Cankles

Well, the vacation is over and my ankles are fat again.

I have been pretty lucky so far, as far as all the pregnancy horrors go. I had moderate morning sickness in the first trimester, but now realize that I was pretty lucky considering I never actually puked. Since then, I haven't had too much to complain about. No debilitating exhaustion, no heartburn, no leg cramps, no circulation problems, no weird food aversions...pretty much life has carried on as normal, with the exception of my enormous belly. The one thing I can legitimately complain about is my elephant feet. (If you've seen them, you know that I do not exaggerate.)

As some of you may know, I had a nasty spill down the stairs (face first) in my 20th week of pregnancy--I only remember the exact week because I had a doctor's appointment later that day. Although my ankles were already a little puffy before then, I banged the front of my left ankle on the stairs pretty hard when I fell and it has been at least double (triple, at the end of a work week) the size it normally is. After 13 weeks of having a HUGE left ankle (so big, in fact, that it made my right ankle look skinny--even though it, too, is swollen), I decided to go get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't broken or something. (I mean, a swollen and bruised ankle for over three months just isn't normal, is it?)

By the time I actually got an x-ray, I had been on vacation for a week or so and my ankles were back to their skinny selves! I felt a little silly when the x-ray tech was positioning my foot for the shots, since it really did look as good as new. Well, the x-ray was normal, except for some tissue damage--the front of my ankle feels hard as a rock when you touch it, due to some scar tissue, and I still have very little feeling on my skin in that spot, due to some nerve damage.

For two whole weeks while I was in Montana, I enjoyed looking at my skinny ankles. But now, the vacation is over, I'm back to work and my ankles are bigger than ever! I think after my collar bones, my ankles used to be some of my best features. But, now I have big, huge feet and big, huge ankles. I was sitting by Michael on the couch the other night and he started to rub my hurt left foot (gross, I know--it didn't last long, I was too embarrassed to let him continue). But, I noticed that if he stayed in one spot too long, he would make an imprint in my foot. My feet are like tempurpedic mattresses! Then I decided to try and I pushed my thumb into my foot for no more than 5 seconds and it left a noticeable indentation...and it didn't go away for a few minutes. Eew. Four more weeks and counting...