Supermom Chronicles

I thought I would do a quick post to update everyone on life as I know it.

There are only 2 days of my maternity leave left. I return to the clinic on Monday. Yes, I'm a little nervous. I don't know if I'm more nervous about my return to work after 7 months of not practicing medicine or the fact that John will be at home all day with all 3 kids for the first time. I hope James isn't too hard on him; he's very much a Momma's boy (aren't all breastfed babies?). I get to become intimately acquainted with the lovely breastpump again. Gee, I can't wait. That thing is so mechanical; it just takes all the "nature" out of Mother Nature.

As far as my toe is concerned, I'm not entirely sure how that thing is doing. I tried again unsuccessfully to put my foot in my loosest clogs today. It hurts just standing there, much less trying to walk. So I guess I'll get to debut my ugly shoe at work next week. As I started up the stairs today I managed to partially stub my toes on the bottom stair. I felt my toe move unnaturally and cringed. Then it felt kinda funny for most of the rest of the day. By the time this is over, no telling which way it will be pointing. It's amazing how often we brush our toes against things and don't notice it (until one is broken). I'm so paranoid about the 10 other feet in this house, too. So far, Faith, Cole and Nutmeg (the beagle) have all managed to step on my foot despite my most defensive maneuvers. Most of the time I sit like a wounded animal with my lame foot positioned underneath me to protect it from everyone around me. I'll probably take an xray at work next week to see what in the world it looks like.

I try to scan the newspaper everyday. I'm not a big fan of the comics and generally refuse to read anything that is more than a single box ("Far Side" style). I just don't have the time to read through a multi-box/strip comic. Anyway, there is one exception to my rule. One of my favorite comic strips is "Baby Blues". I can so relate to these poor parents of 3 young children. We might as well laugh at the craziness of our life, right? Here's a quote from a couple of days ago that totally puts our life in perspective - it is very much what our life is like:

"The window of conversational opportunity continues to shrink..."(mom is carrying a wailing baby while dad is pulling the 2 toddlers the opposite direction) - as they pass in the hall, the mom says, "Remind me to finish the story I started to tell you this morning after the kids go to bed, but before I fall asleep or forget it altogether."

On a totally different note, I was doing dishes tonight when a realization suddenly struck: All the forces of nature have conspired to keep me from pursuing my career. First, I become surprisingly pregnant with complications that keep me on bedrest. Then I break my toe 1 week before my planned return to work. Then I watched the news tonight to find that the major cold front hitting this weekend will be accompanied by a lot of precipitation (the so-called "wintery mix"). The forecast predicts that ice accumulation will be at its worst on Monday morning - my first day back at work. Is God trying to tell me something??

Yesterday James turned 3 months old, so precedent with the other 2 kids demanded we take pictures at Kiddie Kandids. With Faith & Cole, we took pictures at 3 mos, 6 mos, 9 mos, 12 mos and yearly thereafter. We started this with Faith, not realizing we would eventually have 3 kids. I wish we owned stock in Kiddie Kandids:) I could go someplace less expensive, but these photos always turn out so darn cute. What you're not seeing here is all the awesome borders, montages, etc that they add to the pictures before print. The pictures we took home yesterday are officially the best ones yet.


Here's Faith in her serious pose. She has such beautiful eyes. I'm so proud of her.









Here's Cole. What a cutie. He loves trains right now (thanks to The Polar Express movie), so this prop was appropriate.


The photographer caught a candid shot of him climbing up their ladder. I love how this captures his intoxicating eyes. Ladies look out! I predict we'll have our hands full when he hits puberty.




Then of course is our precious baby James. This was one of the rare shots when he wasn't fussy. He didn't really cry at the studio, but he didn't want to cooperate, either. In almost all of his shots he had a most worried expression on his face. More pictures to follow in the next post...

Well, I just returned from my follow-up visit with my family doctor. They took post-reduction xrays, and my toe looks OK. Not great, but OK. It's still about 15 degrees or so out of alignment, but just looking down at the toe (without xray), it looks fairly straight, just massively swollen and bruised. The doctor offered to do a ring block around the base of my toe and try to reduce it further, but we both decided it probably wasn't necessary. It's just a pinky toe after all, and I'm no foot model:). I should be able to wear shoes again just fine once it's healed. It still hurts pretty constantly. I saw this woman in the waiting room wearing pointy-toed very high heeled shoes, and I cringed. It hurt just to look at those shoes. I'm taking Tylenol every 6 hours and wearing the ugly shoe to walk. Every once in awhile I accidently move the wrong way and I get a shooting pain. Yesterday I think I actually felt the bone move - ugh. I just hope I can put on a normal shoe before my return to work in 10 days. If I'm still limping like I am now, it'll take me forever to get from exam room to exam room. Actually, I hope I can drive in this goofy shoe (it had to be my right foot). Otherwise, how will I even get to work? I'm sure I'll be fine in a week or so. The kids are on their way to Rain Creek to hang with the grandparents for a couple of days while I recover and try to get some final things done around the house before my return to the working world. 10 days and counting...

Signalment: 33-yr old female Caucasian

History: Female was coming up the stairs and turned too quickly upon reaching the top. All body parts except for right 5th phalanx (aka pinky toe) made it around the corner. Note: Patient is currently breastfeeding infant child. Patient took 2 Tylenol immediately prior to presentation.

Physical Exam: Attitude bright and alert, ironically giggling despite severe pain. Toes 1 through 4 are pointing North, while digit 5 is pointing East (see photo). Severe pain upon palpation. Patient is ambulating funny ("limping"). All other systems are within normal limits.

Radiographs reveal oblique spiral fracture completely through proximal phalanx of digit 5 (long bone of the pinky toe). No joints appear to be involved.

Treatment: Unfortunately, since patient is breastfeeding (see above History), she cannot take any narcotics to numb the pain. Therefore, digital traction and manipulation of toe was performed in an effort to realign bone while patient held onto hospital bed for dear life and shouted expletives. Despite several minutes of manipulation (and excruciating pain), unable to completely realign bone. Taped toe to adjacent toe in semi-straight position. Applied ugly shoe.

Plan: Referral to orthopedic specialist in hopes that patient will someday again be able to wear pointy-toed shoes:)

Yes, that's how I spent yesterday afternoon. I can't help but wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that we decided not to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. My next doctor appointment is tomorrow morning. More to follow...