One Day at a Time

Early this morning, my sister left.  For the past few weeks she's been helping me take care of the kids and home.  To say that I'm grateful for her help would be an understatement.  I really don't know how I could've survived without her.

I am trying to avoid the painful tendonitis (officially known as de Quervain's tenosynovitis, aka mommy wrist) I get after having every baby.  Because this is my third baby, I am being extra vigilant about prevention.  Instead of waiting for the symptoms to appear we are trying to head off the problem by wearing my wrist braces, taking anti-inflammatory medication, and by limiting the amount of lifting I do.

Right after Gordon was born, Dan took a week off of work to help with the baby and around the house.  That wasn't just helpful because of my wrists but also for my recovery.  The week after that I was on my own and the following week my mom came to help.  She stayed almost two months until the week after Thanksgiving.  That was a lifesaver!  Even while she was here, I felt the symptoms start to crop up but because of her help, they didn't flare up into full-blown tendinitis.  The day after she left, one of the young women from church started coming to help me until the Friday before Christmas.  Then, we went on vacation to visit family for the holidays.  Fortunately, after we got back from our trip, my sister was able to come help.  I'm really grateful that at each juncture I was able to get the help I needed.  Until now.

Today was really hard day physically and emotionally.  In the past few days I have started feeling some pain in my wrists, probably due to my doing a bit more because I felt like I could and due to my being less vigilant about taking the medication.  So for the first time in a few weeks I was on my own with the four-year-old and the baby all day.  Gordon was more fussy than usual, it seemed.  I felt sad that my sister had left.  The reality of my situation set in and I just felt so alone.  I wondered how I would be able to get through the next few days, weeks, and months until my wrists finally recover and I can finally resume my normal activities without fear of pain.

I know I am not the only person to suffer pain or struggle with things not turning out the way I want.  Even though I've already been where I am before it's still hard to face this trial.  I still need to ask for help, both from God and from those around me.  That is also a hard thing to do.

I find comfort in knowing that I have survived this before and that I will eventually get through this again.  I just hope that this time around things won't take as long to get better.