6

birth_day_rose

Monday morning, I saw Dr. Fan, a wise and wonderful healer who has been graciously tending to my broken foot. A former surgeon, and a master of Chinese medicine, he finally said to me that in order for my foot to heal more quickly, I need to stay off of it completely. I took the rest of the day and spent it in bed and you know what? By that night, the swelling near my injury decreased for the first time in nearly four weeks.

And then I went to school the next day.

By the time I got home that evening, my foot was back to its swollen state, and I was in pain. I was still determined to finish my last week and a half, though.

That is, until I saw my midwives yesterday. Turns out, my belly measures four weeks smaller than it should, which is not terribly concerning, because I’ve measured small during my whole pregnancy. However, I haven’t grown hardly at all since my last visit two weeks ago, and my weight gain is not significant, having put on a mere three pounds since November. They want me off of my feet until they see me again, meaning that my leave is starting a full week earlier than expected.

In other words, today is my last day of work. We’ve reached the home stretch. I keep saying how quickly this pregnancy has gone because it’s true! I can’t believe we’re already here: Maternity Leave.

We’ve managed to collect almost all of the essentials needed for birth and baby, including two very important bottles of Birth Day Champagne. One of my best friends in the whole world is staying with us for the weekend, and I’ve got nine hours left to spend with my sweet students and colleagues before I turn my focus entirely upon my family.

The next six weeks are gonna be so good.

A NEW PRACTICE

jade_meditate

pardon the poor image quality, but this is one of my all-time favorite shots

I have rebellious chi, is what I learned from my very first acupuncture appointment.

You see, my next door neighbor is the greatest, and when he found out that I wasn’t feeling so well, he insisted that I see his acupuncturist. Being the no-nonsense kind of guy that he is, I was surprised by his enthusiasm for alternative medicine, and I took his recommendation to heart.

I think I told the good doctor that I was nervous at least a half-dozen times during our initial consultation. Needles aren’t really my thing. Except tattoo needles, but that is an entirely different subject.

As it turns out, acupuncture is exactly what I thought: little needles and being still. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was the almost immediate sense of relaxation that resulted. I’ll admit that I have a long way to go before I’m able to fully surrender to the experience – I talked myself out of ringing the bell to call for assistance on three occasions – and I only feel slightly foolish for allowing a silly thing like fear keep me from something that is truly beneficial in maintaining equilibrium.

Today was the first time in over two weeks that I didn’t taken a nap. Not that I didn’t want to take a nap, napping happens to be one of my signature talents, but that I didn’t need to take a nap. A small miracle, I say.

My assignment for the week is to spend more time meditating, in an effort to harness my individual energy.

And by “spend more time” of course I mean “start”.