Carpal Tunnel Strategies

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS 100% WHINE

Yesterday I had G wire snip my ring off my hand. It's the ring we used in lieu of an engagement ring. I'm so not a big chunky diamond type of girl. After he proposed to me, we went to several jewelry stores looking for a ring. I protested against spending money on something that just wasn't me. He thought I was just being dramatic and was trying to persuade me that I "deserved" something nice. At any rate, after much squabbling and convincing G that not only were the rings we were being presented with expensive, but also gawdy and ugly, we settled on buying a plain silver band from a kiosk in the mall. Price: $11.95.
I've worn it on my right hand ring finger for 14 years, until yesterday.

Every pregnancy presents something new and/or different. I had carpal tunnel syndrome with my first pregnancy. I had it before the pregnancy too, as I was waiting tables. With my second pregnancy, things were fairly smooth except for incredible symphysis pubis pain. This time around, the carpal tunnel is back and way worse than I've ever experienced it. I think it has much to do with the sudden, extreme heat we've been experiencing. I knew my rings were stuck on my hands (they've been that way in the other pregnancies), but with the crazy hand/wrist/arm/shoulder pain, that particular ring made things worse.
For the past week and a half, I've been waking up at 2am from throbbing arm and hand pain and numbness. I get up, go to the bathroom, shake my arms and hands like I'm at a gospel revival meeting somewhere south, apply ice packs to my wrists and generally just feel really sorry for myself.

It's pathetic, I realize. I think it's the combination of sleep deprivation with the pain that just turns me into this softly crying mess of self pity night after night. I have my routine down now:
after I wake at 2am and I do Revival Hands, take a bathroom break, and apply the ice packs, I settle onto the futon in the main room. I have this combination of pillows that allows me to at some time fall asleep sitting bolt upright, but supported. If I lay down, the pain and numbness come immediately back. Around 6 am or so, I'm able to fall back asleep until 8:30 or so.

After a long day at the office yesterday, I came home and soaked my hand in a bowl of ice. I applied glass cleaner to my finger (this was a tip from the lady at the local jewelry store/pawn shop) and tried to work my $11.95 engagement ring off my finger. No luck. I got out some lovely Calder butter and tried again. Another soak, more butter. Soak, butter. Glass cleaner, butter, soak. My finger started to swell and it became clear that my formerly slim finger had now transformed into something off a large primate's mitt. My husband came home from the gym in the middle of all this and asked what the heck I was doing. All I said was: Go get the wire snips.
-Seriously?
-Yes, seriously. I think this ring is making things worse and I need to sleep at night.

So he got the snips. I asked him if he minded that he was about to cut off our cheap, tho special ring. The man doesn't have but one or two small sentimental bones in his body, and just said: Hell, no. If this can help, let's cut it off.
And that we did. I felt relief right away, but I think that's because I created more swelling in the last 10 minutes that the heat and humidity and pregnancy had in the last two weeks.

So how did I sleep last night? Well instead of 2am, I woke at 2:20am. Hands and arms throbbing and numb, although I think I was able to alleviate the pain sooner than usual. Instead of coming out to the futon, I rigged my upright sleeping situation right in my own bed and proceeded to read for 3 hours until I felt like I could sleep again without causing immediate arm pain. I slept until 8am. Woke up feeling optimistic and quite proud that I didn't break down into tears last night.

This weekend is supposed to be cooler. I'm hopeful that the cooler temps will bring with it less fluid retention and thereby, less carpal tunnel syndrome. I'm still very much on-call and going into a busy streak. My fabulous midwife partner and I have strategized that we will do shift work from here on out until my own baby is born. If she can let me sleep from 10pm-2am, I'll gladly go out from 2am on. I'm wide awake anyway, and it only takes 10-15 minutes to get feeling back in my hands (I just can't lay down again after this point). Somehow it makes things more do-able to think of shift work. The last few births I've attended have been marathon births. Births where I'm with folks for 20-30 hours and completely wiped out for days following. Shift work indeed. I can do it.

In the meantime, I'll keep shaking my Revival Hands and staring dumbly at the white line left by my now absent ring. At least my wedding ring is still intact and not too constricting.