another update

It's Monday morning. I finally fell asleep a little after 3 a.m. because the pain was not allowing me to sleep. Then after just three short hours of sleep, the pain woke me again at 6 a.m. I tried the heating pad in bed for a little while, before coming downstairs to use ice instead. I alternate and sometimes one works better than the other, and heat wasn't helping at all. So now I am laying on an ice pack and using my TENS unit, hoping the pain goes away soon.

Three weeks ago today we were in Disney World, and two days later I hurt my back again, so I am almost at the three-week mark. The only good thing about that is I am hoping that as time goes on this will get better. I was told I'd feel a bit better around 2 weeks, and then again at 6 weeks. I definitely felt a little better around the two-week mark, so I'm hoping to continue to get better over the next several weeks. It's honestly the worst at night. I do not know why pain is always worse at night.

I went into the office once for a couple of hours since this all began, and aside from that have been working from home. The magazine goes to press this Wednesday afternoon, so it's hoped I will be there this week. I am going to try to go in today for at least a couple of hours again. I need to call my mother and let her know my schedule, as she is driving me and picking me up. I hate feeling so dependent, but because it's my right leg that hurts so much, and because I have some numbness in my foot still, I do not feel comfortable driving yet. If it were my left leg, I think I would be driving by now.

But at least I am finally starting to get out of the house a little bit, which I'm thinking means I'm getting better. On Thursday I went to work for a couple of hours, and then to the doctor for my results. Over the weekend, Steven and I were able to run a few errands, including going grocery shopping.

On Saturday, my mother and I went to Baby Love, a very large local store for baby stuff. The store is family owned, and everyone there is extremely knowledgeable. I spoke to a man there about my back, and how I needed the lightest-weight stroller due to my back issues. (Once this gets better, I want to make sure this never happens again.) He was great, and told us that most strollers weigh about 30 pounds, but introduced me to a lightweight stroller that weighs about 15 pounds, and opens and closes extremely easy, made by Peg Perego. It has a matching car seat, and he suggested that I try to not take Baby S out of the car seat using the carrier, but instead just take her out alone, as the carriers themselves weigh about 10 pounds. This was a suggestion I also got from my sister, Glenda. We will still buy the matching car seat, in which the carrier fits directly into the stroller for times when Steven and I are together, or when I need to keep her in the carrier for some reason when I'm alone and have no choice, but I am expecting to not use the carrier myself too often.

We also found some great Winnie the Pooh stuff in Walmart that we will purchasing soon. We have decided that the theme to her room will be the Winnie the Poo gang (Winnie, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet) and we saw a really cute bedding set and mobile and extra sheets in Walmart that were price significantly better than similar items we saw at the baby stores.

Elizabeth is due in 12 weeks and 4 days!! We are so excited to soon be meeting Baby S!