Post Pregnancy Parkinson's Update

So it's now been almost 9 weeks since baby boy's birth. In my opinion, I am doing well. My Parkinson's symptoms never got too bad during the pregnancy. I was sore, and the tremor was ever present. But I had only a few days where I felt like I needed Parkinson's meds and I never felt like the disease had progressed.

During delivery, my Parkinson's symptoms were on full display. I was very shaky, especially while the contractions were most intense. But, once the baby was born and things calmed down, it seemed like things were better.

A couple of weeks after we left the hospital, my husband and I both noticed that my bladder issues were non-existent. My tremor was around, but was definitely not as noticeable. My pain is usually worst in my legs, but I was having no pain at all. So that was good, and gave us hope that things had not progressed too much.

Now that I’m 9 weeks out, I’m sad to report that I have had a few accidents. But the good news is that it hasn’t been as bad as it was. My pain is definitely back in my legs. It seems to flare up most when I’m on my feet a lot or when I walk around the track with the kids. Exercise is supposed to help people with Parkinson’s, or so I’ve read in many different places, but I personally do not find that to be the case. I always end up regretting the exercise. It seems to make me sore. For now, sleep seems to relieve most of the pain. Usually the pain is gone by the morning, which is good.

The pregnancy and this sweet baby boy were worth whatever progression I experience. There’s been so little research done on Parkinson’s and pregnancy that I’m not even sure when the progression is supposed to take place.  But for now, I would say that in my non-expert opinion, I have not experienced any progression in the disease or in my symptoms. And that’s good news J

Changes

So I haven’t blogged in a couple of weeks. There’s actually a good reason for that. I have wanted to, but I’ve been completely overwhelmed with all kinds of things. In the last month, we have:


- Moved.
- Started homeschooling our three school age kids.
- Started a church.


Now, that list looks short when I type it out. But if you could see the sub-headings for each of those categories, you would understand why I’ve been so overwhelmed.


Our move was originally scheduled for June, after the kids finished this school year in public schools. But after I had Jaxon, we quickly became aware that it would be better for us to go ahead and move, for a number of reasons I won’t elaborate on here. We had originally planned to start homeschooling in the fall, so suddenly having to order books, develop lesson plans, and start homeschooling three kids was a little crazy for me. I’m a detail girl, so feeling rushed on something I’d like to be excessively detailed about was challenging for me. The fact that I was trying to pack and take care of Jaxon and myself while learning to homeschool made it even more difficult for me.


Now, on to the move. Anyone who has ever moved knows it is hard, especially with kids. Have I mentioned the fact I still had stitches from Jaxon’s birth when we were packing and moving, so I couldn’t lift anything heavier than him? I was pretty helpless during the move and I hated it! My wonderful mother-in-law packed up half my house for me, including my entire kitchen (one of the hardest rooms in a house to pack, in my opinion).


Oh, and our “new” house is actually very old…not old enough to be historical and interesting, just old enough to be old and dirty, lol. It needed tons of cleaning, and some work…painting, tearing down wallpaper, etc. While I was able to do some of the cleaning, my poor sweet husband (and his very helpful father) had to do the wallpaper scraping, painting, and other things getting it ready for us to move into. I wanted to help, but not only do I not have a steady hand for painting, my hand also cramps up too quickly to be of any real help with scraping wallpaper. Plus with Jaxon wanting to nurse all the time, it would have been really hard to find time for me to do much. Jason did a great job getting most of it done before we moved in, which is especially impressive considering he was also starting a church (his new job) during all of this.


I was completely overwhelmed with all of this. I felt like I had so much to do and so little time to do it in and energy to do it with! We have now been here a week, and while there are still several boxes that need to be unpacked, and even more stuff that needs to find a home in the new place, I’m starting to feel a little more settled. I’m having trouble getting this house as clean as I like my house to be. My time and energy are very limited right now and so my OCD is having to take a backseat to more important things, like nursing this baby boy! It’s probably a good thing, actually, since it forces me to slow down.


We are starting to get in a routine now and I’m hoping to blog more now that things are settling down. I’ll be posting an update on my Parkinson’s soon…it’s long overdue!


Until then, any of you homeschool moms who have tips for me should feel free to pass them along! I would especially appreciate any tips on how to settle into a routine and how to juggle teaching 3 different grade levels.