Taking Care of Myself to Take Care of My Son

I apologize for the amount of time that has lapsed since my last posting. I am now 26 weeks pregnant and have been medication free, besides the rare days I have had to take a hydrocodone approved by my arsenal of doctors, for the entire pregnancy. My symptoms are not as bad as I predicted; however, there are new things that have surfaced.

My current symptoms are generally intermittent with the exception of the obvious back pain. I do have the traditional pain in the area of the syrinx (cyst). The newest pain point is in my lower back. It sometimes feels like someone has jammed a knife blade in between my vertebrae. That is most definitely not the most pleasant feeling in the world. I lost vision more in the last six months than I have in quite some time. I believe it is just a result of not taking my neurological medication. The burning in my face, neck and arms has returned full force. This is extremely uncomfortable, as I’m sure you can imagine.

I had a trip to the emergency room several weeks back when I had a strange grouping of symptoms. I was 23 weeks pregnant at the time. My symptoms were the burning in my face, arms and neck, shortness of breath, overall weakness and I hadn’t felt the baby move much that day. When I called my doctor’s office they told me with my history I needed to head straight to the emergency room. When I arrived, I was wheeled up to the labor and delivery which was terrifying in and of itself. On a positive note, everything appeared to be fine. Despite my labored breathing, my oxygen level was great and my blood pressure was stable and within normal range. They got a great heart rate for our sweet little Colin and besides just feeling crummy, I was fine, too.  I was released after about 4 hours. I was grateful to have my loving husband there with me to console me through the entire process.

They said that Colin was as healthy looking on the monitors as a 40 week baby. That made me feel so much better and made me grateful that I have been so steadfast in not putting anything into my body that would potentially harm him. I love my son so much and he’s not even here. I’d risk my own health to ensure he is healthy and happy. He’s so much more important than me feeling well…my body is not just mine for these 9 months; I am sharing it with my newest little addition.

I also need to remember that I have to rest more, drink more water, and avoid all things that could potentially harm me or my little guy. Things even unrelated to Syringomyelia or Chiari. Things like walking too much, lifting, over-doing it and being around second hand smoke. Breathing is hard enough during the latter stage of pregnancy, I don’t need help not being able to breathe. So I will try to enjoy the last 14 weeks of pregnancy as much as possible and try to stay as healthy as possible. I will try to keep you all posted on my progress.