Alex on parenting and CF
This episode of the CFStrong Podcast is thanks to our collaboration with CFPhysio. Dive into the second chapter to “It Takes a Village” with Alex and Dr Benda Button. Alex once again shares with sensational vulnerability, courage and honesty her journey being a mum. Alex has amazing insight, and she has learnt over time, and with reflection the importance of prioritising her oxygen first when parenting.
”You can't compare yourself to other parents who don't live with a chronic illness because it's such a different experience. —Alex
”I absolutely love being a mother, but I really need to have that balance of being both. I feel happiest when I am a parent, but I'm also working. —Alex
Transcript
Jen Hauser: 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' 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 and CF.
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's personal journeys of living with CF. We hope you find some value from listening to the podcasts 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.
It is my great pleasure to have Alex and Brenda back in the studio today. Alex shared with us earlier in the year her journey with family planning and pregnancy and CF and how this impacted or changed her physiotherapy regime for her. And today she's chatting with Dr. Brenda Button, esteemed specialist physiotherapist, who has worked across the lifespan in CF. And they'll continue to talk with Alex about the journey through to kindergarten and life with Ruby. So, Brenda and Alex, it's fantastic to have you back again today and I'll hand over to you guys.
Brenda Button: Thank you, Alex, for coming along and let's start off talking about the newborn period. If you want to tell us all the details around how that was for you.
Alex: Yeah, sure. So, as I mentioned in the last podcast, I had a really fantastic pregnancy and I thought that I was very prepared for the newborn stage and it was very shocking, I think, to say the least. So obviously, I was so delighted to have a healthy baby and I had a really good labour, but I think I wasn't prepared firstly, to be, I guess, a patient while also becoming a mother.
Obviously, we know that that happens after labour that you're not just going to remarkably bounce back and be fine, but I really struggled with just the physicality of birth. I guess like the pain of it and then the shock of then having to look after somebody else and having to sort of manage the needs of my CF and then also the changes of my body from birth and then also on top of that, look after another human being. And I think, I don't know whether any amount of listening or reading can ever prepare you for that until you actually go through it.
But yes, I definitely found the newborn stage very, very challenging. And I think sometimes when I look back at that time now, maybe in some ways I experienced a bit of postnatal depression and I really found the hormonal changes quite extreme.
I actually remember sitting in the hospital—so, I only was in the hospital for three or four nights.
