! At least I don't have any more wisdom teeth, so hopefully that was my last tooth extraction. It does reinforce my decision not to do some of the other things on the list he gave me a couple of months ago! No thank you! It was a good diet for dieting though. I ate less than I had been lately, and really had to force myself to eat anything. Eating was really painful even if it was oatmeal (which is what I had for lunch). Thankfully I feel better today, and eating is also not as painful.

This morning I saw an orthopedic doctor (hand specialist). I was 30 minutes late due to getting lost. Mapquest directions are not always accurate! I wouldn't have any trouble getting there again if need be as it's right by a mall I have shopped at before. I didn't have the doctor's name or phone number with me (only the address). I called the insurance company, but they weren't able to help much. I found another orthopedic doctor's office in the same town and thankfully they were able to give me directions to where I was trying to get. Nadia was a champ! She was awake the entire 60 minutes we were in the car but didn't cry at all!! I took her in the doctor's office in the umbrella stroller and that worked out well. They did 3 x-rays of my left wrist. The physician assistant saw me and diagnosed me as having mild carpal tunnel plus some other diagnosis that had the word nerve in it which is also called tendonitis. She said it's very common for new mothers to have both together. She said the brace I tried was great for carpal tunnel but made the nerve situation worse. She said they could either give me an Rx for anti-imflammatory pills OR a steroid shot. I have tried Advil so I opted for the shot. I have a follow-up appt scheduled for 5 weeks from now, but she said that if I am feeling better I can cancel it. I made the next appt with the same doctor but at a different clinic (near my RE). The Doctor said he used to scoff at the term "Mommy wrist" until his wife had a baby and he experienced some discomfort in the same area as a new Daddy.

If the Lord allows us to have another baby through ivf or adoption, I am going to try to switch back and forth more when I carry the baby as I carried Nadia 99% of the time with my left arm so my right hand would be free OR I will use the sling and snugli more inside the house. I have lost a lot of sleep the past 5 months over the pain in my wrist. It's so bad when I first get up that I cannot even change Nadia's diaper. My fingers just won't move. Thankfully within about 10 minutes I regain use of that hand. Hopefully this shot will do the trick, and I'm also going to really try to give that wrist a break as much as possible.

Usually Nadia's morning nap starts 2 hours after she gets up in the morning. This morning she was up for over 3 hours before she fell asleep. Last night Paul put her down at 6:45pm. Last night she woke up once at 3 something which hasn't happened in a long time so I went in her room to see if I could smell a poopy diaper. I didn't smell anything, and she fell back asleep in less than 5 minutes. She was awake at 5 something for another 5 minutes or less but then didn't wake up again until 7:03am. WOOHOO! I went and got her immediately since I planned to leave a little before 8am for the doctor. She has still been taking 3 naps for the most part. She didn't on Sunday since her 2nd nap was later (and longer) than usual due to church.