Someone recently asked me what it was like to be pregnant. Since my last post was about how babies are made, I figured I should explain what my experience with pregnancy as a paraplegic was like next.
We found out I was pregnant the first time in 2003. Keep in mind, this was before Facebook (I’m THAT old), before blogging and social media were really a thing, and before google actually had all the answers. So there we were, first time soon-to-be-parents with even less of an idea of what to expect than the average couple.
Off to the doctor we went. We were assured everything would be fine. They would take good care of us - one of the doctors even told us she helped birth children from women like me ‘many, many times.’ I’m pretty sure that was a lie because I had only found two other women so far on the entire internet, but whatever, it still made me feel slightly better which was probably what she was trying to do anyway.
I would like to preface this next part by saying that I am SO thankful I was able to get pregnant and experience the miracle of giving life and all the amazing things that come with it. That being said, being pregnant was really, really, difficult. Emotions aside, I did not enjoy it very much at all.
I was not that cute pregnant girl with the basketball belly and glowing skin. I more resembled jabba the hut with an afro. I would show you a picture but I’m pretty sure none exist from that time. I legitimately had a woman say, “you must be having a girl because she’s stolen all your beauty,” um, no, bitch, I had a boy. Thank you for your input though.
During my first pregnancy, my husband came up with the cutest 🙄 nickname for me, Double-J, because I almost doubled my body weight. I was eating every meal like it was my last and with every pound I gained, I moved less and less.
Keep in mind, I use my arms for EVERYTHING - that included lifting myself up seven million times a day. The bigger I got, the harder that became. My slow-fall game got pretty strong about halfway through my pregnancy when I started getting too heavy to lift myself. I had to call my husband or a team of others to lift me up off the floor on many occasions because I couldn’t get myself up - at all.
Because I was so large and not moving around as well I also formed this awesome blood clot. So then in addition to all the other fun happenings, my husband got to inject me with blood thinners twice a day. During my second pregnancy my body thought it would be nice to forgo the blood clots (although I still needed the shots) in exchange for kidney stones. Guys, the fun never ends when you’re with me.
Please keep in mind, I was still working through all of this - through BOTH pregnancies. I have a very vivid memory of working at the deli we owned at the time during my second pregnancy. It was the lunch rush and I was taking phone orders and ringing people up. I was also like seven months pregnant, ENORMOUS, carrying an infected kidney stone that was trying to pass and had a high grade fever. It was quite the scene.
This was in New York though so half the people didn’t care that I was sweating and crying and pregnant, they just wanted their God damned lunch so they could get back to work.
I digress…
When it was time to deliver my first baby, the doctors thought they would see if I could go into labor and push the NINE POUND giant out of my petite frame (yes, I was small under all that extra weight). Needless to say, that didn’t really pan out for several reasons, so I had a cesarean and a beautiful, perfect, baby boy. Our second son came five years later the same way.
Pregnancy for me was crazy. It was physically the most challenging thing I have been through to this day. It was the only time in my life I wished and even asked for someone to just put me on bedrest so I could sleep and not move and everyone could leave me alone. They didn’t. I think my team of doctors might have trained at Cobra Kai and lived by the “no mercy” code but I can’t prove it. I worked until the week before I gave birth -both times.
Since this is meant to be a quick read, I’m just giving you the highlights. I could go on for hours and maybe one day I will. If you want to know anything else or anything more specific, don’t hesitate to ask.
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