Big Fat Pregnancy Feet

Swelling during pregnancy is extremely common. Pregnant women have about 150% of normal blood volume to help support mom and baby. We also retain more fluids. Plus the uterus/baby/placenta/amniotic fluid temporary housing unit puts pressure on veins preventing them from returning blood to our core. The blood and fluid tends to pool in our extremities so we often get puffy fingers, feet, ankles, calves and faces.

Well for me this week has been epic in the foot swelling department. 38 weeks pregnant is no joke people. I’ve tried to combat “fat foot syndrome” as best as I can over the weekend. Here’s a pictorial story of my poor feet and the remedies I’ve tried.

After work both Thursday and Friday my feet were so big it was astonishing. They hurt less than it appears, but no one wants to see something that looks so much like Professor Clump’s cankles at the end of their legs. It’s typically impossible to see my feet around the belly, but that is obviously not the case. They could see these huge things from the space station!

Fat foot syndrome. Thursday and Friday after work this is what my feet looked like.

At first I went with the most traditional remedy for edema, elevating the swollen appendages. Of course one must do this in close proximity to a TV, laptop, kitchen, and bathroom to maximize the experience. The couch was perfect.

Remedy #1. Foot elevation on a pile of pillows on the couch.

This is generally a good remedy, but with the degree of swelling I had last week it didn’t quite do the job. I needed to continue on the search.

I Googled other remedies for swelling and saw that soaking one’s feet might help. Adding epsom salts into the mix is also beneficial. I don’t have an at home foot spa so Honey Bunny and I went to the garage to find a suitable alternative. A rubber storage tub was perfect for the task.

Soaking feet in warm water and epsom salts.

The directions said that if you have all over swelling you may need to bathe in the espom salts rather than just soak. Maybe I should have done that instead. By the end of my 1 hour foot soak my feet had actually swollen again a bit bigger than when I put them in there. I think it may have more to do with the fact that my feet were not elevated at all. I was sitting in the same position as I sit at work. It stands to reason the blood and fluid was pooling back in my feet even while soaking.

I remembered that the lactation consultant in my breastfeeding class said cabbage leaves were beneficial to help alleviate engorgement. Engorgement? Hm….. My feet certainly looked engorged, although I doubt they contained milk. It was worth looking in to. Voila! Wrap cabbage leaves around swollen areas and leave it on until the leaves get wet. Done and done.

My feet wrapped up in cabbage leaves with masking tape.

Once again this operation had to be performed on the couch so I could be simultaneously entertained. I also had to walk in my cabbage shoes 2 times. Babies have no consideration for their mom’s bladders. The cabbage can shed, but it’s hard to bend over and pick up after myself with a giant bulbous tummy in the way so I left that to Honey Bunny.

Believe it or not the cabbage actually worked pretty well. Mine was fresh, but other schools of thought say to cook and cool the leaves first. Well, I’m no expert, so don’t take it from me, but the leaves are worth checking out for yourself.

By the end of Saturday my feet weren’t completely down, but were doing much better. I just kept those feet up for the rest of the evening on the pillow piles and went to bed elevating my feet slightly with pillows as I slept.

Here’s Sunday morning.

Normal human sized feet and ankles. Woo hoo!

This is all way too much work. My next baby I will make sure and stop working 2 weeks prior to the due date. Spending my whole weekend trying to shrink my feet seems like a huge waste of time. Ah well though, she’s still worth it. 🙂