Quite a Feet

Growing up if one of us had a clutzy moment, you could generally count on my mom asking one of two rhetorical questions:

"Didja have a nice trip last fall?" or "Today the first day with your new feet?"

Uuuuhhhh...

Thursday I completely missed the bottom step on the stairs in our apartment building, turned my ankle and managed to carpet burn the top of my foot in the process. No one saw it or heard my loud, "Ouch!" as I limped out to go get groceries.

Friday I followed Charlie quickly across a wet lawn at the Princess Diana Memorial fountain to get a hold of his hand before he got to the little slope that I just knew he was going to fall down because he was headed there too fast. I caught his hand just in time for me to slip on the slippery slope - one leg went down the hill and one leg folded under me in a way that it should not fold, and my butt landed hard in the grassy mud. Same ankle twisted, again. It was in the center of the whole park, on a rise, so lots of people saw. Yes, yes, thank you very much. Saved the two-year-old from slipping. Did you see that?

Saturday morning I tripped over the corner of the coffee table in the living room and bruised my knee cap. I seriously thought I was going around the table, but I guess I can't see where things below my belly really are. I will just say that that trip hurt really, reallly bad.

Then I went for a little lunch date with Henry and we walked around a bit looking in shops and getting gelato and trying to find a double decker bus that would take us home and suddenly I realized that I felt both feet flapping against the pavement with every step I took. By the time I got home, both feet were puffing out of my shoes and Henry asked me why they were so big.

I started crying. I've never retained water until after giving birth, there is not a feeling I hate more than that smack-smack tight feeling in my feet, and I also started freaking out about preeclampsia and having to be induced and my husband is not even here and blah, blah, blah, waaa, waaa, waaa.

I took a few deep breaths and started drinking lots more water, I've tried to keep walking a bit so my one ankle won't get stiff and my blood will circulate better.

Sunday, I even got Calvin and Henry to each rub one foot. They need a little more practice, but it was sweet and made my feet feel a little better. They are still getting puffy at the end of the day and my one ankle is still sore and a little blue, and my knee cap is stiff, but I'm waddling around all right.

Today I am just waiting for the day when I can see my feet again and have some sense of balance.

I can't wait until the first day with my "new" feet. Hopefully I'll be able to walk on them a little more gracefully.