But why does it stick in my mind. Well approximately 3 hours later I felt an unbelievable, stabbing like pain in my lower back. I literally thought someone had stabbed me, in fact I had prolapsed a disc (slipped disc) in my lower back and over the hours that followed I lost all the feeling in my left leg. I thought my carrying days were over.
What I didn't know was that carrying Henry could actually help cure my back. I couldn't lift him for several weeks and I spent the next 5 weeks dosed up on different combinations of painkillers, including codeine and morphine.
My midwife was wonderful and managed to get me an emergency physiotherapy appointment and this was where I learnt my carrying days were not over, I simply needed to readjust and adapt how I carried Henry.
My physio gave me several exercises designed to increase the arch in my lower spine and help the disc migrate back into place naturally (my growing bump also helped) . I had said to her that I was upset that I could no longer carry Henry but she said 'why ever not?'. Carrying a 2.5 stone 2 year old high on your back I have now discovered is excellent at getting your back to curve the right way. Front carrying was out as it would have changed the way my back curved but high back carries were in.
Yes it hurt to start with. Yes I couldn't put him on my back myself to start with and needed my husband to lift him up there. I started off small, 2minutes at a time and slowly over about 5 weeks built it back up. The day I managed a 20 minute dog walk was a massive achievement. And my physio could see the benefit of my work each week and I was able to carry Henry right up to the day before I gave birth.
11 months later I have just been discharged by the physio. I am regularly carry Isaac and on odd occasions still carrying Henry. I have even tandem carried on a couple of occasions.Having a bad back DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANNOT BABYWEARER. It simply means you need to readjust. But please speak to your GP, physio or chiropractor. I am not medically trained and have aimy given you what I did. I adapted by avoiding buckle carriers which sit low on my waist and put pressure on my lower spine and opted for high back carries with mei tais and also wrapped a lot as the passes are nice and wide and supportive. Once I knew where the exact problem was I knew where to avoid and worked to find solutions which means I can carry and comfort my children without endangering my back again.