Last Updated on October 20, 2017 by melissanreynolds
I am sharing these posts from my pregnancy with baby W last year to provide a sense of what it’s like for a mama with Fibromyalgia to do pregnancy. Unfortunately it’s taken me nearly a year to edit and post these. Find my Pregnancy Diaries page here
I was in a period of waiting. Of feeding my family, cleaning my home, organising my stuff. Of resting and stretching and trying to be well despite sleeplessness and the pain of carrying an extra 9kgs.
Despite all the difficulties of pregnancy and Fibromyalgia, I was trying to mindfully inhabit the present. To enjoy the moments of sitting on my couch and hearing the birds play in the trees. To enjoy snuggles with Nu. To embrace this period of slow.
12 minute pregnancy yoga clips helped me to stretch and open my cramped back and hips. Meditation helped me to rest and relax and make it through the afternoon. My physiotherapy appointments became a little more frequent to help support my neck and shoulders.
Baby’s movements became more painful as he stretched the limits of his shrinking (relative to his size) home. He seemed particularly busy at rest time, bedtime and once Nu went to bed (and I sat down).
I was lucky enough to try biofeedback therapy after being on the waiting list since my pain clinic appointment earlier in the year. I love having tools that I can call on to help myself (stretching, meditation, trigger point work etc.) And so this furthering of my meditation work was useful.
At week 32 my immune system seemed to go on hiatus, I got another bad cold that I couldn’t shake and turned into an infection requiring antibiotics.
As my sleep worsened further, I found it harder and harder to get up in the morning. Much of the day was spent dragging. Somehow I perked a little in the afternoon and after dinner.
I found myself getting really riled up when people suggested that my third baby would be a girl or that I “had” to have a third so I might have a girl. I knew I could not do this again. My back would probably hand in its notice. My emotional well-being couldn’t survive it. I had plans for my health, for my work, for my life that are on hold. I can’t try any new medicines (herbal or otherwise) until I finish trying to nurse the baby.
In order to support my rest I finally started watching Grey’s Anatomy season 12 (not actually a good idea as I cried in most episodes) and rereading Middlemarch (George Elliot). I find comfort in rereading my favourite classics, I also got out my worn copy of Pride and Prejudice to begin my annual (sometimes biannual if I need the perking up!) reread of that.
Something about seeing my baby again and learning that he was perfectly average in size at week 33 enabled me to relax into the last weeks. The fundal height measurements had been placing him in the 20th percentile which was much smaller than his big brother and I had worried I had done something to cause this. Knowing he was 2.1kg made me feel proud and even more excited that my baby was growing and coming soon! With escalating back, neck and shoulder pain it was a nice reminder of why I was doing it all.
I am sharing these posts to provide a sense of what it’s like for a mama with Fibromyalgia to do pregnancy. Find my Pregnancy Diaries page her
I’m excited for you, and am sorry for your pain.