back problems

(not my MRI, but you get the idea...)

Oh the things we put our bodies through to have a baby....

First, 6 months of fertility treatment that included a S%&# ton of drugs and painful injections and crappy symptoms and discomfort...

Then, 9 months of pregnancy that included nausea and morning sickness and MORE drugs and painful injections followed by more unpleasant symptoms...

Then, c-section to get the baby out, followed by a painful recovery and more drugs (but this time the good kind...pain killers ;))

And THEN, after ALL of that....the worst chronic pain I have ever experienced in my entire life.

It started about a week before I had Beckett, but was very mild and felt a lot like sciatica, which I had experienced before.

I thought it was just the position the baby was in and it would go away once he came out.

Wrong.

It only got worse.

And then worse.

And then so bad that the pain radiated all down my right leg, into my calf and ankle.

I could hardly walk, I couldn't sit, I couldn't drive, I couldn't bend or squat down to lift the baby, and I couldn't even get comfortable lying down.  IBU hardly even touched the pain and many days I lay in bed crying because I couldn't even get out of bed and pick up my baby from his bassinet.

We started physical therapy, though it was a little slow going at first ,since I was still recovering from my c-section.

Eventually, the pain was so unbearable, we got an MRI, which showed a 4 mm bi-lateral bulging disc, causing mild to moderate spinal stenosis.

Cuss word.

After one doc recommended surgery (and I had a mild freak out), we got a 2nd and 3rd opinion from some highly recommended specialists, who both said NO to surgery and told me to continue Physical Therapy, which was what Randy had been saying all along as well.

I go to Physical Therapy 3x a week for an hour and a half.

And my baby is 4 months old now, which means I have been living with constant 24/7 pain for four long months.

4 months might not sound that long...until you have experienced chronic pain like this and then it seems like an eternity.

On the bright side, I am lucky to be married to a physical therapist.

On the not so bright side, I still have a long road of recovery ahead of me.

But this cuddly babe of mine is worth it....

Not only is it great being married to a physical therapist cuz of all the free access I have to therapy, but I am also so glad that he fully understands my condition and how much pain I am in, instead of just telling me to suck it up.

Its hard taking care of a newborn with pain like this.

You can't do ANYTHING without your back!

Obviously, while he is at work all day and I am at home with the kids, I just have to make do.

But whenever he is home, he does it all, so that I can rest or ice my back or do some stretches and get some relief.

And my other saving grace??

The mamaroo.

Bless you, inventor of the mamaroo, for making my baby happy when my back hurts too bad to hold him.

Now please say a prayer for me that I make a full recovery soon...