1 out of 5 ain't bad, right?

I said I was going to talk about all of the pregnancy surprises last week, and I have failed miserably.  But I'll write about the one that has been on my mind the most...

SWELLING

It actually isn't as bad this week as it was 2 weeks ago, but it still isn't much fun.  Although I'd like to pretend that I'm having abnormal amounts, so that I can justify all of my recent weight gain.  It's not pretty folks.  We have now hit that 30 pounds that I was hoping would be the total...and we still have 5 weeks to go.  

Admittedly, I don't look particularly swollen, and my co-worker (God bless her), even as of yesterday swears that you can't tell that I'm pregnant from the back.  However, my shoes that don't fit, the achy joints, and my wedding rings that I wear on a chain all tell a different story.  

It doesn't help that my rings were TINY to begin with.  All of a 3.75 I believe.  They have been on a chain for awhile because I did not want to have to get them cut off my fingers.  The idea of it terrified me!  I don't want any sort of blade going that close to my hand for the sake of jewelry!  The fact that most pregnant women don't wear their rings on their hands by the end doesn't seem to sink in to everyone, though.  A girl I know recently had a little old lady mumble under her breath "Don't you think you should have gotten married first?"  1) How RUDE.  2) She was married, but was swollen.  Way to assume.  I don't know if I would have been able to keep my mouth shut.  But it's why I still try and remember to wear the necklace, so that I don't get any of those nasty comments.  Though, even if she HADN'T been married, it shouldn't have been any of the old lady's beeswax. 

The swelling had actually made me really nervous, though.  I had convinced myself that I had preeclampsia.  I had 1) Sudden onset of swelling, 2) 5 pound weight gain in 2 weeks, 3) JUMP in blood pressure, 4) Blurred vision, and 5) Nausea.  Wouldn't you be scared?  The doctor wasn't because my huge blood pressure jump was from 100/54 to 119/79.  High for me, but not high for the rest of the world.  He did make me go see an eye doctor, though.  And...that told me nothing.  The eye doctor said I still have 20/20 vision, good pressure, and no indication that hypertension is affecting the optic nerves.  So...I get to still be a paranoid first time mom.     

Beyond that, I woke up this morning with a non-functioning finger.  It was a little odd.  Eventually it started painfully moving, and now it's almost normal, but I didn't expect the freezing up!  In an effort to combat this, I have looked for remedies and...found very little.  Yes, I HIGHLY recommend the Neti pot for sinus trouble (congestion, nose bleeds, allergy pressure), but how do you do that to your fingers?

 

Pretty much all I've got is that they say to keep hydrating as much as possible.  And that don't assume just because you're retaining water that you don't need more!  I will now end this disturbing obsession with my puffy self, and return to my water bottle. 

Anyone have any tricks I'm missing?