Bed Rest Left Overs

I knew the moment I was put on bed rest so early that it would end up affecting me for a long time. I just didn't realize how difficult some of the things would be. I knew that my muscles would end up taking the toll, but I never thought about how hard it would be to deal with it afterwards.

Every morning, when I wake up and step out of bed, it feels as though I am walking on glass. There is so much pain in my feet and ankles, because my tendons are so tight. It even happens if I sit down for 10 or more minutes. So, basically every time I get up after sitting, I am in pain for awhile. After being up and about it seems to go away, because it is being stretched out. I am working on some stretches to get that worked out, but even that has been painful.

My back is another thing that has taken a toll. My sciadic is so bad that it can be painful for me to even roll over in bed at times. Unfortunately, because of being stuck on mostly my left during the pregnancy, my sciadic literally locks my back and leg in place and if I try to move it sends a horrendous pain through my back and leg. So, rolling over must be done very carefully. Walking can cause a lot of problems also, as I can get shooting pains from my sciadic, which is really annoying.

My weight has also been a major issue. I know that the pains in my feet and back are compounded by the fact that I put on about 50 lbs during the pregnancy and have only lost about 15-20 of it when Micah was born. My weight is affecting my knees also, which I think is leading into some of the foot problem. One thing I have learned about all of this is that one thing leads to another. The weight is putting pressure on my knees, which puts pressure on my feet. My back being screwed up, is causing me not to walk correctly, which is causing problems with my knees and my feet. It is rather frustrating, but at least I know what is causing all of my problems.

I also have some problems with my right hand...ok that is because I spent months on my laptop. I would literally spend hours playing games, because I was on my side so much and games were easy to play with one hand. So, part of that was because I was so bored and needed something to do, but I guess it could have been better prevented. Oh well...

For Christmas, Matt and I got a Wii and Wii Fit. He got a good deal the day after Thanksgiving, so we've had it for almost 2 months now. If you don't have the Wii Fit, I'll give you a little explanation of what it is. Basically, you get on and you can do a body test that weighs you and gives you your BMI. Then you can do a balance test, which will then give you your Wii Fit age. Your little character gains and loses weight as you do. There are strength training exercises, aerobics, yoga and balance games. So, you can set up a good workout for yourself.

In the last two months, we have been getting to know our Wii Fit and in the past week I have been trying to actually spend 30-45 minutes working out with the exercises each day. When you do the yoga or strength training exercises, it records the amount of pressure you put on each foot, your balance and your center of balance. In several of the exercises it has mentioned that my right side is very tight and not strong. It totally makes sense as I spent most of my time on my left side, which caused my right side to have issues because it was pulled and twisted in weird ways.

I have found that the exercises are really helping me to loosen up, which has been much better. I'm hoping that after some more time, some of the daily aches and pain will start to go away. I'm also hoping to see that BMI and weight continue to go down. So far, it has gone up and down in a bit of a roller coaster. I think I will see a difference now that I am trying to work out regularly. I have to get a schedule down, since I will be staring back at work next Friday. It will be a challenge to be standing for the majority of the day. I'm really not looking forward to what will happen to my back, knees and feet. Standing will help to strengthen me over time, so that would be good, but I know it will be pretty painful and exhausting for the first few weeks.

Wish me the best as I begin a new process. I really need to focus on this, because this is an area that I have always had difficulties in the past. I can work out well enough, but I have a hard time getting the diet right. I usually start out good and then slowly fall off, so this time I need to stay straight on this path. I am going to set myself up to update once in awhile as a motivator to keep me going. So, you'll have to hold me to it and encourage me :) I need it!!