Being pregnant during Covid can make you feel like you are going through the process alone because your partner is unable to join you to appointments and your ability to gather with other women is cut off.
But for women with disabilities who are pregnant, we can easily feel like this even without a world pandemic brewing.
That’s because nothing is really set up for us to be pregnant. All those ads that pop-up in my Facebook feed because I’ve uttered the word “pregnant” mostly don’t apply to me...they were not made to target a woman paralyzed and pregnant. When I go to the doctor for a check up—I have no scale to be weighed on. I wasn’t intended to be a patient in an OB office. Birth classes- forget it. No one has a clue what a woman who is paralyzed will face in labor and delivery. When I took a lactation class when I was last pregnant, the nurse asked if I was on bed rest when I rolled in! What other explanation could there be for a pregnant woman in a wheelchair?
I wonder how this can change? The role of Mom comes in so many forms (I know this because I am a Mom by adoption and by birth), so why is the world set up so easily to accommodate a certain ideal of pregnancy to the exclusion of so many?
I guess I’ll start the change by SHOWING you my journey. I didn’t make the effort to do so during my last pregnancy. But, I did a disservice to my community by just trying to live my life. There are too many things that must change, but I’m fairly well adjusted to the idea that you gotta #keeppushing !
