A Busy Wednesday

Yesterday was a day filled with all sorts of adventures, some good....some not so good.

I had taken some green beans from the garden and was going to can them. I got up and got the children going in the morning, then started working on laundry, dishes and getting the green beans prepped for canning. Once I got the green beans all prepped and in the canner, just awaiting the actual canning, I heard Claire waking up upstairs. We have wood floors which can be quite slippery and I was wearing socks because my feet were cold.

On the way back down the stairs, after getting Claire, my feet just came out from under me and I ended up bouncing down the last four stairs or so with little Claire in my arms! It was terrifying because I was trying to be careful not to drop her or let her hit the ground. What resulted was me not catching myself and my full weight on my lower back and butt. It was pretty unpleasant.

Right after it happened, I was panicked about Claire. I think on the very last step, she bumped her head a little bit. I tried to keep her head from hitting, so I think that she did not hit it very hard. Regardless, I was still checking her over in a frenzy. She cried for about half a minute until I nursed her, then she seemed 100% fine after that. That's when I noticed that I was not feeling so fine. My sacrum and tailbone were hurting really badly and I was not sure what to do. I called Shawn and asked him if he could come home for a minute. After he got there, he insisted that we go make sure everything was okay.

Our dear friends took our two older children for the afternoon while Shawn and I went to the ER. They were packed, so we were waiting for a couple hours before I was seen. In that time, I have to say the pain was pretty bad, which made me worry even further about my back and butt. I started thinking, "If I broke something, how am I going to manage the house, kids, etc?" It was a very unsettling feeling. I guess I didn't fully realize how much I NEED my body to be in working order to do my job!

They took several x-rays and thankfully, nothing was broken. It is just bruised and the doc said it will hurt for a while. He gave me some mega-ibuprofen and sent me home. He wanted me to have a heavier pain med (which at this point I considered taking), but I'm nursing Claire and the only time she had a bottle, she wouldn't take it (even though it was pumped milk). I decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle, and the ibuprofen seemed to be pretty effective. Unfortunately, my second dose last night made my stomach hurt really bad, so I think today I will be taking Aleve instead.

When we got home, Shawn restarted the canner and we did end up with 4 pints of green beans from our garden. We also had a 5th can, but it did not seal. I took a rest and Shawn's mom came out to help. This morning, she watched the older two kids so I could sleep in and rest a bit. Weird things hurts today. My neck feels completely strained and my arms are bothering me, too. I also have a little bit of aggravation in my upper back. It is really strange since I don't remember hitting those spots or injuring them. I guess when you fall like that, your body does all sorts of crazy things.

The whole experience made me very thankful for lots of things: Claire's safety and the fact that she did not get hurt, the fact that I did not get seriously hurt or break anything, my family who all were praying for me, my husband who takes such good care of me, friends who were willing to help us out when we needed it, good health insurance and x-ray technology, and a mother-in-law who is here helping me now so I don't have to jump immediately back into the swing of things. I am very thankful.