 Hello there, my beautiful, lovely, talented, and delightful internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me here today on Footless Show where I am still Joe and I am still missing a foot. And today we're gonna talk about pregnancy as an amputee. Right off the bat, no, I am not pregnant. Thank goodness, let's clear the air on that. But as I logged on to YouTube to just, you know, mindlessly binge watch some videos this afternoon, I saw that Mama Dr. Jones, which is a channel that I follow, she seems absolutely delightful. I really like her videos. Check her out. Just posted an interview with Rebecca Gregory, who is a Boston Marathon bombing survivor and was pregnant as an amputee. Now I have not watched this video, but I'm very excited too because I've never really talked to anyone about pregnancy as an amputee. Like I was already terrified of pregnancy. Like I don't want kids, but being pregnant while also dealing with a prosthetic and all of that. Oh God, I have a lot of questions and a lot of curiosities. And so I'm so excited to go through this with you today. But first, a quick word from our delightful, lovely sponsor who I love working with. I am absolutely thrilled to be able to introduce you to our sponsor today, you guessed it, Ana Luisa Jewelry. I absolutely love being able to tell you about Ana Luisa, especially as we are in the midst of the holiday season and everyone's looking for gifts for people. Their exceptional quality is something I can personally attest to because I got this over a year ago. I've worn it quite a bit. It is just as lovely and sparkly and comfortable as it was the day I got it. They honestly have fair prices with no luxury markup with prices starting around $39. And one of my favorite things about them is that they are all about sustainability. 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But a few of the things that I'm curious about are the weight gain that comes with carrying another human inside of you and wearing prosthetics, gaining any kind of weight, even a few pounds, honestly, can make prosthetics change how they fit you, can become uncomfortable or it can no longer fit anymore. So that's something I've always been freaked out about. Balance on a prosthetic leg when your center of balance is totally different. Also, probably on a pretty inconsequential side note, I've often wondered if women who are giving birth as amputees wear their prosthesis during giving birth. I'm assuming the answer is no, but I'm kind of curious. Full disclosure, like I said, I have never been pregnant. That's something I currently plan on ever being. Who knows? And thus, pregnancy is something I only know about through stories of my friends and walking alongside them and things of that nature. So I am a really no expert and I'm looking forward to learning. Let's jump into a little bit about your pregnancies. I know you have Noah who was there with you that day and then now you have another daughter as well. I do, Riley. They're so cute. So tell me what were some of the differences before and after the bombing and as well as losing your leg about the differences in your pregnancies? Well, the big thing was that doctors told me after the bombing, I spent 56 days in the hospital initially. And one of the things they said is, Rebecca, I'm so sorry based on your internal injuries. We don't believe that you will ever be able to have another baby again. In 2015, I was doing pretty well. I had just gotten married and to my college sweetheart. We really, really wanted a baby and it came as kind of a surprise because I didn't think that I would be able to have one. And so we went to the doctor and sure enough, she said, you're pregnant. It was just a really amazing time because I thought to myself, in 2013, I was three feet from a bomb that should have killed both my son and I. And here I am in this new beautiful life and I get to have another baby. So I'm just like a little bit teared up. That's absolutely beautiful and a miracle. Did the pregnancy end up being more complicated or what would you highlight as some of the things that made it different than being pregnant before all of this? So the whole one leg thing makes it interesting. And I have to be really careful. I think one of the things as far as gaining weight. Okay, so that's always been one of my biggest fears too is that as an amputee, if you gain weight, your legs don't fit the same way anymore. And beyond that, specifically with your center of balance being changed and your body constantly changing, from my understanding, using the kind of prosthetics become really difficult. Even a couple of pounds, my leg fits differently. And because of pregnancy and swelling and other issues that I already have, time to think about that a lot. I was still trying to be active, exercise is a big part of my life, but it was hard. I mean, it was painful on my leg. I know that I was probably out of my leg more oftentimes than I was in it. It was tough. There were a lot of things that were easy too. I mean, my pregnancy in general for the first couple of months went by really seamlessly. Even though I was high risk, I was having more doctor's appointment. All in all, it was really, really good. With regards to the prosthetic leg, I haven't had a lot of patients who have been pregnant with that, but I've had a few. I would say the biggest problem that we would run into is difficulties with fitting. Even if you gain a normal amount of weight, there's some swelling in pregnancy that's very common. Did you have any problems with mobility towards the end because of problems with the prosthetic or were you able to tackle that? I was able to tackle that, and I owe a lot of that to my doctors, my prosthetists because they were really, really mindful of the fact that they wanted me to be as comfortable as possible. So I would encourage anyone who's an amputee and has a prosthetic leg or two to really just go into your prosthetist as often as you can if you have any sort of issue because a minor tweak is a really, really big thing when you're an amputee. So that makes a lot of sense. Sometimes it's the tiniest little things. Like they'll shave a little bit extra off your socket. They'll put a little pad in there and it looks like it wouldn't make any difference because it's so minuscule, but it makes walking actually bearable or comfortable. A caveat that I've wondered about is these appointments aren't free generally speaking. And so if you're someone who's copay for those appointments or is paying out of pocket, it would make it really difficult to be able to have a leg that fits during pregnancy. Thankfully, currently I and the amputees I immediately know have medical coverage, but not everybody does. So I'm really glad this was something she was able to do because it sounds like that was a huge turning factor and being able to actually stay active and stay moving during pregnancy. Also this comfortable chic thing sounded like a good idea because I was cold, but now I'm really warm. So outfit change. At the seven month mark, I started to develop a really just small backing and it wasn't even painful. It was just this feeling that something might not be right. I told my husband, I said, I'm getting a little bit of pain in my back. I think we might need to go get this checked out. My doctor, we called her immediately. She said, absolutely, go to the hospital right now. I'll meet you. And it ended up being me going into preterm labor. And we would have had no idea, but my doctor was very, very good about making sure we go to the hospital and getting checked out. So any mothers out there, please let me know if you feel like sharing, but something that I've always thought would be so disorienting about pregnancy and giving birth is obviously the fact you don't know when it's gonna happen, right? But especially when you're not expecting it for weeks to go into the hospital with some back pain and then come out with a baby. That seems like it would be so jarring. I don't know, maybe I'm thinking about that the wrong way. But that's crazy that her doctor caught that and was like, yes, go to the hospital and then she was actually in labor. Did they think that because of your presentation? I'm wondering if maybe the amputation itself had anything to do with our concern with that because we do get a little bit worried about venous stasis and circulation issues in some of our amputee patients, but is that ended up being what it was or was it something different? Sometimes I'm like a guinea pig to people because they don't often know what to do with me. I mean, I have all of this shrapnel in my body. Of course, when I fill out my medical form since I got blown up by her bomb in 2013. And so they kind of chalked it up to my injuries from that. I think it's really interesting that she brings that up because there are some heightened concerns with things like circulation as an amputee. They're just health issues. Your doctor needs to be aware of like your doctor needs to know that you're an amputee and you should be aware of as well. There was this one particular doctor who had absolutely no bedside manner in a bed and they're telling me the worst possible thing. And she's basically telling me that I'm gonna die and my daughter's going to die too. It was just the way it was presented to me. I appreciate upfront honesty. This was more of just very brash in what it is if your daughter comes today, she's gonna die. I said something I don't understand about bedside manner or not. I've had really good doctors and I've had not awesome doctors. And I also appreciate when people are blunt and upfront with me about like, here's what you're facing here, your choices. But for someone to take the tone of like, you're gonna die and your kid's gonna die. You know, that's just what it is. That's no way for someone to be able to get through something. Like obviously that's the most disheartening or discouraging thing that you can hear. Rebecca, I'm really sorry that that was said to you. Bedside manner really does matter and it's not about lying to people or lying to patients or trying to make them feel better. I think it's about how you present often really difficult information. It was crazy because I ended up getting her out in 14 and a half minute. Wow, did you push a lot longer than that This was pretty quick. I can't remember exactly how long. It was a lot more than 14 and a half minutes. Not that fast. Was there any difference between delivery, you know, before your agitation and after or was it pretty much the same? It was pretty much the same except my husband is so funny because during all of this, I mean it was very stressful and everyone was sad. We had nurses crying and giving me hugs and it was so funny because I'll never forget this. One moment where I couldn't feel when they gave me my epidural, I couldn't feel my leg at all, obviously. And so, but I was so uncomfortable because of the phantom pain that I was experiencing too. And so it was a really weird dynamic between the two. Oh, that's so weird. So I was trying to get up in the bed to be able to kind of like move a little to try to get more comfortable. And I told to the nurses, I said, I can't feel my legs and my husband without skipping a beat, he said, you ain't got no legs. Humor is the best way of coping with a lot of things. Was your recovery any different after the birth than you remembered it being with Noah or was it about the same? It was about the same. I mean, the biggest thing is that not having a leg, I couldn't put my leg on right away after giving birth because of the swelling. So it took a little bit of time to do that. So just the inconveniences of getting in the wheelchair. That's a really interesting point. I didn't really fully think about that once you have the kid, your body is still changed. Like you're dealing with swelling or dealing with some weight gain still. And not being able to use a leg when you're used to generally being able to use a leg as you have a newborn. That's gotta be a real challenge that sounds really difficult. Like I get frustrated if I can't wear my leg for half the day because of swelling or pain. But the idea of not having a leg that's either comfortable or reliable or you just can't get on as you're going through this, like that's really, that's difficult. The everyday things that I think if you tease have to deal with that are not necessarily normal, but they're normal to us now. Yeah. So it was just that. But really, I mean, all in all, it was pretty easy. So for starters, as I said, Rebecca's story is incredible. I followed her on social media for quite some time. We've exchanged like one set of messages back and forth. So I don't think I can call us friends, but I mean like Rebecca, if you're watching this and you wanna be friends, I mean, it'd be cool. I think you're pretty awesome. Be cool, Joe, be cool. But what struck me from the amputee perspective watching this is it sounds like, yes, there were some things that are different. There are some complications, but that's kind of just life as an amputee. Things, they're always gonna be like small difficulties or adjustments or things that are just different, right? Things you have to figure out an adjustment for. And it sounds like pregnancy is very much the same way. I'll be honest, after watching this, I almost feel, like I said, I never want to have kids, especially biological ones, but if for whatever reason that ever happened, I do feel a little bit more reassured that maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world. Can you tell that I'm fairly terrified of pregnancy and children? Yes, not children, childbirth. I'm not generally terrified of kids, but some are frightening for sure. So I've linked mom and Dr. Jones' channel down below. I've also linked Rebecca's TikTok. That's where I know her from. She is delightful. Her videos are absolutely hilarious. I aspire to one day be as funny as her and her husband, their skits are amazing. Thank you so much for joining me here today. Go watch the original video. You can hear way more of Rebecca's story. Highly recommend. And while you're here, if you wanna hit that subscribe button, maybe that like button, maybe ring that notification bell if you're feeling extra generous. That'd be fantastic and I'd appreciate it. A huge thank you again to our sponsor, all the information is linked down below. I would highly recommend them. Huge thank you to my patrons for continuing to support this channel and enabling me to do what I do here. Thank you. And you, watching this video right now, thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today. It could be anywhere in the world, doing literally anything else. And you chose to spend a few minutes with me and that means a lot to me. Thank you. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video. Bye guys. Have her from the sky.