Can we fit one more in?

Surgery, that is.

Okay, here's the basic story. When I was pregnant with Rorysaurus, I got huge. I didn't gain a lot of weight, but was unable to drive near the end, because my belly prevented me from reaching the pedals and the steering wheel at the same time.



I worked my butt off and lost all the weight but still was having a hard time fitting into my regular clothes. Oh well, whatever.

Then, I got pregnant with Little Monkey. By 15 weeks, I looked like this:



And by 32 weeks, I was using a cane, wearing a belly brace and had still only gained 15 lbs. I was here:



Turns out, when the Rorysaur was in there, she tore my abdominal muscles apart, so there wasn't much holding Little Monkey in. This made it even harder than it would have been otherwise to get him out, since my abs couldn't do their job, and was the cause of the really bad back labor I had with both births.

I was expecting it to go back to normal afterwards, but my swayback and back pain got worse and worse, and I was cautioned not to lift anything over 25lbs. I was ready to ignore it. However, when doing a sit-up, my midwife could fit her whole little hand between my abs, and could feel the intestines underneath so, my GP and I found me some physical therapy and I joined a gym, and got stronger and lost a lot of weight. No progress on the diastasis recti, though. In fact, if anything, it has seemed to get worse. I can't stand up straight, and my back just aches. The GP finally told me to go get a surgical consultation.

So, back in early July, before all of this new drama started, I scheduled a consult. In desperate need of a few hours of peace and quiet, I left the midgets with my friend Kristin (here from out of state to watch the kiddos and help pack), andheaded in to San Fran for the consult. We (the GP, surgeon and I) had been figuring on the surgery sometime this late fall or winter, but two pressing things had happened since then.

1) Little Monkey is 22lbs. This means the amount of time I have where I'm not further injuring my back has shrunk a little, and

2) I'm going to need to be able to help transition Needlenoggin from chair to bed to other chair. Not necessarily all the time, and it won't be that I'm lifing him myself, but I will be helping move someone much larger than my 22lb son and 36lb daughter.

The surgeon wanted me to do the surgery with enough time before Needlenoggin's return to be back to normal activities, but, she was booked until November. So, I went to the assistant's office and started the scheduling process. Then, low and behld, a cancellation! So, my surgery is a week from today. 8/19.

I'll be in the hospital in SF for a night, and then come home to nearly bedrest for a week (only some light walking, no lifting (even of the kids)). I'll have drains in for a while, and will have to do all of Little Monkey's care in bed. However, I will have Tuffy's cousin here to help with the Rorysaur, as well as (possibly) Rorysaurus' Godmother. The week after that, Tuffy should be off pending Little Moneky's surgery, and then the big Neurosurgery itself. Then we'll be taking a week off to move into the new place, and then Needlenoggin should be arriving home.

Nuts? Yeah,of course. However, I'll have a little help, hubby will be home some and my mom will be up for a little bit as well, and when else would I be able to get so many people in here to help us?