OK. This isn’t going to be about me. It’s about my sister.
She is an illustrator. Now, she’s also a Mom. Along the way, we discovered prenatal massage and it really was a game changer.
Let me explain. My sister, Lillian, suffers from fibromyalgia. When she became pregnant, she began having worse and worse pain every week.
Of course, her options for dealing with the pain were limited, as she didn’t want any drugs that might affect the baby growing inside of her.
But it’s also that she is a yogini, and a devoted vegan. She hasn’t taken a drug since she was seventeen.
And so, Lil’s dilemma began. She wasn’t getting any sleep, her pain was so intense. She called me crying one evening, asking if I knew anything that might help.
I suggested a quadruple double martini. We both laughed. Please believe me, I don’t want a niece or nephew with fetal alcohol syndrome. Also, Lil is not a drinker.
I felt bad for my little sis, but I had no idea what she could possibly do. I suggested exercise. Why? it works for me.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work for her. But then something amazing happened.
I was watching YouTube, as I usually do, and the next video that came on was about pregnancy massage at home. Was it serendipity? Or, maybe it was just part of YouTube’s algorithm? I’ve heard about how other people have conversations and then they see ads for what they’ve spoken about.
Whatever it was, whether due to technology and marketing, or a higher being messing with our lives (in a wholly good way!), it was a Godsend. I watched one video. And then another. After two hours, I was shaking from excitement. I had taken five pages of notes in Word, and I was ready. There were studies. Testimonials. Videos of massages. Too much information, really.
I called my sister, careful to present the information in a measured and calm way. “Hello, Lil? How are you feeling?”
“Ugggh. My lower back is ***** killing me! And now, it’s my shoulders, too. My feet still hurt, but I’m fine. How are you?”
“That’s my sister, always the optimist. I’m OK. Hey did you ever read about prenatal massage?”
From there, we spoke for an hour. I told her to stay put and I drove over to her house. She and I and her husband spoke about massage for about three more hours.
It was 3 AM. I ended up sleeping in their den and calling out to the office the next day. But that turned out to be a good move. I ended up finding a massage therapist who travels.
The therapist showed up, and we had a four-way interview. We were all satisfied with her answers. Lily’s husband is a school teacher, and boy did he grill her!
After Lil’s first session, she called me. “My pain is gone! How could this be possible?!” she exclaimed. (Lillian curses a lot. I mean a LOT.) She couldn’t understand why none of her physicians had recommended massage.
Lil scheduled five more massages that week, and ended up receiving massages five days in a row. If my sister can be described in one word, it would be EXCESSIVIST! lol I don’t know if that’s a word, but it fits her, either way.
Miraculously, her pain was gone. And, it wasn’t just her pregnancy pain, it was the pain she had experienced since she was a teen. While yoga helped her a great deal, somehow massage was the missing ingredient. For someone who eschewed drugs and surgeries, massage therapy fit right into her healthy lifestyle.
My big question: If she’s into all this healthy new-agey type stuff, how did she not hit on massage on her own, years ago?
She had tried crystal healing. (In fact, she has an amazing crystal collection, as she’s been into this long before it recently became a fad.) She’s been to an acupuncturist. She’s tried hypnotism. She even tried fasting. She said everything has helped, and so that’s one reason why she stuck with her regimen over the years. Still, Lil says nothing has been as helpful as massage. Go figure.
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