Alex on pregnancy and parenthood
This episode of the CFStrong Podcast is thanks to our collaboration with CFPhysio. Take a journey with Alex, as she shares her experience with Dr Brenda Button of planning, preparing and embarking on pregnancy with CF. Alex is a talented photographer, partner, mother, and strong advocate for her healthcare. This podcast provides insight on so many aspects of living with CF, with the key message: rally your team, create your village, and live the life you maybe never dreamed of.
”...what I would say, if someone was thinking about falling pregnant, is just make sure you've got that really solid routine and feel in control, I guess as much as you can with CF, because it loves to do what it wants to do sometimes. But if you can do everything you can in your power to keep well, that's pretty much your best bet at having a good and safe pregnancy... —Alex
”I'm not a master of the juggle and I've sort of learned over the years that it is a bit more of a tilt rather than a juggle. So when work is busy, sometimes I will tilt towards a lot of my energy is going towards work. And then when work isn't as busy, I spend a lot of time just really boosting my health up and trying to make sure I can get as well as possible. —Alex
Transcript
Jen: Hello, and welcome to the CFPhysio.com and CFStrong collaboration podcast series. My name is Jen Hauser. I'm a physiotherapist with almost 20 years of experience in cystic fibrosis care and the project lead for CFPhysio.com. Together with CFStrong, we have joined forces to bring to the CF community real life insights and personal experiences on all things, physiotherapy.
CFPhysio.com is a not-for-profit organisation, striving to deliver evidence-based education in CF physiotherapy management to healthcare workers and individuals impacted by CF. CFStrong is a website designed to inform, educate, and empower adults impacted by CF through the sharing of individual personal journeys of living with CF. We hope you find some value from listening to the podcast we bring to you in this series. Please remember the content is not intended to replace your usual healthcare. Please discuss any concerns or questions you may have with your healthcare team.
Today I am really, really privileged to have Brenda Button an experienced CF physiotherapist with three decades working with children and adults with CF, who is currently at the Alfred Hospital with me today and also Alex, a photographer living in Melbourne and a mother of one and an individual with CF. Over to you, Brenda and Alex, really looking forward to hearing your journey, Alex.
Brenda: Thank you very much, Jen. Thank you for our introduction and for this opportunity for Alex and I to talk to you today about a really important topic that's become more and more of interest as everybody with CF has become much more healthy in later decades. So, Alex over to would you like to give us a little potted of your life from when you were diagnosed through your early childhood up to where you are now just in terms of your health?
Alex: Yeah, sure. Thanks for having me, Brenda. So, my name's Alex, I'm 32 years old. I was diagnosed at six weeks old on the heal prick test and I was a fairly well baby and child had a very good and healthy childhood. My mum worked very diligently to keep on top of lots of physiotherapy and exercise and lots of appointments down at the Royal Children's Hospital as a child.
So, I was lucky to have a fairly normal childhood, but as I entered sort of my mid-teens, I started to really feel all the effects of CF and understand obviously that something was quite different about my body. So I sort of began having routine tune-ups from about the age of 17 and I was able to maintain my health fairly well th...
