My Personal Story: Chiropractic Pregnancy and Pediatric Care.Being a chiropractor, it was a logical choice for me to choose chiropractic care throughout my own pregnancy, labor and delivery. In my 13 years of experience as a chiropractor, I have helped many pregnant patients have natural, healthy, comfortable, and successful pregnancies. On my own pregnancy journey, I attracted several like-minded, pregnant individuals and patients. It was paramount for me to physically function at my optimum, because I planned to work until my delivery time. My pregnancy was easy-going, I was adjusted regularly to help have an easier, more comfortable and manageable pregnancy. Keeping my pelvis aligned helped the positioning of the baby in the womb. It also helped me function optimally throughout the days, weeks, and months. I did not have morning sickness, breathing difficulties, swelling, pain or digestive issues. My hips got sore toward the end of my pregnancy, because I was on my feet, working ten hours per day. My husband, Dr. Karl, and I made an educated, informed decision to have a home birth. In essence, I was living out my chiropractic experience and education by having a natural child birth. My home birth was supervised by a licensed and certified midwife. An OB/GYN was on-call, in case of emergency. Labor took longer than I anticipated. At the very end of delivery, our goal of a homebirth was not realized. When my son crowned, and began to emerge, dark meconium was present. He swallowed a significant amount of meconium, and his vital signs showed significant duress. My midwife made a decision to transport me to the hospital for the birth. My son needed oxygen and equipment that the nurse/midwife did not have readily available in the home setting. After Kamran was born, he had difficulty breathing, due to aspirating meconium into his lungs. The meconium had to be suctioned from his lungs. My newborn son had to remain in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), for five days, until he was stable, breathing and oxygenating on his own. Despite fighting hospital protocols as hard as I could, I was not allowed to hold my son, nor attempt to breastfeed him for 3 days. Unfortunately, when we attempted, my son would not latch and became frightened to breastfeed. There were failed attempts to help by lactation consultants in the hospital and even one recommended to me post-discharge, and I was pretty well told to give up. Although it was emotional for me too, as I felt a fundamental bond had been broken with my baby boy, I did not want to give up so easily (if anything I am a persistent one). I realized what needed to be done and I needed some help. As a chiropractor who practiced pregnancy care and pediatrics, I knew my son was subluxated. I knew that the birth, even as gentle as it was without much pulling, was traumatic, but also the backpressure created from the huge amount of suctioning, had disrupted his cranial bones and the upper cervical spine and the nerve functions associated. Also, this started to create a torticollis/wry neck in my son’s neck posture. I had experience assessing and adjusting cranial bones from my years of post-grad course work, but not to this complexity. I reached out for help from a few of my pediatric colleagues to help me with adjusting my son. Also, to help balance out the chiropractic adjustments, I sought out a craniosacral therapist to assist me. I also, found a good lactation consultant, who “thought outside the box” of conventional methods, and worked with many different healthcare providers, including chiropractors. So, for the first 2 months of his life, my son was adjusted 2-3 times a week, and he was under craniosacral therapy 2 times a week. After a week of starting, my son started to breastfeed and his sucking reflex was getting stronger. It was a success! My son was able to feed from both breast and pumped bottle once I returned to work. Going through that experience, I know now that I can confidently express how important it is to have children checked and adjusted immediately following birth. No matter how the birth went—birth, itself, is a trauma. I can only imagine where we would be if he was not checked and adjusted. To this day, he is still checked and adjusted regularly. Let’s face it—I have an apparently very active child, like many, and he bangs himself up regularly but also is in full exploration mode all elements of life, and I want to help him be and stay stronger both naturally and functionally. Also, from my own research and observations, and from MDs who have worked harmoniously with chiropractors, children under chiropractic care tend to generally be healthier and functionally stronger. I certainly understand, now more than ever, how important it is to have a baby get adjusted. My son is well-adjusted. I hear so many stories of women having a difficult time functioning with their pregnancy. So many seek chiropractic care at the last minute of their pregnancy. Why wait? I hear so many stories of this same or similar challenges as my own son had. I can only say firmly from not only professional experience, but now also personal experience, DO the chiropractic care throughout the whole pregnancy, as it will help you through it. I can say firmly, from my own experience, get your child assessed, adjusted and checked regularly, as it will help make a huge difference in their life, as many across the world have discovered.
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Dr. Maryam Ahsan-ForgeronA Wellness Blog is a diary of my life journey as a chiropractor, business owner, wife and mother. Archives
July 2018
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