aches and pains

I hate not feeling great. Doesn't everyone? Last week, I had a headache Sunday through Friday. Yes that's right, 6 days in a row. And on Sunday and Monday I had migraines. Like the worst migraines of my life, two days in a row! I couldn't even believe it! Brian had to take me home from church right after we blessed Lily because my face was practically twitching I was in so much pain. And you know they say if you're having the worst headache of your life to proceed to the E.R. to make sure you're not having a brain aneurysm? I guess we probably should have gone, I'm just too afraid of putting us in financial ruin since our insurance is not that great right now. Isn't that just like me, I'd rather risk dying from an aneurysm than chance having to fork over a thousand bucks for an mri or something? On Monday when I got up, I looked in the mirror and smiled just to make sure I hadn't had a stroke overnight. Aren't I silly? It got especially scary on Monday afternoon when I was attacked by another migraine, just as bad as the day before. Yay for fast acting excedrin!

So, I tried to take it easier the rest of the week. I tried to put my getting some sleep higher up on my priority list. Messing up my sleep schedule seems to be my main migraine trigger, but what can you do when you have a newborn? So I put her more strictly on my favorite baby method: On Becoming Babywise! Love it! And she's so young, it really only took an afternoon of her crying in her crib and then she was taking long naps in her crib! Love Babywise! It just makes so much sense! So things were going better and I decided I wanted to taper off on my number of times a day I pumped. Basically, I want to stop with the dairy cowness already! It's been a month now! So Friday, I didn't pump at all. Saturday, my first headache free day, I developed mastitis. Oh my gosh. Not fun. It only lasted a day but I had the fever, aches, and shakes!

As I reflected on my like 9 days in a row of not feeling so great, I've realized I've really gained more sympathy/empathy for moms out there who are chronically ill. It's so hard to do a good job taking care of your kids when you don't feel good. And that's an understatement at the moments when you are shivering under 3 layers of fleece or would rather die than have your head stuck in a vice.

So I decided to do something crazy--go to a chiropractor for my headaches. I'm going to try it. I grew up in a house where we believed chiropractors were quacks but now I'm curious. If he can help my aching neck which I think may be contributing to my headaches, that would be preferable to going on a prescription. I'm scared though, I have no idea what it will be like. I was supposed to go today but they called and cancelled so now I have to wait until Wednesday.

And yes, I have a headache today.