CMT and Pregnancy - The rewards are worth it!
By Penny R. Smith, North Carolina

My daughter, Rachel, is now two years old but my pregnancy is still very vivid.

I became pregnant when I was 25. I was working full-time as a secretary for a printing company. At first, it was just the usual morning sickness, except mine was in the evening when I was more tired. Gradually, morning sickness became "all day long sickness." I tired so much easier and so much quicker than before. I passed out (both from being tired plus smelling paint fumes.)

It was the warmest 7½ months of my life. I have always been cold but while I was pregnant I was HOT! I decided then I liked being cold. You could always put on more clothes to warm up but you could not take off clothes to cool you down.

I went into premature labour 10 weeks early and was sent to bed. In a way, this was heaven. I no longer pushed myself to do my job, because I was sent to bed for the health of my baby. My baby meant the world to me, because before I became pregnant, I was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix and wasn't given much hope of being able to have children.

After five weeks in bed, my water broke. We went into the hospital at 1:10 p.m. and everything went fine. I was not the least bit tired and, for me, knowing we were almost there, finally, I had no trouble. At 6:02 p.m., my 5 lb. 7 oz., 19 inch long beautiful daughter was born. I could not hold her long after delivery because all at once I was exhausted! My hands shook twice as much as normal, my arm weighed 1,000 lbs. and my legs shook uncontrollably. The doctor said this was normal and took our baby to be cleaned up, etc.

I was afraid to carry her; what if I dropped her? What if my hands went numb? What if I tripped with her? What if I shake so bad I put my finger in her eye? How will I ever get all those snaps done up? Well, with God watching over my every move and having an extremely patient daughter, so far I have managed.

I now have a part-time job working with kids and the rest of the time I am with my daughter. It all is tiring work but I truly love every minute. So, until I can go no longer, I will keep running after kids. We do plan on having another child soon because I am getting too old and tired to wait for long.

Let me stress how important it is to have children if you really want them. I knew there was a 50/50 chance of my child having CMT and I struggled with this for a long time. I had to take this chance, and if it came to be that my child had CMT, I would do anything possible to help her/him understand and cope. There are few pleasures in this old world now but watching your child grow can make any pain or mishap go away.

(In a more recent letter from Penny)
I have wonderful news! I was offered a job as School Age Child Care Coordinator (I am also a Lead Teacher for this program). Accepting this position enabled me to receive full benefits! Finally, after 10 years, I have insurance! I was so excited filling out the papers that I wanted a copy of the application. They thought I was crazy but I told them if they had as much trouble getting insurance as I have they would understand.

Taking this new job, I also get to work at home (to stay with Rachel and also set my own pace). I can't believe all this is happening to me. It's great!

Also, after you published my last article, I have met (through the mail and pictures) many nice people. Thank you. Keep up the wonderful work you are doing!