17 weeks Q&A, or is it 18?

First I want to apologize for having this be 2 days late. Monday I was totally separated from my normal schedule and Tuesday I had to catch up on everything.

How did you meet and fall in love with your husband? Does he also have CP?

My husband and I met in college, during my last year. We lived in the same apartment building and attended church together. The first thing that intrigued me about Matthew was how carefully he used his words. No matter what the situation I only heard him speak when he had something very kind or intelligent to say. What manner of college boy was this?! We fell in love over long talks in the evenings. I was very busy writing my thesis and working so he would also regularly fix me dinner to ensure that we had time together. Everybody has to eat! I remember one particularly busy day, I did not return home until 1:30 am and there he was sitting in the hall reading a book just so he could say good night to me.

One night in February after about a month of talking every night, he asked me to be his girlfriend. The question really threw me off guard! After a few moments of incoherent thought and struggling to find the right words; I told him yes, shook his hand goodnight and ran away to bed. Our first kiss was the next day and out first date was 2 days after that—so we did things a little backwards.

It was only two months later, while standing in the pouring rain and trying to obtain shelter under the plastic canopy of a playground jungle gym, that he pulled out a diamond ring and asked me to be his bride. At that moment I essentially panicked, the word “Marriage” had not even entered our conversations—and there he was with a diamond ring? I held on for dear life to the playground equipment as my legs gave out and I tried to process the information. Luckily, I had decided the week before if our relationship ever moved in that direction I would not resist. I said Yes! And 4 months later we were married.

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Matt does not have CP, in fact he is completely able-bodied and a distance runner. He was the first boy to COMPLETELY look past my disabilities. He told me that it wasn't even a factor in considering our relationship, although he did make a point to educate himself on Cerebral Palsy.

On our first date

Matt running (wish I could do that)

What size of family would you like to have?

As large as possible! If I had written this last week I would have told you that we planned on having 2 children biologically (close together) and after they grew a bit and became more independent we would adopt a few.  Now though I’ve had a few “reality checks” and I’m not sure what we will do. It looks like my leg bones might be bending under the weight of the pregnancy; this could be cause for concern (see page “Our Choice”) and we might choose to adopt after this pregnancy.

I come from a family of 7 and my husband comes from a family of 8, so siblings are very important to us. In our previous plan siblinghood would be established and we would have time to save the necessary money to adopt. Now though we may not have that money saving grace period.  We will see how things go, I have not lost faith in having a 2^nd or even 3^rd pregnancy. We simply have to be willing to take things as they come.

  

15 weeks 4 days

I had a nice appointment today. We, the baby and I, are just where we need to be.  I did have some questions related to my CP for the doctor but she wasn’t able to be in her office today so I met with her nurse. If my questions can’t wait until next time, I can call her as soon as Monday.

Specific to CP

Now that I am in my second trimester I’m noticing some interesting changes, I have more energy but I am less stable. My weight gain is hard on my ankles and my big belly is shifting my center of gravity. I am avoiding both stairs and pets (they—the pets, have a way of unexpectedly getting under your feet) and I am extra careful on my daily walks. I’m hoping be able to maintain them through September, but we will have to see.

Good news

In 3 weeks I will be having my “Find out what the baby is” ultrasound! Wahoo!!

Oh, and in a week and a half (July 25^th) I’ll be doing another Q&A. If you have a question contact me at ihavecp@gmail.com, on Facebook or leave me a comment.

14 weeks- Q&A

Since becoming public with this blog I have received a number of emails with questions and comments.  I have been able to write everyone back personally—but I thought it would be good to address common questions here.

Q: What are your pregnancy symptoms like? (unrelated to your CP)

A:  I decided from the beginning of this project to avoid making comments on my everyday symptoms because I did not want to detract from the main purpose of this blog; to explore the affects of pregnancy and CP on each other.

My mornings are my best time of day, from 6am-10am I try to accomplish as much as possible, including my morning walks. Starting 10:30 or 11:00 I start to feel queasy and exhausted and this escalates throughout the day. While making dinner I am probably the most unhappy. I am very unsteady, sick and easily confused.  I have developed a very strong aversion to meat, cooking and preparing it can be miserable. I am probably worst off after dinner—eating it makes me sick.  I’ve stopped doing the dishes at night because all my energy is spent, I have less coordination, and I get very dizzy. I usually go to bed by 9:30 pm.

I have not vomited, although sometimes wish I would.

Once every week or so I have a good day where I have energy and I don’t feel sick at all.

Q:  How do you manage to walk so far with CP

A:  I owe this to several things.  I was very dedicated in preparing/strengthening my legs for pregnancy.  I started 9 months before becoming pregnant.  The increase of the hormone relaxin in my body (this is a natural side effect of pregnancy) reduces the spasticity of my muscles.  This decreases my typical chronic pain.  Finally, there is my mother-in-law, she walks with me and interesting conversation really helps.  

I will point out though that prior to pregnancy I don’t think I would have been able to walk 1 mile without being in agony afterwards. The relaxin is a tremendous help and I will miss its effects. We’ve decided that 4 miles causes to much pain and to long of a recovery time so we have capped out walks at 2.5 miles.   

Keep the questions coming!  I will do Q&A sessions as long as there is interest. 

13 weeks + some

This is a break from the norm because I haven’t had a prenatal appointment. I just wanted to tell you about my daily walks. Before getting pregnant I exercised regularly on either a stationary bike or an elliptical machine; some days for 30 min and other days for 3 or 4 hours.  After becoming pregnant though, I found that I couldn’t use these machines for more than 20 min without becoming sick or dizzy.  I had to find a new method of keeping my legs strong.

In May we moved near my husband’s parents and I started doing daily walks (5 days a week) with my mother-in-law. We started out pretty slow, probably going only 1/3 of a mile but now we are approaching 4 miles.  My mother in law has lost 20+ lbs, I’ve of course only been gaining weight but my legs are becoming stronger and leaner.  I really hope that I can keep this up into the fall. 

I’m beginning to wonder though if I am pushing myself to hard, it can take the full day for my legs and back to recuperate. I keep my heart rate at a good place and my breathing never gets too heavy so I don’t think it is bad for the baby—or for my body in general.  My legs and back are just not enjoying the extra weight gain. If I don’t exercise now I worry that postpartum rehabilitation will be very difficult.  When it comes to my mobility I need to “use it or loose it”

11 weeks 3 days

Yesterday’s prenatal appointment went very well.  I heard my baby’s heart beat it was awesome! All my tests came back normal, and both the baby and I seem to be very healthy.  I’m pretty sure that I intimidated my OB on my first visit after giving her my medical history.  This time though I was able to talk to her about efforts I’ve taken and am taking to stay healthy, She seems very pleased with my outlook.

Specific to CP

Starting week 10, I had a decrease in my typical cp related pain.  I’m guessing it has to do with the increase of relaxin in my body.  I talked with my doctor about the potentially starting physical therapy in a couple months and the possibility of using legs braces to maintain my leg shape.

One Scare

Two weeks ago I had some bleeding that I believe was the result of a VERY bumpy car ride that I took. I was absolutely terrified! I went in and had an ultrasound, things seemed fine and now 2 weeks later things continue to look very good.  

7 weeks 3 days

Two days ago I had my first prenatal appointment, and I got my first Ultrasound!  It is all very exciting.  So far I think this is a typical pregnancy.  My CP weakens my abdominal muscles so I am already “showing” a little, that is the only obvious effect my CP has right now. 

4 weeks?

When we found out

April 24^th about 6:00 am Easter morning, I took a home pregnancy test and I got a positive result. I sat there on the toilet in blissful shock, but just for a moment. I cleared my head and convinced myself that I had a faulty test, or perhaps the residual birth control hormones in my system gave me a false result. But wait. Hadn’t I been having cravings and nausea the last 2 weeks or so? My imagination of course.

Matt and I received the final Medical thumbs up for pregnancy March 29 from a cardiologist. We decided to shoot for a May pregnancy. My mom told me though that it could take awhile to get pregnant so not to get to frustrated if it wasn’t immediate.

I had been tracking my ovulations for the last 4 months and thought I had everything figured out. I took my mini pill for 5 days after my ovulation and then we abstained for the following week, that way I could get the hormones out of my body and be happy again, but I would definitely have my April period, right?  WRONG… it never came.

It’s like what they say about rhythm birth control:

Q: What do you call a couple using rhythm birth control?

A:  Mommy and Daddy

How it affects my CP

No affect yet. I do focus on having daily stretches and workouts for my legs like usual. We are moving in a few weeks Matt wants me to have a personal trainer after our move to maintain my leg strength and flexibility.

Cravings and my wonderful husband

The night after I learned I was pregnant I woke up starving at 3 am—I didn’t know what to do! I went back to sleep and had a dream of going to the store and buying strawberries and a bag of baby carrots. I woke up then fell asleep and dreamt again that I needed those things and an avocado—By 7 am I had dreamt all this 3 times and was unbelievably hungry so Matt went to the store and got me a pound of strawberries, a bag of carrots, and an avocado. It hit the spot.  

8 pm last night I needed meat, a good solid chuck of it. I was so starving! We didn’t have any in the house, and our car was in the shop. I must have needed protein because I drank two glasses of mink, cheese, a yogurt and a granola bar I slathered in peanut butter. Matt was watching me do this and made a decision. He dressed warmly grabbed his bike a road it to the nearest restaurant in the rain. 30 minutes later he was back with a big double pattied cheeseburger for me. He bought me another regular cheeseburger just incase but I let him eat it. I was able to sleep though the night.