Physical therapy

I don’t understand how I got so nervous and worked up over going to the dentist…the DENTIST which turned out to be absolutely fine. But when it’s time to go to my physical therapy appointment, I wasn’t worried at all beforehand – no apprehension, no nervousness, nothing. Big mistake. I was not anticipating the amount of pain I would experience. I was not really interested in going to begin with and I kind of tried to put it off but my nurse nagged me about going. I had heard feedback from some people that physical therapy doesn’t really have much of an effect so I went into it thinking it would be a bit of a waste of time. I got there early to fill out paperwork and looking around at the other people in the lobby, I thought “I’m not nearly as in need of physical therapy as the other people here” looking at the folks in wheelchairs and walkers and so on. I met Andrea, my physical therapist and she was very nice. We sat down in the room and she asked me general questions about the pain…standard stuff like when it started, what makes it worse, what makes it better, etc. Then she had me stand and she felt my hip joints and had me move in different positions as she was assessing what was aligned and what wasn’t. Annnnd that’s when the pain started. I guess I’ve been so used to favoring the right side and just not doing certain movements that when I was consciously trying to do simple things like bend and lift my right knee I had shooting, terrible pains. This all went on for awhile and then it was time for the alignment. I laid flat on the table and just lying flat the pain was incredible. I’m not used to lying flat on my back with my legs straight because I’ve been sleeping on my side for several weeks. She tried to align my back by using something under my back and the weight of my own body was supposed to assist in aligning my joints. I don’t know if it worked or not. I was able to ask her all of my questions about movements to avoid, what was ok, should I continue yoga, etc. The end result is that I received several exercises and stretches to help with alignment. I got a new belt to wear – more for the pelvic area than the lower back support. She wants me to limit my mobility (avoid stairs as much as possible), don’t carry anything heavy, and come back in a week. She said this is fairly common but my misalignment is different than the majority she sees because I have had minimal lower back pain and the majority of my pain is on the pelvic joint inside my legs. We hope to get it aligned and if not, worst case scenario will be to just keep doing what I’m doing and continue physical therapy once a week until the baby’s born. She did say she was impressed by the amount of research I’d done beforehand and the things I was doing which definitely have helped things from getting worse (such as how I get in and out of a car, chair, etc. warm baths, Tylenol, and some stretches). During the appointment I had tears in my eyes and they pretty much stayed there until I got home and I was able to let it all out when Pete got home. So I will try to be optimistic about the physical therapy but at least I will be realistic and prepared that it may hurt when I got next on Tuesday.

I was supposed to have my prenatal massage this past Saturday but I didn’t get it because I had baby brain and halfway to the appointment, I realized I left the letter at home. Unfortunately the salon is about 45 minutes away and when I called to see if they really needed the letter or if they could make an exception, they said they needed the letter. I tried to argue with them but they wouldn’t budge. There was no time to make an appointment later that day so I will reschedule later. I hope they don’t remember me as the cranky pregnant lady who was condescending about their policy and told them how my doctor laughed at their policy. Oh well. I know it was my fault I left the letter at home but it put a kink in my day because I was really looking forward to being pampered a little. I’ll get it eventually but I could have used it this past weekend. Of course, I could use it now too after my PT appointment. And I’m sure I can use it again in about a month.

The countdown is on…
I am almost in my 30th week.
I am 73 days away from my due date.
I have 41 days until my baby shower.
I have 53 days to work before my due date.

I am not stressed or worried though. I’m in too much pain to be stressed out.