My Ridiculous Feet
So, I was wrong. I truly and fervently hoped and believed that once the weather cooled down my ankle size would go down as well. While we’ve had a pretty warm fall so far, the weather is certainly cooler than it was back in August. But this, along with the drop in humidity, brought no change in my swelling. My friend said to me the other day, make sure you take a picture of those, I did when I was pregnant. This honestly never occurred to me. They’re horrendous! Why would I ever want to remember them? But I considered that maybe after all was said and done, I wouldn’t be able to accurately remember how bad they were. Like forgetting the pain of labor, so they say? Once I get my feet back, I don’t want to ever take them for granted again. And maybe I will need the picture someday for a well-timed guilt trip for my son.

In all their freak show glory, here are my feet at the end of the day yesterday:



Wow, that was hard and embarrassing to post. And you guys thought I was kidding, didn’t you? Maybe being a little bit of a drama queen, hmm? Walking around on these bad boys doesn't do much for the waddling situation either. After years of people commenting on my "small" 6.5 sized feet, I find this all pretty ironic. I’ve been reading a blog lately (shout out to Mrs. Priss!), and I am quite impressed with her commitment to fashionable footwear, particularly heels, throughout her pregnancy. Bless her. I really had no choice in the matter. None of my shoes fit – even my comfortable-but-still-cute ballet flats. For most of the summer, I wore flip flops, every single day. Yes, I have an office job; and a very understanding boss.

About a month ago I decided I needed some closed-toe shoes to get me through the fall. Sadly, it’s not even about getting bigger shoes. When I go up a size or two, all I get are ill-fitting shoes that flop off the back of my heel. I needed comfort and give. I settled on the Malindi version of Crocs. My husband hates Crocs with a passion. He was highly chagrined last summer when I insisted on going back to this one store in Chinatown in NYC to get some hot pink mock Crocs for $8. Those were the classic clog Croc style however, which are admittedly not that attractive (but comfortable!) The Malindi Crocs, while not exactly the height of fashion, are much more understated and slim (unlike my actual feet). I’m not sure he’s even noticed they’re Crocs yet. Or maybe he has and in his great wisdom has decided that picking on them at this point would be a really bad idea. They’re working out well. But as you can tell from the shoe-less picture above, they still leave indentations in my feet, which would happily swell to the size of Violet Beauregarde as a blueberry if left unchecked.



*For those new to this phenomenon, I have a classic pregnancy condition called edema. Yes, my case is worse than the average pregnant woman. My doctor is well aware of it and is not worried, as long as my blood pressure stays ok, which it has so far. I just have to live with it until this baby comes out. As she said to me yesterday, “Let’s get those puffy little feet up into the stirrups.” LOVELY. I don't know exactly how much water/fluid I'm retaining, but here's hoping it's at least 20 pounds worth. :0. Also, I drink a ton of water, put them up as much as I can, and see no difference when I watch my sodium intake. So, thank you for the advice, but believe you me, I have tried!