22 Weeks

I've been feeling really tired again, but if I think back over the last couple of weeks, that could be because I have actually done heaps, close to what I was doing before I got pregnant. I'm definitely in the eye of the storm here, but I can feel the next bit getting closer. I'm still needing a good 9-10 hours of sleep a night.
I only work one day  a week, but I've been noticing it really starting to wear me out the last couple of weeks. So many women work up until the last few weeks of their pregnancy- that won't be me! I actually have a few extra morning shifts over the next few weeks, while one of the other ladies is away, so it will be interesting to see how I handle that.

Last Thursday was eight years since my accident.  I am one of those strange people who celebrates the anniversary of my accident. Not so much because I like being a paraplegic, although it does have it's perks, but more because I should have died several times over that day. So I celebrate the fact I'm still here, the fact that  still have the use of my hands, the fact that I'm actually a much nice, more patient, considerate and compassionate person for it.


In a strange coincidence, I was booked in for the spinal review clinic on the Thursday! Having not been to one before I really didn't know what to expect. As it turned out, you see a continence nurse, the doctor, a physio and an occupational therapist (OT). The continence nurse didn't have much to tell me, except that I'm eligible for an annual medicare payment to assist with continence product, so that was good to know! She was a bit surprised when I told her I was pregnant, much to my amusement, since I certainly look it now! This is so much more than 'para-pot'! (For those of you who aren't in the know, para-pot is the name given to that bulge in the stomach we get when we lose control of our abs post SCI and everything just collapses with gravity).

The review with the doctor was really good. Dr N is from the Austin hospital in Melbourne and was actually my spinal consultant while I was a patient there. Apart from just being nice to catch up with him, it was really good to talk to him about the pregnancy. While he is not an obstetrician and has limited experience in the area, he does have a lot of experience with SCI. So far as he is concerned, I should be treated like any other first time mum, albeit with closer monitoring. As long as baby and I are healthy going into the birth, there is no reason he can see that I shouldn't be able to try for a natural delivery. There is a change things won't go to plan and I may need a caesarean, but there is that chance with all mums. So I'm happy with that. So far as pain medication was concerned, he didn't think a epidural was a given. What he actually said was 'well you've essentially already had one, haven't you?' He also mentioned there are other types of medication, such as gas, which we can use. No arguments from me on that!

The review with the phyiso and OT was ok, basically establishing tht for the most part I'm fine with both areas. They offered me an appointment with the physio department, so Tim can learn how to help assist me with transfers. I figured that was a good idea, so we will be doing that in the next few weeks. Mum covered all that in rehab, but I've never had the need to teach Tim until now, so I figure it won't hurt to do it with a physios help. They also offered to send an OT to our house to have a look at what we have and to discuss any equipment we may find useful. I don't expect a great deal to come of it, I think I'll get more from talking to other wheelie mums, but you never know what they will have come across. I'm probably a little jaded in my experiences of OT's in the past. I've found myself with expensive 'must have' aids that I've barely used, if at all.


This week I took a drive up the coast with a friend of mine who is also expecting. We went up to Stork Talk in Devonport and had a look around there. This is the shop I originally had a play around with prams, so this time I had a go at getting the capsule in and out of the car. The one I'm looking at, the Steelcraft Infant Carrier, was pretty awkward to get in and out, especially the first few times. The lady got me another one to try, that most people find easier. Most not including me. This one has the release up higher, so I actually can't pull on it and lift the capsule at the same time. While the Steelcraft is more fiddly, I can rest on the seat while I release it with one hand and lift with the other. The only weight she had to put in it was 9kg, so I know I can't lift it with 9kg in it. On the other hand, the baby won't weight 9kg to start with, so I will have time to adjust to the heavier weight. My thoughts at this stage is, yes, it's awkward, but I would get better at it with practice.
The other interesting thing is where in the car it goes. I had thought I would put it behind my seat. The sales lady looked a little horrified at that suggestion- 'but that's on the road side! You'd be getting the baby out into traffic!' I did explain to her that I actually need that extra room on my side to get my chair out (she didn't seem to care that I was getting my chair out into the traffic), so I won't always have room on both sides of the car. As it turned out, the seat in front of the capsule needs to sit forward and I wouldn't be able to get my chair between the steering wheel and me with the capsule behind me, so she doesn't need to worry about the baby playing in traffic. I will just be (even more) restricted as to where I can park!

On our road trip, we also visited Mary's Lingerie in Burnie. I'd been told by a few people they had a great range of maternity wear. Well they didn't have heaps, but what they had was good. I got myself a new bra and BATHERS!!  This may be a very trivial thing to most of you, but I have been searching for weeks, actually I think months now (I wish I was exaggerating) for something to wear swimming. I have now, finally, found something that fits! You have no idea how much this excites me! I'm super keen to get back into the water! And I love how they look on me- there is no doubt whatsoever that this is a mum to be!

The other stop we made (apart from several delicious food stops) was to spotlight, where I picked out some fabric to make a quilt for bub. I used to be ok at sewing back in school, but I'm somewhat out of practice now. I did get a new sewing machine for Christmas though, so I'm excited to give this project a try. I unfortunately have to clean off my craft table first, so it might be a week or two before I get to it! We've also picked out some decals (I think that's right, the stick on pictures you put on the wall) for the nursery, so I'm keen to start cleaning that out and making it look more like a nursery and less like the junk room. 

On the whole I'm feeling pretty good. My wrists have been irritating me occasionally, but with a bit of ice and my wrist brace on overnight they feel pretty good. I'm seeing my massage therapist every few weeks to help with the shoulder soreness. I'm getting indigestion/heartburn occasionally, again pretty standard pregnancy stuff. My weight distribution and centre of gravity is slowly changing, so my transfers are certainly not as pretty and easy-looking as they once were. I'm probably going to have to change my footwear again soon. The heels on my boots don't hold my feet up straight and the leather soles have my feet slipping all over the place. 

For those of you who don't get to physically see my progress, a baby bump update:

Thank you to those of you who shared names after my last post. I have been tracking them down, getting their stories. It's been an interesting mix, with roughly half the women I spoke to having a vaginal birth, and half having a caesarean. The reasons for those having caesareans have varied, between personal choice, those who felt a caesarean was safer for them than a vaginal birth and some who would have needed a caesarean regardless of their SCI. A few of the ladies who've delivered vaginally have stressed to me the importance of making sure my wishes are heard, not to just let the doctors book me in for a caesarean because it's easier for them. No danger of that! But it is nice to know other women have fought and won these same battles. Again, if you think of anyone I can talk to, please let me know!

Until next time!

20 weeks

Twenty weeks! We are now half way through!

This week we had our 20 week anomaly scan, where they check the baby is growing properly and check for any possible growth defects and so forth. Apparently we have a very cooperative baby, showing all the bits the lady needed to measure. Knowing what I know about both mine and Tim's childhoods, I feel this baby will probably save it's best behaviour for everyone but us- we have some seriously bad karma coming our way! We aren't finding out the gender until baby arrives. Tim doesn't really mind either way, but I want it to be a surprise. It was very cool to see the baby,especially to see the changes. Last time we had a scan it was a little bean shape with what they call arm and leg buds. They aren't even arms and legs in their own right yet! This week not only are there arms and legs, but hand and feet and fingers and toes! It was crazy looking at the scan and seeing INSIDE baby too- we saw the spine, the heart and kidneys. It's like a babushka doll, one inside another. The baby is too big now to be seen all in one go on the ultrasound too, so the pictures they gave us only show the head and shoulders.

Baby's head and shoulders

After our scan, we had an appointment with the obstetricians. We saw a junior doctor to start with, who did the basics, like take my blood pressure and baby's heartbeat. The senior OB we saw was only visiting from Melbourne for a few weeks, but he was the only one available on the day. We spoke about Clexaine, an anticoagulant several of the para mums who have contacted me had said they were on. All pregnant women are at higher risk of deep vein thrombosis, due to our blood getting thick and sticky, but I'm at higher risk, due to my lack of movement.
I don't like to take extra medications that aren''t necessary, but in this case, I feel that I'm better off taking it as a precaution. It is used commonly in pregnancy and it is just one more risk factor I can minimise. So Clexaine is administered by a daily injection in the stomach. Since I can't feel my stomach, this is really no problem for me to do myself. As it's a blood thinner I just need to be aware of any cuts I have and look out for bruising.

We also spoke about different options around the birth. I am aware that it may be medically necessary for me to have a cesarean, but I would prefer a natural birth. The doctor I was speaking to went and called Dr P,the head of obstetrics, while we were there to ask about Clexaine and had obviously been talking about the birth too. He has given me the heads up that Dr P is going to be wanting to go for a C section. He also said that he personally didn't think there was any reason, all things going as they should, that I couldn't at least try for a natural birth, as long as I understood I may have to still have a C section if it just wasn't working. I am totally fine with that, I just want to be given the chance to try! So he has suggested that I talk to as many women who have given birth post SCI as I can and find out what type of birth they had and why. (So if you are one of them, please comment or get in contact with me so I can give this guy a huge list)!

After the midwife saying at our last visit that I will probably be in with the midwives for clinics, I've been told I'm in with the doctors every visit and they want to see me every 4 weeks. To be honest, that's pretty much what I was expecting to hear last time! I've also had a referral put through to the anaesthetist, so we can work out what the options are there sooner rather than later.

Our other appointment at the hospital was with the social worker. She is putting in a referral for me to some of the local support agencies and I've been told to apply for a disability service pension (I think that's the correct name this week). This will make it a lot easier for Tim to get a carers allowance if we need it. As much as I would like to think I'm going to bounce back from this, realistically, he is probably going to have to take some time of work. Especially if I end up needing a cesarean. It takes me close on a year to heal from burns that should be healed up in a couple of months, so goodness knows how long my recovery from an operation like that will take!

So I have solved the mystery of my headaches the other week. It had nothing to do with my sleeping position! I did try sleeping on my side for a few nights, but it just had me waking up half a dozen times to roll over, so I've gone back to sleeping on my back.

The grand old pillow fort!

The real problem, it turns out, was the huge amount of smoke in the air from the nearby bush fires. It wasn't even strong enough for me to smell it, but it was clearly effecting me. I did ask the doctor about sleeping position. She basically said I'm fine to stay on my back until about week 32, but a small pillow under my right hip is a good idea, to tip the baby weight off the main blood vessels and nerves that run along the right hand side of the spine. She also told me that I can wear an under wire bra as long as I'm comfortable until the baby gets here and if I'm going to get mastitis, I'll get it regardless of that!

My feet usually get fat over summer. Pregnant women get fat feet. Mine are enormous! It actually takes them the entire night, propped on three pillows, for them to start to look like feet again!I've noticed my pulse is a lot faster, another thing about pregnancy I didn't know to expect. I thought it was related to my hypotension, nope, just my body compensating for all the extra blood I have at the moment.

The other most exciting thing to happen the last few weeks... I felt the first real kick! Up until last night I have only been able to feel movement through my hand on my belly, but I finally got my first internal feelings! That was so cool I'm still trying to find words for it! I had been hopeful I'd be able to feel movement internally, but I was trying not to get my hopes to high in case I didn't. Tim still hasn't caught any kicks yet unfortunately. They have been few and far between and always in the evening when I first lay down. I may have been having cold drinks around that time to try and wake baby up too...
This belly is definitely baby belly now! It's got that firm pregnant belly feel, instead of the squishy feeling of a few weeks ago.

It's interesting, despite the fact that I can't feel some things, there are other things I feel and notice way more than other mums simply because I have to pay closer attention to my body. I had a bit of a what-the-hell-is-going-on moment last week. Because of my SCI, I manage my bowels with both laxatives and by massaging my stomach to help move everything along. Because of this, I've been very aware of exactly how where and how big my uterus is as it's grown. Well one day last week it wasn't where I had left it the day before! It took me a minute or two to realise it had simply moved up, so it wasn't sitting down in my pelvis anymore, but up in my belly. I think normally you would feel a bit of cramping as an indication of this happening, which I didn't get, obviously.

I've been into Babyland the last week or so to look at prams, slings and cots. I'm still favouring the Steelcraft pram and capsule, so I'll be taking Tim in soon so we can have a look together and I will need to try it out in the car. I had a look at a few slings, with the Baby Bjorn the only one that I really liked. Cots I was only looking at for sizing, so Tim can draw up some specs and get started on ours. I'll put photos of all these things up as I get them, possibly even videos of things like the capsule in the car, if I can figure out how to do it. Insert a video that is.

I cut my dose of Baclofen down by half after our initial visit to Dr H in October, since it is a class 3 drug and there have been some negative results reported (although only on very high doses). The last couple of weeks I have noticed some stronger muscle spasms, particularly in my legs first things in the morning. My tendons and muscles in my legs are all particularly tight and my feet don't flex as much as they should. I'm trying to remember to stretch and to get up in my standing frame as much as I can, while I still can, to minimise the damage. 

Two weeks from now will be the 8 year anniversary of my accident, which I'll be spending in my first spinal review clinic since my accident. Apparently I'm meant to have one every year, but they've never bothered to invite me. This year I invited myself!

Apparently it's been a busy couple of weeks, but I think that about covers it. Remember, I'm after information on any women who've given birth post SCI injury, how they did it and why, so if you have any thing that you think might be helpful, please, please get in touch! Thank you!