It actually started at about 330am when either I was awoken by Adam needing me or I woke Adam because I moaned in pain in my sleep. My upper arms and my thighs hurt with every move. I was having the worst Fibro flare I’ve had since having my son.
Lucky for me Adam settled back down after about a half an hour of playing ‘find me my dummy mummy’ and slept until 630. That extra 2.5 hours helped a lot.
When Simon woke up for work at 7 I told him how much pain I was in. Well, he could see it, as I limped around the flat and groaned as I reached for the peanut butter for breakfast. He offered to stay home but it was really important to me to be able to take care of my son no matter what. So Simon did bits of help (the most important being getting a coffee cup down for me!) and then headed off to work.
Adam and I had no plans yesterday, although I was hoping to walk up to the park. Instead we stayed home. He spent a lot more time in his bouncy chair than he normally would, but other than that, it was a normal day. Right up to and including his 230 ‘I’m exhausted but I don’t want to sleep’ crank which can only be soothed by walking him around and singing silly songs to him until he’s so tired he falls asleep.
By around lunchtime I was feeling somewhat better, although I still couldn’t lift my arms over my head. And I was exhausted. I did ring Simon at one point and ask if he could even come home an hour early, it would help, but if he couldn’t, I’d continue to manage.
And manage I did. My son was fed, dry, warm and happy. Maybe he didn’t get as many snuggles as usual, but he still got tummy time on Mummy and Daddy’s bed while Mummy got dressed. Maybe Mummy didn’t spend as much time bouncing him on her knee as she usual does (he loves that) but she did sit next to him while he was in his chair and talked to him and tickled him.
When I got pregnant my family’s major concern was how I would cope with my mental health issues. Mentally, I’ve been fine. Oh sure, I’ve had sad days, who doesn’t? And I’ve had some major anxiety and panic attacks. But none of these have affected taking care of my son.
And yesterday I proved my Fibro doesn’t either.