Hi Heather

Vic, you were right, I found my way in here!

I've had two pregnancies since my rsd started, but also had two children before then. When my rsd started Bailey was 2 and Olivia was only 7 months, so in a way I've dealt with three babies since rsd.

For my pregnancy with Dayne (3rd baby, 1st rsd baby) we planned that and I was off all meds. We knew that while I was fairly stable it was the best time to try for the 3rd child we really wanted, as we knew the future was uncertain. I had a remission of pain from about ten weeks onwards, it was great! The first few weeks were really hard and many times I found myself crying from pain, desperately wanting pain relief but knowing it would be risky to have some. Somehow I made it through that (thinking about my little baby did the trick!) and the pain went down to basically nothing for the rest of the pregnancy. The only time I had trouble was in the last few weeks, when the fluid build up caused swelling in my rsd arm and hand. Within hours of Dayne's birth though, my rsd was back. I started back on tramal within a week (just took shortacting pain meds until then) but had an allergic reaction to it so had to start on other meds.

With Hannah, I was already in a type of remission following a ketamine infusion, so we planned that one too- trying to push our luck and get one more bub! lol I had some small flareups but was otherwise ok, until the five month mark when I was bitten on the leg by a nasty spider and my rsd travelled to there. That flared up my arm and started it all over again. It was VERY difficult being pregnant with high rsd pain, as paracetemol just didn't hit it. I eventually relented and my dr prescribed panadeine forte for the really bad times. It's ok to take every now and then, but I made sure I didn't take it after the 34 week mark, so that by the time she was born she didn't have any drugs in her system.

I know that some dr's say some meds are ok in the last trimester (including some antidepressants), though you may have to wean off them before birth, or if you are able to stay on them the baby will have it in their system for the first few weeks, so might be extra sleepy etc. I really thought my pregnancy with Hannah would be the same as the one with Dayne, but it just wasnt, and that was hard.

Hannah is now ten months old and just gorgeous! Dayne is almost five. As difficult as it was, they were both SO worth it!

You're right though, its best to limit the medications you take in the first trimester as thats when all the important development takes place and some medications may impact on that.

Be aware that you'll need a lot of physical support after the birth too. I couldn't breastfeed either baby as I couldn't have anything touch my right arm or hand so could only hold her on my left side, so I bottlefed them from day one. Bottlefeeding also meant that I could take medications again without affecting the baby. One drama after the birth is balancing your medications with the needs of your baby. Some meds make you sleepy all night, but thats no use if you have to wake up every 3-4 hours, for an hour, to feed your baby. Changing nappies one handed is a struggle, so is bathing, so is getting the stroller out of the car one handed, or dressing a baby thats trying to crawl away from you... but its all doable! Everything's doable if you want it enough, regardless of rsd! And as I said, its SO worth it!

Anyway, I wish you all the best with your pregnancy! I sincerly hope that you are one of the lucky ones who doesn't have rsd pain during your pregnancy.

There's nothing better than to be able to look at your newborn baby and be proud of yourself for what you've done, and to laugh in the face of RSD! lol

Be careful coming down off your meds, as much as you want it out of your system, don't rush it more than you should. There's a great website I found at www.safefetus.com - on there you can search different drugs and it tells you the known risks during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Its really easy to follow and very informative, so that might be worth checking out too!

I hope my story helps somewhat.

x Kate