Insomnia, Headaches, & Acupunture, oh My!

Yesterday I felt awful. And I mean terrible. I managed to get to work, but only made it until 9:30 until I got sent home for looking like death warmed over. I have been having sleep troubles...again. This is now the third time in my four months of pregnancy where I wake up at obscene times and can't get back to sleep...for days on end. Not just one or two nights...but anywhere from 5-8 days solid. So, Monday morning, I was sickly, my whole body ached, I had another headache that lasted as long as my insomnia did (24 hours for 5-8 days). So, I called Brenda desparate. I didn't know what on earth she could do for me, but I needed SOMETHING. ANYTHING. This was getting out of hand. And to top it off, I was now getting sick. I'm not sure if the headaches cause the insomnia or if the insomnia cause the headaches, but I assumed that the lack of sleep had caused my sickies.

I went home and it was about as terrible as I've felt in years. I laid around the house, without the energy to sit up, but tired of laying down. The trip down the hall to the bathroom seemed like a trek up Mount Everest, and even watching TV was more work than I could bear. I called Brenda on the verge of tears. She suggested acupuncture. Which, is totally weird in my book. Actually, the irony is that I've always thought "Hey, who am I to say that only Western medicine is the way to go? If ____ culture has been doing it for thousands of years, it must have some merit." This of course, was before I was actually faced with making an appointment to stick tiny needles into my body. I wasn't scared of the procedure...I just thought it was very...granola. And, I, if you know me, am NOT granola. Sure, I'm having a home birth...but that's where it ends. I don't eat organic food, I don't shop at Trader Joe's, I can't stand Big Sky Cafe in SLO, and I don't wear birkenstocks and/or clothing made of hemp. Acupuncture seemed to fit into this category for me.

But, I was desparate...and pregnant. And a desparate, pregnant woman is a woman willing to try anything if it makes her feel better. So, I made an appointment. The man stuck about 30 little needles into my back, one in each ear, one in each hand, and one in each ankle. It didn't hurt. A couple of them pinched every so slightly, but most of them felt like someone was tapping you on the back with their finger. Okay, so I lay there with pins stuck in my back and all I can think is "Oh man, I wish someone could take a picture of this for my blog". The very nice man left me to lay there like a human pincushion for 20 minutes. Then, he came back, pulled them all out, gave me a quick massage and sent me on my way.

Did it work? I don't know. I certainly felt better physically...but I'm not sure if that was the acupuncture or being really comfy on my belly for the first time in months. It's supposed to help with my sleep. Last night I slept better, but still not stellar. We'll see how I do tonight.

Turns out that I'm coming down with a funny virus of sorts that is going around. It's not quite the flu, and it's not quite a cold. Yesterday I felt awful but had no fever. Today, I feel better but I now have a low grade fever. Hopefully it'll go away soon. These sick days were supposed to be for my stay home with the baby!

(When I got home, Andy asked me how my visit with the little old Chinese man was. I told him the guy was relatively young and white...and he laughed and said "that breaks every stereotype in the book! That should almost be illegal!" What a dork).