Nerve Damage from Childbirth

MICA Month 2023: Standing Up for Those Who Can’t

May, the month we celebrate mothers, launches our sixth annual MICA Month. Standing Up for Those Who Can’t is our theme to advocate and to educate globally regarding maternal nerve injury from childbirth. MICA, run by a team of dedicated volunteers, has achieved a great deal since our launch in 2018. We are very proud of the many resources we have developed that are now available to any mom globally suffering from a nerve injury. Our advocacy focus in 2023 is a message of HOPE. HOPE for moms planning for a baby after nerve injury, as well as HOPE for moms in recovery both short and long term, as we discuss physical therapy as a necessary tool for recovery. BE JOYFUL IN HOPE, PATIENT IN AFFLICTION, FAITHFUL IN PRAYER. Romans 12:12.

Foot Drop Awareness Day 2022

Today is National Foot Drop Awareness Day.

Foot drop is when a person has difficulty lifting the front part of their foot. If a person has foot drop, the front of their foot might drag on the ground when they walk. Foot drop is not a disease itself; it is a sign of an underlying neurological, muscular or anatomical problem. These problems can be caused by a nerve injury, muscle disorder, nerve disorder, brain disorder, or spinal cord disorder.¹ For women who have sustained foot drop from childbirth, generally it is their peroneal nerve that has been affected.

Mental Health and My Birth Trauma

I recently completed a new section of the website! If you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out the new “Mental Health” section and learn about mental health, birth trauma, and nerve damage from childbirth. Healing from any birth trauma, including nerve damage, is not only a physical journey but also a mental and emotional one. No mom I have spoken to about their injury has come out unscathed mentally. It is essential we talk about this part of our healing too.

So, in honor of the website’s new addition, in this blog post I am going to focus on the mental health aspect of my nerve injury from childbirth.

MICA Month 2022: Standing up for Those Who Can’t

May, the month we celebrate mothers, launches our fifth annual MICA Month. Standing Up for Those Who Can’t is our theme to advocate and to educate globally concerning maternal nerve injury from childbirth awareness. MICA, run by a team of dedicated volunteers, has achieved a great deal since our launch in 2018. We are very proud of the many resources we have developed that are now available to any mom globally suffering from a nerve injury. Our advocacy focuses this year on maternal mental health and specific positions during childbirth as the primary cause of nerve injury. Please celebrate with us our many achievements from the past five years. For I will restore you to health and heal your wounds declares the Lord. Jeremiah 30:17

Holiday Healthy Tips

A mama, a warrior, and an advocate shares a bit about her journey with nerve damage over the holiday season. We are so appreciative to Jodi. Thank you for being willing to share your story with us, thank you for helping others, and thank you for digging into the tough topics.

Wishing everyone an amazing end to December. But, if it doesn’t feel so amazing right now, that is okay too. You are not alone.

MICA Month 2021: Standing Up for Those Who Can’t

May, the month we celebrate mothers, launches our fourth annual MICA Month. Standing Up for Those Who Can’t is our theme to advocate and to educate globally regarding maternal nerve injury from childbirth birth awareness.

Mental Health After Femoral Nerve Damage

An incredibly strong mama shares with us today her mental journey with femoral nerve damage. Her powerful story truly shows that this injury reaches far beyond our lower extremities. It affects every aspect of life after having a baby. Thank you so much for being brave enough to share this story with us and helping so many others by doing so.

Once the physical healing is done, it seems that everyone else move’s on without a second thought. Sometimes it feels like friends and family do not care anymore, and that is understandable simply because they do not know the full struggle of this recovery. Only those who have faced this challenge will ever understand the true impact this injury has on a mother, and coming to terms with what happened, to be okay with your experience, that can feel impossible.

Awareness and Education on “A Midwife Nation”

Jamie is a certified nurse midwife. Her goal is to help women through their pregnancy, birth, postpartum. She loves what she does and feels so blessed to walk alongside any woman’s joy or hardship, and truly believes that together we are stronger.

In February, Jamie posted a great blog post about lower extremity nerve injury that I’d love to share here. I so appreciate her helping spread the awareness and educating about nerve damage in the lower extremities from childbirth. To check out the original post (and her awesome website) go to A Mid Wife Nation. To contact Jamie, email her at amidwifenation@gmail.com.

Nerve Damage Education and Advocacy Update

Today I would like to share huge news for the prevention of maternal nerve injuries! A big thank you to Jennifer Gibson Webb, RN, BSN, CCRN, and Martha Sleutel, PhD, RN, CNS, C-EFM for their tireless work and advocacy to the medical community on behalf of all women who have suffered nerve damage from childbirth in their lower extremities

In May, Jennifer and Martha presented virtually to the American College of Nurse Midwives conference about lower extremity nerve damage from childbirth. Then in November, they virtually presented protocols for the prevention of LENI ( Lower Extremity Nerve Injury) at the AWHONN ( Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing) National Conference, which is a national conference for nurses. Jennifer was then was invited by AWHONN to record a podcast detailing her story, along with an anesthesiologist that helped rewrite some change in literature on the subject. This podcast was sent out to all members of AWHONN across the nation. They talk about nerve injuries from positioning and how to prevent them, what to look out for, and more. Check out the podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2gCHfucxuiTxnYc0e0xq31?si=29FwkFw8TSit-HxIjbFjXA

A Miscarriage after Nerve Damage

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. It was started in 1988 to recognize the grief of bereaved parents and to show support to the families who have gone through such a tragic loss. As many as 1 in 4 known pregnancies end in miscarriage, but it can still be an incredibly lonely and isolating experience. So this October I decided to open up, share my experience with miscarriage, and hopefully help someone not feel as alone. I do want to warn that this story may be triggering for some.

Deciding to have a second child ended up being a bigger decision than I had originally planned. I had always hoped for 3 kids and never questioned having at least 2. But after the labor and delivery of my first, I wasn’t so sure: