My name is Leah, I have recently given birth to a beautiful baby girl and wanted to share my story of pregnancy and scoliosis, I appeared on the cover of backbone magazine when I was 20 weeks pregnant. I have infantile thoracic scoliosis and 2 curves, one of which measures 108 degrees. Unfortunately, surgery was not successful for me as a child. However, I have always led an independent life, going away to university, travelling and working full time.
I remember being 15 and asking my consultant if I could have children, he told me “Until you try, you never know if you are fertile but there is no reason why you couldn’t. You are likely to be uncomfortable very early on (due to reduced body height) and they may be reluctant to give you an epidural.”
So there I was at 34, rigidly staring at the clock on my mobile phone refusing to look at the pregnancy test held in my other hand under the phone. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes passed. I moved my phone to look at the test. Two lines stared back at me… two, that was definitely two right!? I couldn’t believe it, I thought it would take months to get pregnant but this happened straight away. Two lines, I’m pregnant! I repeated it over and over in my head, I’m pregnant, I’m pregnant!
I told my partner Ash that morning, naturally he was very pleased and excited and joked he was not going to give up his season ticket! We then told immediate family and a few close friends our news.
Soon after my mind started to wonder and anxiety set in about giving the baby the best start in life and carrying the baby to term, or the potential impact if I needed to have the baby early due to my scoliosis.
I contacted my doctor’s surgery to inform them of my pregnancy and asked if there was anything that needed to be done due to my scoliosis. I was informed that there wasn’t. When I met with the midwife at my first appointment, she referred me to maternal medicine to oversee my pregnancy alongside the midwife. I had my first appointment with maternal medicine as I entered the 2nd trimester, the consultant explained I would be seen by her and have regular growth scans to check on me and the baby. She also requested for me to have lung function tests during each trimester to assess the impact of the pregnancy upon my lung capacity. I’d had a lung function test once before as a teenager and was fortunate that my lung capacity was much higher than expected. The consultant also referred me to the anaesthetic team who assessed me for anaesthetic and pain relief for the birth.
Over the coming weeks and months of appointments I was informed I would have the baby early and this could possibly be around 33 weeks. Following an assessment with the anaesthetic team we agreed that an epidural or spinal block would not be in my best interest; my vertebrae were very stacked and there were no gaps between them and so the anaesthetist felt that they may not be able to get access to administer the medication into my spine. They also advised of the unpredictability of how the anaesthetic could take and how long it would last with curvatures of the spine. Such as only numbing one side, not travelling high enough or travelling too high along the spinal cord or not working at all. An induction was also ruled out due to me being likely to have the baby early.
As a spinal block was not an option for me, I had to have a general anaesthetic. From my previous surgeries I was extremely nervous about this. It also meant I could not be awake for the birth of our daughter and that Ash could not be with me or present for her birth. Having said this the hospital team were fantastic they asked if there was any specialised equipment or support I would need during my hospital admission. The team were so supportive during my pregnancy, the c-section and for mine and our baby’s aftercare.
I was extremely lucky that my pregnancy was uncomplicated, every growth scan showed a thriving baby who was measuring the top of the charts each time. My lung capacity was hardly affected by the pregnancy, only reducing by a couple of percent. Although I did become quite uncomfortable, but doesn’t every pregnant woman!?
I tried to go for a walk every day and did some pregnancy safe Pilates and stretching, this did become more difficult near the end of my pregnancy. I was able to go over the consultant’s predictions of 33 weeks and a c-section was booked for 35 weeks. I was very pleased with this as a baby is classed as full term from 37 weeks and I knew that 35 weeks is a big milestone for a baby’s development. I also had steroid injections to support the baby’s lung development.
The day arrived and I gave birth to a very healthy girl weighing 5lb 12.5oz, she was monitored by the neonatal team for 24 hours but was breathing independently and feeding well and so she came to me on the ward. Any baby born under 36 weeks has to stay in hospital for 5 days. After this we went home to start life as a family of three, where Ella has continued to flourish.
The consultant has followed up with me since having Ella and has stated should we want more children we would follow the same procedure again. Although they would like me to have lung function tests before being pregnant and during the first trimester if we were to become pregnant again. Therefore, my advice for anyone with scoliosis wanting children is to speak to your consultant and to also ask for an obstetrician’s advice as my GP and midwife were not aware of the need for the lung functions tests earlier on.
Many people without health conditions or scoliosis may have premature baby’s or have full term baby’s that require some medical support after they are born. I hope me sharing my story helps to reassure others with severe scoliosis.
