Pregnancy & forearm crutches

[jaimegirl]

Hi there - my husband & I are going to start a family in the next year or so. My injury is L1 para and I'm mobile with crutches and AFO's with shoes when out of the house. I'm very mobile but my balance isn't great though I luckily can go short distances with one crutch, it has changed my life just having one arm free in the grocery store!

I'm wondering if any of you know of any resources or have a similar story whilst pregnant & in crutches? I've haven't used my chair in years and currently live in the UK but am going home to visit my family in Seattle soon and thought I should bring my chair back from Seattle to the UK just in case it was needed at some point in my pregnancy.

I also use Ditropan for my bladder and have very little control with out it and I wonder how I'm going to deal with pregnancy & my bladder without Ditropan.

It is all just so unknown and I'd just love to get some information that relates to my situation in any way. I'm a bit obsessive (probably overly broody) about the whole thing!

Thanks for your help!

J

[cheesecake]

I used my forarm crutches for the first part of each of my pregnancies but each time needed to use my wheelchair in the end because of swelling, balance, etc. I have never gone past 34 weeks in a pregnancy but that is non-SCI related.

I would encourage you to bring the wheelchair home with you. I also used my chair post delievery, in certain situations as it was safer for carrying by sons.

[sjean423]

I have no experience w/ crutches as an sci, and my pregnancies were all ab. But I just wanted to mention that even as an ab, pregnancy made a big difference in balance.

If I were you, I would certainly take the opportunity to bring the chair back, so it would be available when the time came, just in case.

Good luck!! I hope everything works out well.

[woman from Europe]

I have been walking all my pregnancies and at that point I didn't even have a chair. It was heavy, but it was working. I always say to pregnant women here to take care to not gain too much weight. I gained 37 kg the last pregnacy, it must be about 90 pound and it was heavy and terrible to walk the two last month.

[jaimegirl]

Thanks everyone and I think it is best that I have the chair just in case. I'm going to do my best to be in the best physical shape possible for the pregnancy but my balance is crazy, at the best of times, and with a big belly I can't even imagine! Plus it will probably be very handy with a newborn.

Thanks everyone. xx

[woman from Europe]

The belly is growing quite slowly so you get time to get use to it. I don't think it will make your balance any worse. I have never been using crutches, i was going from chair to without aid and then after 34 years from without aid and directly to the chair.

Everybody, including me, was so afraid of my arms so I just jumped over them.

[cheesecake]

You might want to check out my post about crutches and tripod tips. They helped my balance a lot. I switched to these crutches because of pregnancy related carpal tunnel. I had zero issues with carpal tunnel in my second pregnancy.

Best wishes

[TheyCallMeMommy]

I have taken Ditropan through both pregnancies, with my OB's consent.