Blood Clots, Swollen Ankles, and Feet Rubs

In the past few weeks, my left leg has decided it hates me and its completely over this whole pregnancy thing.   It has been swelling much more than my right ankle, which makes my walk more of a hobble.   And just last week, it actually started giving up on living and will randomly just fall asleep for no reason at all.   I could be sitting, standing, laying down – nothing entertains it, and so it just falls asleep.   Around this same time, my lower back seems to have decided to take a cue from my left leg and it is boycotting my pregnancy as well in the form of this dull, constant ache.

Oh, yeah.   Its all very attractive and makes me very happy.

I read online (see?   I’m reading about my pregnancy now…28 weeks in…) that you should call your doctor if one leg or ankle should start to swell more than the other as it could be an indication of a blood clot.   So, I called my midwife yesterday.   She said that most likely it is just the position of the baby pressing on something, but just to be sure she sent me in for an ultrasound of my leg.   Isn’t that weird?

I went through the whole ultrasound, which involved a lot of goo down my leg that ended up getting all over my incredibly cute dress.   When I left the doctor’s office, it looked like I had peed down the front of my dress.   Again, this was very attractive and made me very happy.

Anyway, the ultrasound tech said there was no blood clot, but that there was a lot of fluid in my leg.   Yummy!   She said that fluid retention was one of the main reasons for pregnany women to go on bedrest, so I really needed to try to get it under control.   She said I should prop my feet up more when I’m home and try to do as little as possible around the house.

Uhh…I’ll try if I have to…

After the appointment, I called Chris to give him to report that my leg was not going to fall off.

“She said I needed to stay off my feet when I’m home,” I reported.

“Alright,” he said.   “We can do that.”

“And she said that I needed to ice my ankles for an hour every day,” I added.

“Okay.   We have ice.”

I decided to push my luck.   “She also said that you should rub my feet at least 3o minutes every day,” I editorialized.

“Yeah….I’m gonna need to see a doctor’s note for that one.”