Isn't that swell...?

One of the more common side effects in pregnancy is swelling. Especially if you have the pleasure (as I do) of giving birth anytime during the summer months- Gotta love all those June, July, August and September babies. Which by the way, August is the most common birth month and has been for years. So store that little trivia question in your brain for a rainy day. Anyway, as long as I can remember I would get swollen hands when I would go out for a long walk or hike. It was always kind of annoying but after I held my hands up above my head or ran them under cold water they would shrink back down to size and all was well. And, speaking of size, I should also just add that as a petite girl I also have petite hands and that equates to not a lot of room to expand in these types of "swell" situations. The same goes for my feet. Although I never had swollen feet before being pregnant, the size of my feet has always been the butt of many jokes. That includes my toes which at some point in time my mom decided should appropriately be named Lil Smokies...like the ones you buy at the grocery store for special occassions...or at least that was the case at our house. We always had them for Easter breakfast and Christmas breakfast when I was growing up. They are tiny little fat sausages that are maybe an inch long if that. They are delish! Anyway, my little chubbies soon took on the affectionate name Lil Smokies and Paul clung right to that. He thought it was absolutely hilarious and made sure to tell anyone who he overheard mention my inadequate feet and toes. Still to this day he brings it up in fact. And, the other night while I was lamenting about my swollen aching feet he jokingly asked if I actually thought they could get so swollen that they would pop. Just like the Lil Smokies do when they are cooked to perfection. Don't ya love it?

So lately we have been blessed with amazingly cool weather. Although there has been a few warm days here and there and on those days and especially today when it hit close to 80 degrees my little fingers and little feet and little toes begin to swell. There is no stopping them either. I can look down and see the skin begin to turn pink and my ankles slowly begin to turn into "cankles" so that there is no definition from my calf to my foot. It is pretty much all the same size. And then my toes swell to the point of total humiliation and there is no space left between them. It just looks like one giant heap of a toe. Then to top it off, if I have to walk it feels like I am stepping on tiny hot water ballons that are about to explode. My hands take on the shape of a rubber glove that has been blown up. Nice and puffy and rounded everywhere. It is quite a sight. Elevating my feet helps a bit but not much helps my hands. And it takes quite a while to get them to come back down to size again but they eventually do. And might I just add, I love my hands and feet just the size they are, as God intended and I hope London's look just like mine...because my hands sure look like my mom's and I love that even more now.