"Me" Day

This past week's schedule was different for Nick and I.  Nick has started a leadership class in town and that coupled with exams/meetings took up more time away from home than usual.  On top of that, Liam is going through some growth spurts I think because for the past 3 days he has been waking up almost every hour to eat.  This coupled with the extra "work" time for me made for a few tiring days.  Nick felt so bad that he actually surprised me by giving the day off to his students on Thursday and giving me a "rejuvenation day".  I've had pretty bad back discomfort-not all of my back just the neck/shoulder/upper back area so I took the free time to take care of this.  I've been wanting to see a chiropractor for a couple of months to get adjusted.  Towards the end of the pregnancy I felt lopsided since Liam was practically only on the right side and I wanted to get adjustments then but our health plan was so bad that I knew it wasn't going to be cheap to get treatment.  With my day off I scheduled my appointment and learned that they also have a massage therapist at the office for supplemental treatment so I booked a massage hoping to get some relief.  I've had a pretty close relationship with my heating pad for the past week or so but had not felt better.  I still don't know what's wrong with my spine [if anything] since I go back on Monday to get the X-ray results but he did do a small adjustment in the middle of my back and did notice that my hips were lopsided.  We'll see what he says on Monday.
The massage was not a "relaxing" one since my muscles were so tense- although I did feel some relief afterwards.  I went in for a one hour body massage and the therapist never left my shoulders/upper back area.  After an hour she was still working out knots.  She told me "I don't like to use these words but honey you are really messed up!".  When I got up from the table I was sore but I expected that.  She recommended two more sessions to get me back to normal.  The best part is that our new state health plan actually covers massages!!!!  I cannot even express how excited I am about this.  Once I meet my deductible- which I will after Monday- then I only have to pay my $10 co-pay for the massage.  I asked the therapist how often one should get massaged and she said a "normal" person should get one once a month but I should do every 2 weeks until I am back to "normal".  The thing is that I don't know that I"ll be "normal" for a while.  My job right now- taking care of the kids, particularly Liam- forces me to contort my body in unnatural ways and I have terrible posture to begin with.  But I take solace in knowing that I get to have a massage every 2 weeks!!!  Now all I need is Liam to start taking afternoon naps so I can catch up on my sleep....doubtful.

By the way, I know it may sound petty that I was exhausted mid-way through the week when there are moms who have to stay with the kids all day, every day by themselves but that's not what I'm used to.  Nick is home a lot and so we share a lot of the parenting time.  It was totally different to have days where I was IT from morning to night time--- having to get both kids ready in the morning, make breakfast, pack up bags to get out of the house, supervise Gavin while trying to nurse Liam in public (fun times...Liam is at the point where he doesn't want a blanket over him), doing bath time and bed time all by myself.  I have much respect for single moms.  I don't know how I would make it if Nick wasn't as available and involved as he is.  We both love and feel super lucky to have the arrangement that we have.