Paraplegia, Pregnancy & Child Birth

I think I've taken about 5 naps since William was born. I just feel like I'm constantly running circles & trying to be productive all the while soak in every minute of this new stage in life. The last 3 weeks (now almost 3 months since I started writing this haha) have flown by and the holidays haven't helped slow down time. But I wanted to take time to write down some information about spinal cord injuries and pregnancy/child birth. This is a bit out of my comfort zone and I never wanted to write my "birth story", but I want to put information out there to help clarify misconceptions and provide information for others.

It wasn't until well into my third trimester that my pregnancy really started to set in. And around 36 weeks all the sudden I was stressed. I felt like I knew nothing and had nothing ready and what if he came early?! I didn't even have a car seat to take him home from the hospital. All the sudden at 36 weeks I began to really think about how I was going to handle a baby - especially as an incomplete t12 paraplegic. I started googling and searching for videos, blogs and just about any of any tips & tricks that could help me out. But really there weren't many resources out there - especially not for someone who uses a walker & wheelchair.

My phone crashed & burned right before baby came and it wasn't backed up so I lost most of my pictures from the summer & fall. We already didn't take many pictures while I was pregnant and then I lost the few that we had taken. This one was taken near the end about 38 weeks. 

The months and even years after my accident, back in March 2012, were filled with grief and loss. I not only grieved the loss of my legs, walking and running. But I also grieved events and opportunities that would never be or would be different. For some reason one specific opportunity I grieved was carrying my children on my hip in the kitchen & dancing around. Although I knew motherhood was a possibility,  I still mourned the loss of normal motherhood and my future.

If you want to read more about my accident you can read here. Every spinal cord injury is different, even if you are both incomplete t12 paraplegics your function, sensation and abilities vary so drastically. So it's really hard to find someone in the same situation/function. Being an incomplete t12 paraplegic for me means that I have some muscle strength and most of the sensation return to my legs.  From what I remember the sensation in my legs is back to what I'd say is pretty normal. I can't regulate the temperature from my knees down and my circulation isn't great there either. As for my motor function I'm pretty limited it's pretty hit and miss and there is a lot missing. Whenever I'm assessed my PT students they are always amazed that I walk as well as I do based on their strength testing. But nevertheless, I walk with arm crutches, a walker and a wheelchair. I'm much more stable in a walker and can sit down while I'm doing things around the apartment. And I use my arm crutches when I go out in public, getting in and out of the car and have to do stairs etc. At first I was completely paralyzed (both sensation & strength), but with time some nerves regenerated and reconnected I regained sensation and improved my strength through the grace of God and years of physical therapy.

Now most people just assume I can't have a "natural birth". To be honest, I wasn't all too sure of that myself until I did some research & talked with my doctor. C-section was always an option, but natural childbirth was completely possible as well. I always kept C-section as a viable option because the idea of child birth really freaked me out. But the exercise restrictions after a C-section was the only thing keeping me away. Many asked if this was a  high risk pregnancy and it was not. Just being a paraplegic doesn't make you high risk.

Now my due date was originally November 8th and then got switched to the 14th. But based on William's measurements and birth weight/complications I really think my due date was the 8th. At my 39 week appointment my dr. recommended I get induced based on his size & felt like it was better to get him out now while he was still healthy.

On Saturday, November 11, we showed up at the hospital ready for action at

6 AM: Arrived at the hospital and got all checked in and starting my IV with pitocin.

9 AM: My doctor stopped by to break my water. The nurses all warned me that the contractions would increase in severity once my water was broken, but the contractions up until that point really weren't bad so I thought I was okay.

Boy were they right, my contractions got real intense real fast. As a SCI my leg spasms increase in response to pain. So my contractions caused my leg spasms to be worse than ever before Trevor taught my nurses how to control and stretch though the spasms. But it was definitely a learning experience for everyone. *My recommendation for any SCI would be to get your epidural ASAP because contraction pain & spasms don't go well together. 

10 AM-ish: The anesthesiologist were called into an emergency C-section so they weren't available when I decided I was ready - another reason I won't wait for the epidural next time. The other main concern for SCI is autonomic dysreflexia. I personally have never had issues with this so it wasn't a major concern for me, but still had to be aware.  I learned another lesson that had me terrified for a minute. The doctor had a more difficult time with the epidural due to my scar tissue from my fusion at T11-L1. My leg spasms were the first thing to calm down, but I wasn't getting any relief from the actual contractions. The doctor continued to administer more medication through the epidural - still no relief from the contractions. We were at the point where he didn't want to give me any more medication and I could see the concern on his face. He attributed the issues with the epidural to my scar tissue on my spine. Seeing the concern on his face made me more concerned. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, I was not planning on doing an unmedicated birth and so my mind went back to c-section. We decided to give it some more time and tilt me back to help the medication drain upwards. Luckily with more time the epidural started to work and I began to feel relief. The epidural almost didn't work and took a little longer than typical due to the scar tissue, but that's something else to be aware of if you have a fusion near T11-L3.

4 PM: The nurses had been checking on me through out the day and I had been progressing pretty slow so the estimated 10 PM. But when they came in at 4,  I was ready. After letting our parents know & calling the doctor we did a couple practice pushes and around 4:30 it was time to start. When the nurses left the room I had a minor freak out and didn't want to do it - as in child birth haha like there was any other choice. It was barely a half hour of pushing & William had arrived at 5:14. Now for SCI it really doesn't matter how much function you have because your body knows what to do and will take over. I was able to actually push, but regardless of your injury or function your body will get that baby out even if you can't push.

I remember during my inpatient stay after my accident my physical therapists would ask me to move muscles that I knew didn't work, but I was still able to "think" about it any try to "connect" and move those muscles. And I would say pushing would be the same - even just thinking about pushing is helpful. I hate that I'm writing this and am weirded out by saying the word push publicly. But I really wish I could have read a SCI birth experience so I'm doing it anyway.

We had about an hour together before they whisked William away to the NICU. We didn't take many pictures during that time and just soaked in those first moments. But I guess they knew all along he had blood sugar issues, but I'm grateful they gave us that hour (which seemed liked 10 minutes).

Quick summary the NICU because of Will's low blood sugar  he was just really sleepy/lethargic and we had a hard time getting him to wake up to eat and eat very much. Between IVs and G tube it was sad to see all the tubes and chords attached to him, but we knew they were there to help us get home. Every time he'd start hitting his feeding goals they'd raise the mL requirements and he had to eat the required mL for 24 hours, without any G tube help and off of the IV which took 4 days,  then we could finally go home on the 5th day there.

Overall pregnancy was surprisingly pretty easy for me, even as a paraplegic. I was told that I'd have difficulty getting pregnant due to complications that were not SCI related. But it all came together pretty quickly and now I wouldn't want it any other way. I had so many concerns before hand with walking, loading my wheelchair, medications etc. But really they all worked themselves out.  I wrote a little more about this in my post here, I was able to stay on baclofen for my leg spasms & I didn't get very big so I was able to load my wheelchair up until the very end.  Regardless of disability or complications know that it will work out.

I am so grateful for how smoothly this pregnancy went, but being pregnant felt very foreign to me and I was afraid I wouldn't bond when he arrived. But once he came it was as if I had always loved & known him. It wasn't an overwhelming or intense love, but it was familiar. And now I don't want to leave him alone even when he's asleep - haha. So I guess you could say that I'm a little attached now.

This is just my personal experience and I know every SCI is so different. But I hope there is some information especially that is helpful to others and to dispel the myths of SCI being high risk and not able to have natural birth.