Friday, January 29, 2010

so yeah, i fell down the stairs

And I'm not feeling too hot today.
I was getting Caleb up from a nap yesterday morning and coming down the stairs with him in my arms. You know that blind spot you have when you're holding a baby in front of you?

Probably not a good idea to leave a stack of books where they'll be directly in that blind spot... on a flight of stairs.

I stepped right on top of a stack of half a dozen books, which of course flew right off the step with my foot -and entire body- directly after it. Books went sprawling, baby and I went sliding. I've never hit my backside so hard.
And of course I didn't put the books on the bottom step or even two. I put them halfway up. So I hit six or seven steps on the way down. Directly on my tailbone and then my back.

Apparently I'm good at protecting kids I'm holding when I fall.
I don't think this habit bodes well for me though. It makes the fall more injurious for me.
As was the case yesterday. I was so worried about Caleb getting hurt that all my attention was on holding on to him and keeping him up off the floor so I was in no way able to stop or catch myself let alone get in a better falling position. Ugh.

I sat at the bottom of the stairs for probably a full five minutes wondering if I could get up. I knew right away I must have broken/cracked/really really injured my tailbone. And I momentarily wondered about my right elbow/upper arm and then two of my left hand fingers. Not to mention bruised calves and back.

I did call Ryan and he came home to take Sawyer to speech class (no way I could drive) and pick up some of the slack with Caleb (try feeding a baby without being able to sit down) and to try and get me to get to the ER. As soon as I knew for sure that my fingers were really okay, I didn't want to worry about going to the doc... I know there's really not much to do for a tailbone. I can tell it's not my back... just the bum.

And I was okay yesterday. I just really couldn't sit down. Or really lay down very comfortably. So from ten in the morning, when I fell, I was on my feet for the rest of the day. I actually got quite a bit done because of it... not much else to do when you have to stay on your feet.
Definitely still sore and slow moving, but much better than trying to sit or get comfortable resting. Any pressure or much movement at all to the tail region was excruciating.
Walking and standing and even bending over were getting better throughout the day... until about dinnertime when my body was just exhausted and swollen. Then I went downhill fast.
I have a nice baseball sized swelling in my lower back above my tailbone and actually (sorry, tmi) my butt cheeks are just swollen enough that they're pressed together. Eww.

We had our small group over for dinner last night so by the time they left at 8:30 I doped myself up on ibuprofen and unisom and headed to (try to get comfortable in) bed.
I actually slept quite decently all night, other than having to fully wake up any time I needed to move around at all.

It's feeling better today... still can't sit, but laying is much more comfortable and the swelling seems to be down a bit. Probably because I was finally off my feet all night.
I'm sore everywhere else though... and I'm wondering how much is from the fall (quite a bit) and how much is from just not being able to fully relax. Apparently it takes a lot of other muscles to keep any and all pressure off your seat when you sit or lean or lay.
My right side is extremely sore and I think that's from the fall as that's the side Caleb was on and so I had no arm protecting me there... my ribs actually feel a little bruised. Or just the muscles. Who knows.

Anyway. Caleb is not here today and I have no where and nothing to have to do, so it's a day of recovery around here. I've had a couple of friends with tailbone injuries and have heard horror stories of the months of pain and such a long healing time... I'm really hoping that's not me!

6 comments:

Misti said...

I'm so sorry to hear you fell. I hope you feel better soon!

Mom said...

Keep relaxing & mend well. Hope your weekend is a nice one. XOXOXOX

Anonymous said...

Glad you're ok (or will be ok with a little more R&R and time)!

Kim said...

i totally hear you on the 'baby blind spot'... i've been close to tripping myself quite a few times lately. i hope you feel better!

Anonymous said...

If you would have gone to the ER, he would have done a butt probe on you to make sure your tail bone wasn't penetrating any tissue. Yep, and I'm here to tell you that it is terribly unpleasant. As a former tailbone fracturer/stair faller downer/baby holder, you will recover with a lot of stretches and rest. If you aren't significantly better in two weeks though, you might want to do the x-ray. I'm just sayin'. Sorry it happened to you!! Sarah Pearson

Bertha said...

Ohhh shoot! That must be really painful my dear. Glad your kid's not hurt. Hope you're doing fine now, and be more careful next time okay? =D

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