Tuesday, July 01, 2008

6 1/2 months

I have been trying to write a six month post for almost 2 weeks now. There is so much I want to say and so much I am having trouble with.

For the few days before my little man turned 6 months old, he was sleeping through the night, or mostly through the night. It was a nice transition and very welcome. Then he got his vaccinations and stopped. He went back to waking up every few hours. It was difficult. I don't know if my diet wasn't sufficient for him to feel full or if there was another transition going on that was interrupting his sleep.

Either way life was a bit tough. Napping was intermittent and irregular. I was sleeping almost every time the baby was. It was nice in some ways, and difficult in others.

Also, at the same time, I got hurt. I had an accident about 10 years ago that made me very nervous about physical activity. It was somewhat serious, but could have been much much much worse. I have finally gotten back into physical activity with pressure from a friend. I had been taking karate with her for about a month when I got kicked.

It was incredibly painful and was during practice. We weren't sparring, I was standing still while another student practiced a move. When he kicked me in the arm the pain was blinding. Within 24 hours I had an enormous bruise that went all the way down the inside of my arm.

From my previous accident I have nerve damage in that arm, so I am still having pain flares. Almost immediately my mind began coursing through the options and issues. If I have to go to the hospital, what signs to look for if something goes wrong, where do I take the baby if I need to go to the hospital, what happens to the baby if a blood clot goes to my lung.

It was debilitating and horrible. I was sunk into despair and fear for more than a week. I have begun to get myself under control, but it has not been fun nor easy. The worst thing is that the baby has been so good for these 2 weeks. He has begun sitting up and crawling. His crawling is not graceful yet, but he get pretty much get anywhere he wants to go.

He has been changing and growing at such an amazing rate and I want to enjoy it. He is so funny and new every day, while I sit in anxiety about leaving the house or anything that might cause me to get hurt again. My fear is that if I get hurt, it will be a devastating hurt, like a loss of limb or complete incapacitation. Things are getting better, and most days I think things are under control and then there will be a wash of anxiety that flows through my mind that I feel will drown me.

Sebastian is beautiful, wonderful and becoming such a chubby little man. Me, on the other hand? I am a precariously balanced emotional house of cards. Any little disturbance could bring the whole thing down.

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