1 post tagged “swollen”

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not glamorous.

Dec 7, 2007
6 comments

So I was very blessed in that I had a pretty awesome pregnancy. I not once got "morning" sickness, I didn't have to wear maternity clothes until well past 20+ weeks, I was put on a strict "one-milkshake-a-day" diet by my ObGyn because I wasn't gaining enough weight (for real!), I didn't have ligament pains or Braxton Hicks contractions or any of that. I didn't even get one stretch mark. Don't hate me too much, please.

But what I did get were cankles. Seriously fat, ugly swollen Shrek feet. For reals. It didn't help that the last trimester of my pregnancy was June-July-August in Southern California -- it was SO hot the summer of 2006, too. It also didn't help that I was on my feet most of my days at work. My feet were so swollen some days that I would look down at them literally expecting to see my skin cracking open at the seams. I was "dentable" -- my coworkers got a great laugh out of poking in my foot with as much pressure as they could -- and then taking bets on how long it would take the dent to subside. Sometimes it was 30 or more minutes. It was gross, uncomfortable, painful ... and a little freakish.

At work I first got special clearance to wear flat shoes (otherwise we were encouraged to wear heels). Then I got clearance to wear my flat Crocs. Then I got further clearance to wear my flip-flops, because my feet were to swollen to fit into my clog-Crocs. THEN my feet got too fat to fit into my beloved Rainbows and so I resorted to wearing slippers around my desk area ... and going barefoot when I was teaching a class. I also kept a bucket of ice water under my desk and would soak my feet during down time. People would come by my desk from all over the building to see the freaky swollen feet girl.

Here's a picture of my feet, when I was about 6 months pregnant (not too much swelling yet, pretty close to normal)

rainbows, pre swell

And here's a picture when I was about 8 months pregnant, on my last day of work. (Sorry for the crappy picture quality)

rainbows, post swell

Just picture being able to push with your pointer finger right into the center of my foot and being able to squish down about an inch! Not even exaggerating.

After I quit work I spent the last month of my pregnancy out on our deck with my feet immersed in a cooler filled with ice and water with a constant stream of water from the hose pouring in. I would sit out there and read, play on the internet, and take naps. I got an awesome tan from about ankle (cankle) up.