28 weeks

Where to start? The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur. I have now finished up work. Well, sort of. I've given up my day job, but I'm still doing my Tupperware parties. In some ways they are harder, because most people want to book them in the evenings, which makes for a rather late night for me. Really though, I am just taking it a week at a time for now.

I know I've written a bit about things swelling recently, but I was actually a bit worried the other day. So I self catheterise to go to the toilet. For those who don't have experience in this area, that means that every time I need to pee, I have to insert a catheter into my urethra, wait for my bladder to empty, then removed it. The trouble recently coming from the fact that everything in that area was so swollen that I couldn't actually find my urethra. I've been doing this for 8 years now, I'm pretty familiar with that area, but I was seriously lost. Obviously you can't just stop peeing for three months. My sister Ellie is a nurse, so I was on the phone to her (obviously she wasn't going to know any better than me where my urethra had nicked off to, I know that) to see if she had any ideas to help. I know women are often given ice packs to help reduce swelling post childbirth, so I wasn't sure if that might be an option. Realistically though, if things hadn't returned to normal, I would have required an indwelling catheter. As it was, I managed to empty my bladder using a different type of catheter (one that didn't flex quite so much) and by the next day the swelling there had gone down and things resumed to normal, though I did make a point of reacquainting myself with the landmarks, so I didn't get lost again. After all, I can't exactly leave a bread trail, can I?

My legs are doing the same old thing. Start off skinny, look like tree trucks within an hour. I have room in my jeans when I put them on, then have to peel them off at the end of the day. Literally peel them off! I'm still trying to get them up every day if I can, and get the zapper (neurotrac) machine on them as often as I can. I've used compression socks a bit, but they mark pretty badly around the back of my knees and the front of my ankles, so I'm a bit reluctant to use them. All this fluid makes my legs so heavy at the end of the day too. It's a real effort to lift them into bed! And as for shaving them... I just can't get them up on the shower chair anymore. Although to be fair, even if I could, there isn't any room for them past my belly! So deforestation of my legs now requires either light machinery or a second operator. Or both.
They have been kicking about a bit in the mornings too, so I've been trying to make an effort to stretch my legs before I get up each day. It's actually a good reminder. I just have to be careful when I first sit up that I don't get half way up and thrown back onto the bed, or even better, into the bedside table. I've done that before and I feel absolutely no need to repeat that exercise!

I had a few weeks sleeping flat, but I've built up the pillow fort again and I'm sleeping much better. I have started putting an extra pillow under my right hand side though, to tip the weight of my belly off to the side and off the nerves running along my spine. This is also meant to help prevent haemorrhoid's too. Did you know 50% of women get them when pregnant? I certainly didn't.
In the last two weeks things haven't been working quite so smoothly in the bowel department, so I'm a bit cautious that I could end up with haemorrhoid's. I don't know if it was the infusion itself, or just me eating less fibre as I try to eat more iron, but things aren't working as well as they were. Again, for those of you who don't know how things work for people with SCI, our bowels don't work by themselves. For me, it means I take laxatives every evening, then have to use a suppository of a morning, combined with stomach massage to empty my bowels. As with my bladder, it means I am pretty familiar with what works for my body and how. As a result, I usually pick up pretty quickly when things aren't right, even without being able to feel what's going on in that area. There is so much stuff you never even think of until you get pregnant and it happens to you...

I've had lots of suggestions since my last post, as to what to do for heartburn. I've tried some Zantac, which seems to work well, so thanks for all your suggestions there.

We had our next scan earlier this week. Everything is going as it should, baby is still about a week ahead of the dating scan, but a week either way is considered normal. It had its head burrowed into my right hip, so the radiologist couldn't see its face. We did get a picture of it hi-fiving the ultrasound though! You can't see the thumb, but it's definitely there, just hiding.   

Bub giving a (sideways) hi-five!

My energy levels have picked up a bit in the last week or so, now that my iron infusion has had a chance to kick in. I still feel tired, but I'm able to get more done in between. I'm taking time this afternoon to work on the quilt I'm making for the baby. I haven't touched it in about a month, because whenever I have had any spare time or energy I've been trying to get stuff sorted around home.

Tim and I headed down to Hobart for a few days a week ago. In reality, it was probably our last hurrah before baby arrives. We had a great couple of days, catching a show and catching up with friends. We have actually done a bit of eating out the last couple of weeks, which is good, apart from my very restricted stomach capacity. That is very disappointing. I'm enjoying getting out a bit though, before we have to factor baby sitters into the equation! And really, I'm not going to have the energy to be going out for dinner for a while after anyway!

I've had that stupid metallic taste in my mouth again lately. Again, one of those annoying pregnancy symptoms no one tells you about until you stumble across it in a pregnancy book. I have discovered pickled onions makes it go away though. That could be why so many pregnant women like pickles.

So a bit of a funny story to finish off. It wasn't funny at the time, but I can laugh about it now. I have gone off my poached eggs for breakfast lately, instead having pancakes with berries and yogurt each morning. Well, the other day I went to put the bag of blueberries back in the freezer and the bag came undone. The blueberries came out everywhere- all through the freezer, all over me, the floor and under my chair. I had pancakes and sauce cooking up, blueberries rapidly defrosting all over... everywhere!  Tim had just left for work, so it was up to me. I am at the stage now where things have to be pretty bloody important for me to pick them up off the floor myself, but without avoiding the kitchen all day, which I can't exactly do as a 'grazer' I kind of had to pick them up. It was probably only about a cup of them, but when you have to pick them up one at a time, that's a lot of blueberries! And they were too soft to vacuum of sweep up. I can't bend over forwards anymore, straight over the side wasn't working either, so it was a very specific angle I had to lean over at. I could only pick up about 3 in any one go too, because I couldn't breath! So I had a fabulous start to the day! I have since contained the remaining blueberries in a solid container, to avoid any future escape attempts. There were several lone escapees found in various places, very soft and soggy, throughout the rest of the day too. Like the pocket in the front of my chair.

Just some of the nasty buggers..

Until next time! No doubt I'll have some other disaster to share in a couple of weeks!

26 Weeks

I'm currently lying in a bed in the LGH with a drip in my hand, getting an iron infusion and feeling somewhat sorry for myself. It's taken three attempts to get the cannula in my hand and by the time the second guy was poking around in my veins I'd given up being brave. I wasn't feeling entirely confident in him, given that I'm pretty sure I've got a good couple of years on him and how many cannula's could he have possibly done? Not to mention he told me it would be like a sharp scratch and I know damn well that is not what they feel like!! It's an initial sting, followed by this painful pressure on your arm as they tell you not to move, when every nerve is telling you to get away from this horrible thing. The lady who finally got it in did a good job, even if her idea of reassuring me was to tell me the needle they use during labour is much bigger than the one she was using today. I've already asked her to please do any cannula I need in the future. After going through this three times in an hour, it took a while for the tears to stop and my stomach to stop churning. 

So now I wait, while they pump in the half a litre of iron infused saline that's making my left hand very cold! At least one of the student doctors has made me a milo, and someone else filled up my hot water bottle for me. I'm glad I brought that with me, since the other lady in the room is hot and has the aircon cranked up! 

This all came about after I found a request for a general blood test last week when I went for my glucose tolerance test (more about that later). The midwife called me on Monday, to say that my iron levels were low. Talk about a light bulb moment! That would be why I've been feeling so tired and flat, why I've been getting my post pranial symptoms, even though I've been eating such small meals and why I've been pale and cold! I usually eat heaps of red meat and green veggies, so my iron levels are normally really good. The last few months though, I've really only been grazing, and steak and broccoli aren't really things I snack on (who does?) so between that and baby draining me of everything, it's really not surprising. Ellie did suggest to me that my baby is a vampire and that's why my haemoglobin is low, but given the amount of garlic I eat, I don't see how that's possible. Of course there are some people who would argue that vampires don't exist. 

So, back to the glucose tolerance test (GTT). They test everyone for gestational diabetes when you are pregnant. It's a series of three blood tests over two hours, with a horrible glucose drink in the middle that makes you want to vomit. On top of that, you have to fast for at least ten hours before, so for pregnant ladies who normally eat little and often to prevent nausea and heartburn, a GTT on top of a fast is just asking for trouble. I felt so awful by the end of it!! At least today I have a massage to look forward to when they are finished with me!! 

Ok, so no longer dealing with the iron infusion- it sometimes takes me a couple of days to finish off a post. I had some pretty impressive bruises for a couple of days after the infusion, particularly where the student doctor didn't know when to quit. 

No wonder I almost punched him...

Thrown in amongst my feeling rubbish, is Tim. He's been having a bit of trouble with pain in his right shoulder this month. Last week he's had a MRI and we thought confirmed a slap lesion. That would have required him to have surgery on his shoulder, after which he would have 6 weeks in an immobilisation sling before being allowed to start gentle Physio on it. He wouldn't be able to drive during that period either, so he would be basically be relying on me to go anywhere. The catch though, was that the orthopaedic surgeons and the radiologists couldn't agree on a diagnosis, so we have been left somewhat in the air. They have tried a quartizone injection, which has helped a bit, but he could still end up needing surgery anyway. If that's the case, the timing becomes even worse than had they operated straight away. It's very much a case of wait and see, for now.

I've been trying to get my feet up as much as I can, but they get so fat so quick! I took some photos throughout the day earlier in the week to try and show how quick they change. There is a big dent in my foot from just pressing on it, much like play dough. I think I'd been out of bed for about two hours by this stage.

I have measured my feet a few times throughout the day and found they swell about 2cm from morning  to afternoon! Not to mention the size and shape of my toes. And my ankles and legs and everything else!

Morning

Afternoon

The iron infusion I had last week will take about 2-4 weeks before I start to feel the benefits of it. That's how long before the iron is effecting the haemoglobin levels in my blood. So I'm still feeling really lethargic and flat. I took my resting heart rate before I got up yesterday and it was up around 90 beats a minute. No wonder I'm so tired if my body has to work that hard to provide oxygen when I'm asleep! I've had a few mornings where I've felt really awful after eating and had to go lie down, much like I did when my post pranial hypotension was at its worst.

The other thing that is making me feel really awful is heartburn. I actually haven't been using my pillow fort for the last week or two and it's been nice, but I think I'm going to have to reassemble it. I'm finding I'm really uncomfortable when I go to bed and waking up heaps through the night. I'm tired enough already without having trouble sleeping.

Tomorrow will be my last day at work. I feel in some ways like I'm piking out, finishing up so early, but at the same time, I know enough to listen to my body and right now it's screaming ENOUGH!! Had I not become anaemic, I might have been able to keep it up a bit, but at this stage I'm more than ready to finish up.

We had another appointment with Dr D last week. She is happy with my progress. We will continue to see her every 3-4 weeks and after our next appointment we will meet the anaesthetist to talk about what my options will be when it comes to actually getting baby out.  We also have our classes coming up in a few weeks, talking about parenting newborns, breast feeding and so forth.

There have been a couple of exciting things happen over the last few weeks. Exciting for me anyway. We were all raised in cloth nappies and it's something I've just always assumed I'd do too. I found out when my cousins were both having babies last year, cloth nappies have changed somewhat from when I last changed one. So there has been much discussion with various mums and mums-to-be over the past few months and I finally have got some. They are very cool! Now I just need a baby to try them on...

The other very exciting thing was my baby shower over the weekend. Again. it's a little early, but with one of my sisters about to head interstate for several months, I wanted to have it while she was still here. We ended up with a bit of a dragon theme going on, basically because I had some adorable dragon paper I wanted to use on the invitations. So I did the invitations and the guest list, my sisters and their helpers did the rest. I am somewhat terrified at the prospect of helping plan Ellie's bridal shower/hens party now, they both did such an amazing job! They managed to carry the dragons throughout the whole afternoon. My little brother Keygan even made balloon dragons!

And how impressive is this cake!

Tim joined us at the end of the afternoon to help open the gifts. We certainly have an amazing and generous group of friends! It was a lovely day and we were eating Becca's delicious home made mini pies for two days afterwards. Thanks again girls!

I think that covers most of the last couple of weeks. Baby has been very active and can now be seen from the outside when feeling particularly energetic.
This week I'm after pointers on dealing with heartburn. Are there any foods you've found that give you heart burn? Any that are 'safe'? I was talking to Tim about this yesterday, only to be told that 'pregnancy' was what was causing my heartburn. He's a funny one...

Right. Now, I'm going to go put my feet up!

24 weeks

It's been another busy couple of weeks. I can't actually remember a lot of it, but I know I've been busy!

We finally got to meet the illusive Dr D at our last appointment. Tim and I both took a liking to her straight away. She is straight up (except literally, since she's rather short) and to the point. I went in ready to have to explain why I wanted a natural delivery, but when I asked her what she thought, she said she saw no reason why, everything else going well, a vaginal delivery wasn't possible. So that was a bit anti climatic! Not that I mind, I'd rather it that way in this situation. I'm happy knowing she's got my back if I do have to go in fighting. All in all, it was a pretty quick visit (once we finally got in to see her) with just a basic check up and answering a few questions. She had a medical student with her who asked me a few silly questions, so I tried to give her a basic run down on paraplegia and how it effects me, without making her feel too stupid. Baby was being very wriggly, so they had a bit of trouble hearing the heartbeat, although, as Dr D said, we knew it was alive because it kept kicking the Doppler (ultrasound wand used to listen to the heartbeat).

Baby has been super active the last week or so! After being perfectly well behaved at the last ultra sound, it was all over the place for this one. The lady doing the ultrasound printed us off a hand picture as well this time. I've found a few times lately I'll be sitting not even thinking about the baby, but with my arms crossed and then my arms get a pounding. I still don't really feel much internally, but I can feel so much with my hands. I had thought I might feel more internally by now, but being able to feel it anytime with my hands makes it easier to deal with that disappointment. I've worked out a few things to make it move if I want to too, like leaning right over to the side or forwards. Apparently I could tickle a foot through my belly, but I'm not that good at identifying feet yet. I find it so amazing that even though its about 35cm long now and my belly is constantly expanding to accommodate it, it still finds room to do somersaults! 

I've been having a LOT of swelling lately! My feet often swell over summer, but this is a whole new level! And it's not just fat feet and puffy ankles, it's fluid retention all the way up to my knees! I am trying to take some time to elevate them each day, but I am so restricted to what I can do with elevated feet, that it is really hard to stop and go just lay down for an hour. I have so much I'm trying to get done! I did get out my electrode machine today and put that on my legs for a bit, to see if that helps. I'll give it a few tries and see how it goes. It's kind of like a tens machine, but works on the muscle fibres, not the nerves. I think. I haven't noticed any stretch marks on my belly, but I won't be surprised if I get them on my feet, knowing how much my feet are inflating/deflating each day. I wake up looking like my feet have spent the night in the bath!!

Tim and I finally made it out for date night this weekend, for the first time this year (so much for my plan of getting out a bit before the baby arrives). My feet were so fat that literally none of my shoes fit on my feet! I ended up having to wear Tim's wedding boots out to dinner!
Other things have swollen too. I've had a couple of times when I have struggled to do a catheter because things are swelling and changing. I can usually find my urethra in my sleep, but then again, it doesn't usually hide.. My hands have swollen too, so I'm wondering if I might have to stop wearing my rings at some stage. One of my cousins had to when she was pregnant.

Tim and I went in to see the physio at the hospital to have a talk about my changing balance and needs, and how Tim can best help assist me with transfers etc. She had a few handy pointers and gave us a foam slide sheet to take home. They quite often give them to pregnant women to help them roll over late in pregnancy. I'll let you know if it's any good when I actually try it!

We've been in contact with the OT department at the hospital, but they didn't have much to say, just put me in contact with the independent living centre. To be honest though, my experience with OTs has been pretty hit and miss, so I think I'll be just as well of asking the para mums I've been talking to.

I've gone and brought myself a pair of lace up, stretchy sneakers, but haven't given up on boots completely yet. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to them yet. Or hello to my old day chair, which is now in our shed. It's 4.5cm wider and my current day chair, so it will give me a bit more room to grow. It is also shorter though and makes me feel way more disabled than I actually am. The only thing that I can think of that might actually be better about it is the fact the because the seat has way more camber, everything might stop falling off my lap with quite so much ease. I'm dropping stuff all the time! If it's not my belly pushing it off, it simply rolls off. I don't know if it's a change in posture, if my feet are just sitting lower on my footplate (my strap broke a week ago and I haven't got it fixed yet, so my basket is the only thing holding my feet on my footplate) or if my footplate has dropped (I don't think so). It's driving me mad though!

We have made a decision on a pram and capsule- the Steelcraft ones I've been keen on since the start. So they have been placed on lay by. I took Tim in for a final look at them before I ordered them. He wasn't convinced when we first tried the capsule in the car, but I did it a few times, so he knows I can do it. And as I said to him then, it's better than the others! So time will tell if it works out for us or not!

I can't get on the bike by myself anymore. I went to help Tim move the cows a few days ago and he had to give me a shove up. I got half way up and couldn't go any further!

There is a real bump happening there!

Well, I think that's about it for today, back soon!

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!

18 weeks

It always amazes me how something as simple as a new outfit or haircut can make such a change to how you feel about yourself! I finally got to buying my first pair of maternity jeans, meaning I am not just restricted to the two dresses and one pair of track pants I still fit into. And when I say I still fit into two dresses, one of them was starting to feel like something I see girls wearing to nightclubs- my skirt was hiking up and my boobs were about to jump out of my top and set off on a quest for world wide domination! I'm starting to feel more glowing and gorgeous and less fat and frumpy.

It's looking like a baby bump now!

I have really been feeling better the last couple of weeks. I'm still very aware of trying to get enough rest, but in between my naps and long nights, I'm a lot more awake and even occasionally productive. I've done three loads of washing AND baked cookies this morning!!

I had been wondering when I would start getting leaky breasts. That question was answered last week when Tim and I were messing around and he got a rather unpleasant surprise. So far just a bit of clear stuff every now and then that apparently doesn't taste very nice (I'll take his word for it). I found it funny, even if he didn't so much.

I haven't really had much change in the way of my bowel routine. (I use laxatives and suppositories to assist with my bowel routine). There have been a few days when nothing has happened when I've gone to the bathroom, but since a lot of pregnant women experience some constipation, and it's only the odd day here and there I'm not too worried.

Fluid retention in my feet is something I often get. It's usually worse over summer, so combine that with pregnancy and I've had some pretty impressive fat feet! Some days it's been bad enough that even having them elevated for 8 hours plus overnight doesn't give them time to go all the way down. It's strange, but being in a chair, I have no idea when my belly gets to the I-can't-see-my-feet-anymore stage! To be honest, I probably couldn't see them past my boobs anyway.

Last week I went to see my GP. He has a special interest in spinal cord injury and I think I'm the only female para or quad he has of childbearing age, so my pregnancy is of particular interest to him. I'm all for teaching people, so I'm trying to make sure he is informed of what's going on. You never know who he'll be treating in the future. So the visit was just as much for him as me. I've been seeing him for several years now, so I feel quite comfortable asking him the silly questions.

 I've woken up with headaches a couple of mornings lately. I'm not sure if this is a result of dehydration, or my body telling me I need to change my sleeping position. At this stage I'm still sleeping on my back in my pillow fort, but from what I've heard from other mums, I should almost be getting to the stage where I should be sleeping on my side. I want to put this off as long as I can,because while I fall asleep quickly on my side, I don't stay asleep for long. I find I have to roll over about every 3 hours, which leads to a very broken nights sleep. I can't roll over quietly anyway, but now with this belly in my way, it has become a bit of an operation. So the longer I can put it off, the better rested I will be. I have still been getting indegestion and heartburn, so staying off my side is going to help that too.

Over the last few weeks, I've had a lot of people contacting me who've read my blog. One of those was a para mum who was put on daily blood thinning injections (I think she said it was Clexane) from 12 weeks into her pregnancy. This was to prevent DVT. It's not something that anyone has spoken to me about, other than to say I'm at increased risk and watch out for them, but it's something I'll be asking about at my 20 week appointment with the obstetrician.

One of the things the midwife commented on at our last appointment was my belly piercing. She said that I would probably need to remove it as my belly stretched. Sure enough, a few days later it was suddenly looking infected, so that's gone!

There have been a few belly flutters that I think have been baby movements, but it's still kind of hard to know for sure. I'm starting to think about names. I'll be looking at setting a date for a baby shower soon- I love them, the getting together to prepare for the baby! I'm very much a family orientated person anyway, so any chance for a get together! And knowing my family, if I didn't organise it, someone else would anyway (like we did with my cousin last year). And by me organising the baby shower, I mean I'm setting a date and delegating!

Well I think that about covers it! I may have some exciting news to share over the next few weeks, so I will keep you posted...

16 weeks

It's been a busy month! With Christmas now out of the way, things are settling into more of the usual routine. I had been beginning to feel better  in the lead up to Christmas, but with everything going on I just didn't get enough rest, which left me feeling pretty rotten again for a couple of weeks. I am back to about where I was just before Christmas now, with some nausea and indigestion, but on the whole feeling much better.

The ABC interview aired on the morning before Christmas, with a huge response to the online article too. By huge I mean we have got messages from all over the world huge! In the first 24 hours the article had been seen by 16000 people already. A lot of people in our extended social circle found out via the article, which can be found here.

We had our first appointment at the hospital last week. This one was with one of the midwives, filling in our medical histories. Apparently I must be complicated, since it took us 2 hours!! At the end though, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat- it's always nice to have the conformation I'm going through this for something, that the baby is still ok. We came out of our appointment with a couple of referrals. One for the lactation consultant, since my research has suggested some paras above T6 (I think) have trouble with their milk supply after about 6 weeks. So we are going to try and find out a bit more about that and what we might do to try and prevent that happening.
The other re feral was for the social worker, to see how we go about applying for a carers payment for Tim, since in all likely hood, he is going to need to be home for the last couple of months and the first few afterwards. Since he is self employed, paternity leave isn't an option. We really don't know how I'm going to go yet, but it's likely that my recovery won't be as quick as normal, especially if I end up needing a C-section. So many potential scenarios to consider!
We have booked in for our 19 week scan and appointment and for our education classes, although they won't be until April.

We finally got around to finding out my weight before I left the hospital. My usual weight would be around 55kg, at a guess. Fully dressed I'm now up to 63kg. I know my boots are a good kilo or two and I know I've put a fair bit on my boobs, but that's still more than I would have liked. Or maybe it's about right, I don't know. I think most of us have some sort of issues around weight at some stage of our lives. For now, I'm just trying to keep as active as I can, to eat as well as I can (and really, I don't eat very much) and know that I will have a bit more work than I had hoped once baby arrives. I'm now getting to the stage that I really do need those pant expander/belly belt things. I can still get my jeans done up, but judging by the marks on my belly at the end of the day, they really aren't comfortable anymore. And half my dresses don't fit because my boobs keep trying to escape!

My massive boob growth has made bra shopping even more of a pain than usual! I went into one of the bra shops in town I don't normally visit, in the hope of finding something that would fit. Well she came up with three, but the whole experience left me feeling pretty pissed to be honest. Apart from the fact that the 'pretty' bra she had to offer me looked like something my grandmother would wear (no offence Nanna), she told me that I shouldn't be wearing an under wire bra and that they wouldn't be responsible if I got mastitis from wearing one! Well, no, who blames a retail assistant if they get an infection?? And I'm only 4 months in, I'm not even producing milk yet! She did end up selling me a maternity bra, but once I'd left and had a chance to think over the situation (and call my now and recently pregnant friends and ask them when they stopped wearing under wires) I just felt like I'd been bullied into buying it. In all likely hood I will be able to use it when I do have the baby, but if not, well I learnt an $80 lesson in standing up for myself! My next stop was to BNT for the under wire bra I'd been eyeing off earlier in the day! Still no luck in finding any maternity swimwear though!

Tim's sister is currently back in the state, so we have been having some good chats about all things baby. She is mum to four, so she has some idea of what she's talking about! I've also got both my sisters home, so it's been really good to spend some time with them.

Ellie and I went to check out the baby shops in Devonport this week and made a start on the huge job that is pram shopping. I think choosing a car is easier! I think I'm going to end up getting a capsule that fits into both the car and pram. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being safety. We all like to think we would never drop our babies, but realistically, it is easy to do. I think that trying to get the baby into the car is one of the areas I'm more likely to do this. A capsule provides a lot of protection if I drop the baby. Also, if I hit the doorway of the car, it's going to be a lot nicer to baby if I whack the capsule that baby's head. The other thing I really like is that you can take baby asleep from the car and bring them inside without really disturbing them.
I have so far eliminated Mountain Buggy and the city something pram. Both of these I found the capsule sits a long way up in the air, meaning you have to lift it high to get get it out. The capsules themselves all weigh about 3-4kg, so once you get a baby in it, you really don't want all that weight up around your head! I also found the release buttons on those capsules sat at the bottom of the handles, so I couldn't actually reach both sides to release them together. So far the Steelcraft pram and capsule are the best I've looked at, with the release buttons accessible and the capsule sitting a good couple of inches lower than either of the others. But the hunt shall continue!  

In the end we didn't do the downs syndrome testing. I need to go do my first gestational diabetes test next week- I really hate that glucose drink! But the good news is this go round they only need one blood sample, unlike the test I had to do last year, that took 5 hours and 8 blood samples! But that's a whole nother story! Until next time!