Perfect Foot Storm.

Oh dear.

You ready for the not-so-good news on my foot?

The foot doc sees this type of break all the time, it's the most common type. I was the fifth person he's seen this week with this same break. And it is most assuredly broken (and really, really stupid of me to limp/walk on it for eight days). However, I could probably make some medical books for the fact that I'm also pregnant in my third trimester, have a stupid blood clotting disorder that may or may not have caused a full-term stillbirth previously, and I'm living in a basement that requires me to go up/down stairs.

It's the perfect storm.

Normally this type of break would require a no-weight-bearing healing time. The cure is time with cast and crutches, no weight on that foot. However, because of my blood clotting disorder I need to have movement, have blood flow, which means no cast. And because of pregnancy, crutches are not a safe bet (they also put undue pressure on the abdomen muscles). Plus I'm not only dealing with normal weight, but extra baby-girl weight.

The solution the foot doc came up with is a different boot designed for diabetics that has air pumps to get it as tight as possible, a ROLLER-AID scooter for my left leg to get around so that I don't put ANY weight on my foot, and crutches for stairs.

My sweet left leg ride.

Sounds doable? I was optimistic... until I actually got said roller-aid and the darn thing is heavy and hard to maneuver. It's not like I can lift it up/down stairs or in/out of the car. And I realized how very, very difficult it is going to be to not ever put any weight on my left foot and be able to live normally for the next six weeks, give or take. I felt like this was manageable with a boot I could walk on, cumbersome but doable. This not walking on it at all? Quite a bit more complicated.

So I have to be almost completely dependent on other people until this foot heals. And since I also have the most adorable two-year-old dependent on me, that means his care is now mostly up to someone that can actually pick him up. This is so very, very humbling and very hard. A lot of this is coming down on my dear mother-in-law since Greg does have to work. She is really having to do everything, bless her heart (in the most sincere way). This all is really taking away from her getting to care for Greg's sister who is still recovering from her emergency c-section and learning to care for a newborn (read: she could use her mommy big time right now). And even though my MIL is a crazy energetic superstar, she is only one person. Grandpa will be a big amazing help as well, but he also has a job he must do.

They had NO IDEA what they were getting into when we pulled into town! Pretty sure there isn't a thank you card big enough for all this.

But more than all that, the hardest is probably the fear for what this could mean for baby girl. The fear of getting a blood clot in the umbilical cord or elsewhere that could kill her... oh that fear is heartwrenching. The fear and worry were there before but it seemed a bit more far-fetched. When you hear it from a doctor, hearing that it's very much a valid concern, that's hard, friends. I know the Lord is asking me to keep trusting Him for each day with her. I thought I was doing that... but these trusting lessons are constant ones it seems.

Another hard part of this is I felt like we were just about getting to settle and start having fun making a life here, getting into a groove living in Bismarck, living with Greg's parents, etc. We had only been here ten days before the foot incident caused a set-back, one I thought wouldn't get in the way THIS much. And now this is our foreseeable future, a bum foot that's cure could be the thing that hurts our baby.

Uff-da. Times 10.

Obviously I told the doctor she (our dear, sweet, yet-unnamed baby girl) was a priority over my foot and he is trying to make it the best for both (alive baby plus allowing my foot to heal this way versus having to have surgery and stick a pin in it later). I have an appointment with my OB-GYN tomorrow so we'll see what she says about the broken foot and how she wants to proceed from the baby side of things. And in two weeks I'll go back for another set of x-rays to see how the foot is healing.

What a ride. (Literally, how old do I look scooting in that thing?)

-Heather