Motherhood became hell for her. And the doctors were sure that she just pulled a muscle.
“Don’t scream,” the midwife says to the woman who is writhing in labor. It’s hard not to scream. Sometimes it’s even impossible. So Heather did not succeed – she was in so much pain that she could not restrain her cry. This was the first birth, so the girl had no idea what she was supposed to feel – what was normal and what was not.
When Heather was discharged home with the baby, her life turned into a continuous series of tests. Because of back pain, she could not do anything: neither lift the baby, nor pull the baby out of the crib, much less push the infant car seat into the car.
“Considering that I am a single mom, it was really bad. Sometimes I would breastfeed my daughter lying on the floor. I could not sit or stand with a child in my arms. And once, when I was trying to move my daughter from the stroller to the car seat, I had to get on all fours. I stood in the pouring rain, covering the baby with my own body and waited for someone to pass by and help me, ”says Heather.
The woman could not drink painkillers, because she is a nursing mother. And the doctors just shrugged their shoulders: well, stretching happens. It will pass. But the pain didn’t go away.
Six months later, Heather decided to stop breastfeeding. There was no more strength to endure the unbearable pain.
“I have never taken painkillers. I prefer to immediately find out the cause and deal with it, rather than just dull the pain. But there was no choice, the reason was not immediately established, ”she says.
Heather always loved to run, ride horses – but she couldn’t do it anymore.
By muffling the pain, Heather was able to insist on a more detailed examination. It was clearly not a matter of stretching. The woman was referred for an MRI. The diagnosis stunned Heather: it turned out that she had a spinal fracture. Due to the increased fragility of the bones, she broke her back in childbirth and suffered from pain for six months for this reason.
“At first I was told that I have osteoporosis. I was shocked – well, how could it be, now what, to wrap myself in cotton wool? How am I going to raise a child? At my age, osteoporosis is rare, ”Heather recalls.
Then the diagnosis was clarified: after all, not osteoporosis, but osteopenia. That is, Heather’s bones are more fragile than usual in women her age, but not as much as in osteoporosis. In addition, this condition is localized on the spine, the woman could not worry about her arms and legs.
“I was told that it was during pregnancy that this condition developed. Something went wrong, ”adds the young mother.
Luckily for Heather, osteopenia doesn’t always translate into osteoporosis. This condition can be corrected: change the lifestyle, diet, sometimes special drugs are prescribed to increase bone density.
“Vitamin D, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle are all my treatments. The best thing I can do for myself, ”the woman shrugs.
Heather took up swimming – this sport relieves stress from the spine and perfectly strengthens the muscles. Her personal record is to swim 21 kilometers in the sea, from one coast to another. It took just over four hours. Swimming helped: so much so that Heather gave birth to another baby, and this time everything went well. Now Heather is going to swim across the English Channel:
“I have to set goals for myself in order to stay motivated to go in for sports, to maintain my health. My children need a healthy and strong mother. ”