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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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!
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