Cankles

So a lot of these posts have been about Max and how things are coming along. We're trying to keep up with these new posts as much as Max will allow...but we've kind of let go of the original intention of the blog a bit. We wanted to fill you all in on some of the things that went on before Max so now, I'm going to sneak in a little entry about Holly in her pregnant days.

When we went to our Bringing Baby Home class before summer got under way, one of the other women had these HUGE ankles. I had read in books that women's ankles tended to swell during pregnancy, but we'd never really seen it in action before. In fact, the one thing that freaked Holly out more than anything else (foot-related, that is) was that some women pack a lot of size onto their feet and then don't actually shrink back down to their original foot size post-partum. No that she has umpteen shoes or anything, it was just the idea of losing something for good.

So anyway, we see this women's ankles and are thinking, "Oh man, those are nasty! There's no way it will get that bad for us!". I mean, Holly was known the world over for her svelte feet. And then it happened. Mid-July, in about her 33rd week, Holly got the calf-ankles, or cankles. Her little ankle bone disappeared and not even in a cloud of smoke or something. Gone. In fact, we have photo evidence. I'll let you guess which feet belong to whom (a-Holly Stardom, b-Angelina Jolie and c-Eva Longoria - my summers at the cottage are the best). And by the way, the dimples at the base of Holly's toes were her personal favourite.

For about a month and a half, Holly endured not being able to wear anything other than her (stretched-out, thanks to a Philadelphia sidewalk adventure) red Croc flip-flops. They became better friends to her than just about anything else. The skin on her ankles actually got sore from being stretched around so much fluid for so long.

And then, as some of you may be aware, Max was born. I think somewhere in the recesses of our minds, we were thinking that the ankles would just rematerialize...but they didn't. Holly's blood pressure (which is related to swelling in the ankles) didn't come down out of the "watch" zone until about a week post-Max, and then (miracle of miracles), the ankles returned. Holly was so ecstatic about seeing those two little foot bones that she immortalized them in a picture. The first day she was able to wear real shoes again, she may have cried. Everything fits again and now there's nothing to do but wait and see if it might happen again. Wink wink. In the distant future, I mean.