I have been pregnant six times. I am 34 years old.

My first pregnancy was in 1980 at age 21. I worked up to my seventh month, walking a quarter of a mile every day. After having my son, Adam, I was weak for a few months but bounced back after losing about 40 pounds I had gained.

My second child, Brianna, was born in 1982. I hd a day-care service in my home and watched up to seven children all under age four until three weeks before she was born. I started having weakness on my right side after her birth, mostly in my ankle and foot. I also became asthmatic.

After a divorce in 1987, I met and fell in love with my present mate. I became pregnant in April 1990. This ended in a miscarriage at eight weeks. We knew these things sometimes happen and decided to try again. September 1990, I became pregnant again. Although there were early problems (i.e. bleeding) a sonogram showed a live baby. I tired very easily and had more problems with my right foot. I began to lose control of it. I would get cramps in my arches and shooting pains up to my knees. I carried this pregnancy to six months and then they discovered (after I started bleeding) that the baby had died. I went through 10 hours of labour and gave birth to a 1 lb. 14 oz stillborn baby boy, Cameron Joseph, February 1991. We were devastated.

I wanted to give my husband a child so badly that six weeks later I was pregnant again and so sick I couldn't even drink water. My right leg became useless and I started having numbness in my right hand. I was taking daily medicine for asthma but the baby was growing and another sonogram showed it sucking a thumb at five months. That very night, July 1991, my water broke and the doctor induced labour. I had a premature baby girl who only weighed half a pound. She never had a chance, she was too small.

I decided I wouldn't be able to do this again. I couldn't walk without hanging onto my husband for support. I still had joint pain and more loss of sensation in my hand. We started going to a support group for parents who have lost children and I started taking classes at the local adult school. I had to walk very slowly always looking where to put my feet and hanging onto walls whenever possible. When we went to a store, I always picked ones that had shopping carts to help me walk. Forget going to the mall. My CMT got progressively worse and I didn't show any signs of bouncing back. I was 33 years old and felt 83!

Then, by accident or the will of God, my husband says, I became pregnant again. Oh, I was so scared! How could I go through this again? I started seeing a specialist who put stitches in my uterus and made me go to bed for six months. This, of course, was not a good thing for my already weak muscles. But, at the end of my eighth month, we had a beautiful baby girl who is healthy! She is the most precious gift God could ever have given us! The sacrifices I made for her were worth it.

I am basically paralyzed from the knee down on my right side. Hopefully, I will get a brace to hold the foot in place; right now it just flops around when I try to walk. I think with each pregnancy I've grown weaker and I feel with time I might get some feeling back. I do get frustrated a lot. Things I used to take for granted, like getting out of a chair without support and driving a car with only one foot (now I have to brake with my left), are difficult for me to accept. I feel I get stared at a lot when I go out, and falling down in front of my son's friends is mortifying, but I have a supporting husband and his family who help a lot and I am blessed with three wonderful children. Bu the way, the older two have had nerve conduction done at ages two and four and both came out normal. The baby seems to be okay but only time will tell.
P.S. No more babies, I got my tubes tied!