almost 5 months pp

Time flies! I'm loving being a mum of 2, very little sign of any postnatal
depression, there were a couple of blips in August and we put my medication
up a little, we reviewed it with the psychiatrist and the plan is to stay on
that amount until Ada's first birthday and then if all seems fine to reduce
it.

My SPD is BAD, which sucks, breastfeeding is probably not helping, but then
I don't really consider not breastfeeding an option right now, though I may
do once she has been having solids for 3 months, it's unlikely I would
though, bad though things are, stopping is unlikely to be a miracle cure and
unless my physical health was a lot better, I'd find formula feeding very
difficult, as it is breastfeeding is moderately difficult, in terms of
finding suitable positions.

Treatment has been up and down, we tried hydrotherapy, but though I was fine
in the pool, I would basically end up going to bed for the rest of the day
as the pain would be so bad. So we stopped that, then I found my physio was
leaving, so she has transferred me to another physio, but I couldn't get an
appointment with him for 5 weeks! I was very cross at that, as had I left
things with no intervention or guidance for 5 weeks, I could have gone a
long way backwards, so we've decided to pay a private physio, I've had 2
sessions with her, and she is excellent, much better than the NHS one, but
progress seems to be from very bad to bad, so we'll have to see if we manage
to get an better, I suppose physio that maintains is still worth it as the
idea of being worse is frightening.

I'm waiting to see a rheumatologist, I'm also waiting to hear if I qualify
for DLA, which would enable us to get some help for me. I've set myself a
target of Christmas as being the point where I get hold of a wheelchair or
scooter, I'm fed up of being housebound, but it would also be a big
admission of problems to go that route, hence delaying it.

I'm getting a Mirena fitted next week, which I am nervous about, SPD again,
plus I seem to have a very sensitive cervix, so things up there can be
painful rather than just uncomfortable. No sign of AF yet, which surprises
me as it had returned by this stage last time and N wasn't sleeping through
the night reliably, Ada is and has been for 3 months, I guess the Mirena
will confuse things even more, which suits me fine!

DH have had a very open discussion about more children, I'm starting to
accept that me being pregnant again might be a very bad idea, but things
could change over the 5ish years we plan to wait. We also discussed adoption
and fostering, which we agree on, we are interested, I think that if in 3
years it looks like me having more children is a bad plan, we'll probably
start looking into it as it would probably take a while to arrange anyway! I
think DH very much thinks that however things might go in a subsequent
pregnancy that I should have a c-section, he's very anti any kind of
intervention (when induction was arranged with my first he was about to
argue and I just looked at him and said I've been in early labour for 3
days, my water has broken, please let them help me), so this is quite
surprising, but also a logical conclusion from what he has observed.

Emotionally things have been hard for me, I've found it difficult to accept
my limitations and frankly, given the circumstances I'm amazed I am not
depressed, a year ago I would have expected to be posting stuff about me
being depressed, not stuff about me doing really well in difficult
circumstances.

That's all folks!

Anne

I have no suggestions or advice, just hugs.
Hang in there,

PK.

Thanks for the update Anne. So sorry to hear the SPD
isn't improving fast, but that's wonderful that you've
sidestepped any depression. I know that a mobility device
would be an admission of problems, but nothing says it
has to be longterm, right? I'd think that being able
to get out of the house would be very important.

Emily

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
My SPD is BAD, which sucks, breastfeeding is probably not helping, but
then
I don't really consider not breastfeeding an option right now, though I
may do once she has been having solids for 3 months, it's unlikely I would
though, bad though things are, stopping is unlikely to be a miracle cure
and unless my physical health was a lot better, I'd find formula feeding
very difficult, as it is breastfeeding is moderately difficult, in terms
of finding suitable positions.



Anne, glad the little one is well and sorry to hear the SPD is still a
problem. Just wondering (I have mild SPD now) why breastfeeding is making
it worse. You mentioned that it's difficult to find a comfortable position,
is your SPD so bad that semi-reclining in bed or side lying is a problem?
Right now I am OK with those positions, and can actually do pretty much
anything in small, small doses, so I suspect that I won't have the problems
you're having but just wondered what I should be careful of. Sometimes I
feel OK when I'm doing something (ie walking around the grocery store on a
good day) and then later I pay dearly for it so if I can stop myself from
using a bad position at the beginning I figure I can head off some problems.

Hope you feel better soon!!
Amy

Hi Anne,

Thinking of you and amazed at how you manage to keep so positive, given the
circumstances, and how you are always so thoughtful, caring and ready with
help for others.

Best wishes to you and your family,

Sarah

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
Time flies! I'm loving being a mum of 2, very little sign of any postnatal
depression, there were a couple of blips in August and we put my
medication up a little, we reviewed it with the psychiatrist and the plan
is to stay on that amount until Ada's first birthday and then if all seems
fine to reduce it.

My SPD is BAD, which sucks, breastfeeding is probably not helping, but
then I don't really consider not breastfeeding an option right now, though
I may do once she has been having solids for 3 months, it's unlikely I
would though, bad though things are, stopping is unlikely to be a miracle
cure and unless my physical health was a lot better, I'd find formula
feeding very difficult, as it is breastfeeding is moderately difficult, in
terms of finding suitable positions.

Treatment has been up and down, we tried hydrotherapy, but though I was
fine in the pool, I would basically end up going to bed for the rest of
the day as the pain would be so bad. So we stopped that, then I found my
physio was leaving, so she has transferred me to another physio, but I
couldn't get an appointment with him for 5 weeks! I was very cross at
that, as had I left things with no intervention or guidance for 5 weeks, I
could have gone a long way backwards, so we've decided to pay a private
physio, I've had 2 sessions with her, and she is excellent, much better
than the NHS one, but progress seems to be from very bad to bad, so we'll
have to see if we manage to get an better, I suppose physio that maintains
is still worth it as the idea of being worse is frightening.

I'm waiting to see a rheumatologist, I'm also waiting to hear if I qualify
for DLA, which would enable us to get some help for me. I've set myself a
target of Christmas as being the point where I get hold of a wheelchair or
scooter, I'm fed up of being housebound, but it would also be a big
admission of problems to go that route, hence delaying it.

I'm getting a Mirena fitted next week, which I am nervous about, SPD
again, plus I seem to have a very sensitive cervix, so things up there can
be painful rather than just uncomfortable. No sign of AF yet, which
surprises me as it had returned by this stage last time and N wasn't
sleeping through the night reliably, Ada is and has been for 3 months, I
guess the Mirena will confuse things even more, which suits me fine!

DH have had a very open discussion about more children, I'm starting to
accept that me being pregnant again might be a very bad idea, but things
could change over the 5ish years we plan to wait. We also discussed
adoption and fostering, which we agree on, we are interested, I think that
if in 3 years it looks like me having more children is a bad plan, we'll
probably start looking into it as it would probably take a while to
arrange anyway! I think DH very much thinks that however things might go
in a subsequent pregnancy that I should have a c-section, he's very anti
any kind of intervention (when induction was arranged with my first he was
about to argue and I just looked at him and said I've been in early labour
for 3 days, my water has broken, please let them help me), so this is
quite surprising, but also a logical conclusion from what he has observed.

Emotionally things have been hard for me, I've found it difficult to
accept my limitations and frankly, given the circumstances I'm amazed I am
not depressed, a year ago I would have expected to be posting stuff about
me being depressed, not stuff about me doing really well in difficult
circumstances.

That's all folks!

Anne

Anne, glad the little one is well and sorry to hear the SPD is still a
problem. Just wondering (I have mild SPD now) why breastfeeding is making
it worse. You mentioned that it's difficult to find a comfortable
position, is your SPD so bad that semi-reclining in bed or side lying is a
problem? Right now I am OK with those positions, and can actually do
pretty much anything in small, small doses, so I suspect that I won't have
the problems you're having but just wondered what I should be careful of.
Sometimes I feel OK when I'm doing something (ie walking around the
grocery store on a good day) and then later I pay dearly for it so if I
can stop myself from using a bad position at the beginning I figure I can
head off some problems.

don't get too worried, the vast majority of cases clear up at delivery, with
my first I was affected more by SPD than this time, though neither time was
it the worst of my problems, but after that delivery it cleared up
spontaneously, my hips were unstable for about 48hrs, but absolutely no SPD
pain, also no SPD pain in labour. This time, SPD appeared to be less bad, it
was possible for my fundal height to be measured if I found the top of the
pubic bone, last time, I couldn't even find it myself. This time SPD was a
huge problem in labour, baby was 3lb bigger and posterior. I don't know if
this has any bearing on the fact it has continued.

As for breastfeeding, basically I very rarely feed sitting up in a chair as
I find that doing this without crossing my legs gives me sore back and
shoulders, but crossing my legs isn't possible either due to the SPD. So I
mostly feed lieing in bed with a pillow between my legs (and 4 others in
various places). My biggest tip would be to not cross your legs, I've found
that initially it doesn't hurt, but I will pay for it later :-(.

The problems with SPD have changed slightly, for example in pregnancy my
biggest issue was turning over in bed and that was something I seemed to
need to do regularly, now it's something I can do without pain as long as I
am careful, I guess not having a bump makes things different in terms of the
pressure my body is putting on the area. It might be worth talking to a
physio, last time no one seemed to think it would carry on after the birth,
this time everyone seemed to, but to me it seemed not so bad, so I don't
know what made them think that.

Anne

I have no suggestions or advice, just hugs.
Hang in there,

thanks, we are hanging in there, but it is nice to think there are people in
all sorts of places thinking of us

Anne

Thanks for the update Anne. So sorry to hear the SPD
isn't improving fast, but that's wonderful that you've
sidestepped any depression. I know that a mobility device
would be an admission of problems, but nothing says it
has to be longterm, right? I'd think that being able
to get out of the house would be very important.

yup, I suppose that is why I've said after Christmas, it will take me that
length of time to get my head round it, so far I haven't even used a
wheelchair provided at the supermarket or other places, perhaps I should try
that first, but despite others suggesting I do, I tend to just struggle
round.

Anne

Thinking of you and amazed at how you manage to keep so positive, given
the circumstances, and how you are always so thoughtful, caring and ready
with help for others.

Sarah, that is soooo kind, I think this experience has been a learning
experience for me and my family, hopefully gaining better understanding of
ourselves has helped us understand others better.

Anne