Speaker 1: You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast.
Speaker 2: Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on. We pay our respects
Speaker 2: to elders past, present and emerging and feel privileged to
Speaker 2: continue the sharing of birth stories and knowledge that has
Speaker 2: been a fundamental part of Indigenous culture. Hi. I'm Cassenia
Speaker 2: Lukic and this is diary of a birth. Today's story
Speaker 2: is a rare one. The challenges of people with the
Speaker 2: disability are seldom spoken about in Australia, let alone mothers
Speaker 2: living with a spinal cord injury. But in speaking about
Speaker 2: it today, I was in awe of the way today's
Speaker 2: mum overcame the obstacles in her path.
Speaker 1: You've got to adapt in many ways, I guess, to
Speaker 1: get things done. It's not necessarily the physical, like not
Speaker 1: having been able to walk, But there's so much more
Speaker 1: to having a spinal cord injury. And i'd beg part
Speaker 1: that is that you have a neurological bladder and DAO.
Speaker 2: And did so with the sense of humor.
Speaker 1: So I've gone to the bathroom, I've gone to put
Speaker 1: a catheter in, and as I've gone to put a
Speaker 1: catheter in I could just feel his head, so his
Speaker 1: head was just there and I just started screaming on
Speaker 1: the toilet.
Speaker 2: So let's meet her now.
Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Georgia Inglis and this is my
Speaker 1: dary of a bath with little Austin.
Speaker 2: Georgia Inglish is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. She was
Speaker 2: part of the Australian women's national wheelchair basketball team and
Speaker 2: is a Commonwealth Games silver medallist. But her proudest moment was,
Speaker 2: of course becoming a mum in the face of so
Speaker 2: many challenges because Georgia suffered a tragic spinal cord injury
Speaker 2: as a child.
Speaker 1: I acquired my spinal cord injury when I was ten
Speaker 1: years old. So we were in there a backyard of
Speaker 1: a neighbor's house and pro'll be doing things that we
Speaker 1: shouldn't have, playing around with a lawnmower. I often say
Speaker 1: that my accident was a preventable accident, but a very
Speaker 1: wise woman who once told me that I guess anything
Speaker 1: is preventable. Literally with this second, things can change, So
Speaker 1: it is what it is. But yeah, I was run
Speaker 1: over by a rather lawmower, so just a tractor in
Speaker 1: our neighbor's backyard by a young boy who was driving.
Speaker 1: So my spun I've got injury resulted in a teach
Speaker 1: one complete paraplegic, So that pretty much means like no
Speaker 1: feeling from below the waist.
Speaker 2: After this life altering event, she built an incredible mindset
Speaker 2: in her love of sport. It was in her blood.
Speaker 1: I got to learn, I guess how to adapt and
Speaker 1: minimize my disability, if that makes sense. So like I
Speaker 1: would make do I use the example of say my
Speaker 1: friend I'd be saying at her house and she would
Speaker 1: have stairs. I would just comb up the stairs is
Speaker 1: what we call it when they and she would carry
Speaker 1: my wheelchair. So like, I've just learned to adapt with
Speaker 1: my disabilities. I come from an extremely sportive family. I
Speaker 1: was always going to get into sports. After my accident.
Speaker 1: It was just kind of finding what sport that would be,
Speaker 1: and then yeah, I found basketball and it was life changing.
Speaker 1: When I went to basketball, you kind of surrounded with
Speaker 1: people who are very very similar to your disability, and
Speaker 1: then there's a lot of opportunities that come with playing sports.
Speaker 1: So I was able to go and travel to America
Speaker 1: and play overseas. So I went to the University of
Speaker 1: Alabama and I did my masters over there, which is
Speaker 1: probably my proudest moment with sport.
Speaker 2: But Georgia wanted a baby so much.
Speaker 1: We were trying for a while, and to be honest,
Speaker 1: I didn't really believe it. I a few years prior
Speaker 1: had a miscarriage, so it was something that didn't really
Speaker 1: feel real for the entire pregnancy, to be honest. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we were super excited. It didn't feel real for so.
Speaker 2: Long, so when it finds only happened, she was navigating
Speaker 2: a whole new world.
Speaker 1: My partner and I, like were known to be very,
Speaker 1: very cruisy, and we just didn't plan or do anything.
Speaker 1: We did all the main things for the pregnancy, But
Speaker 1: I guess when I very first found out I wasnant,
Speaker 1: I was searching, searching for what specialists or people that
Speaker 1: had had experience with people with a spinal cord injury,
Speaker 1: and I got talking to this lady. It was just
Speaker 1: a brief phone call at the start of the pregnancy,
Speaker 1: and she kind of was like telling me what to expect.
Speaker 1: And then part of that phone call was she did
Speaker 1: tell me she was like, you'd be amazed at what
Speaker 1: your body can do. It will just take over and
Speaker 1: give birth. And she was like, I've had experienced quadriplegics
Speaker 1: and they've done nothing and then able to give birth naturally.
Speaker 1: So she was like, if anything, I'm going to tell you,
Speaker 1: it's just go to the hospital when you're in labor
Speaker 1: because it will happen relatively quickly as your body will
Speaker 1: kind of just take.
Speaker 2: Over bathing in the glow of pregnancy. Georgia then ran
Speaker 2: into some complications.
Speaker 1: Throughout my entire pregnancy. I had a lot of kidney issues.
Speaker 1: So like I would say, my pregnancy was relatively smooth
Speaker 1: besides for a lot of having kidney issues. So as
Speaker 1: I use a capatter to go to the bathroom, so
Speaker 1: like that kind of leaves me vulnerable to infections and
Speaker 1: like euties, so obviously with a low immune system when
Speaker 1: you're pregnant, it kind of makes it ten times worse.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I experienced a lot of utiyes and there
Speaker 1: was a few times where it like went so quickly
Speaker 1: up into my kidneys, like I'm talking within the day.
Speaker 1: And that pain was the pain that I just cannot explain.
Speaker 1: It was pain that I've never experienced in my entire life,
Speaker 1: Like honestly, to this day. I've never had pain like
Speaker 1: that with the kidney infection, so I had to be hospitalized.
Speaker 1: I think it ended up being like three or four
Speaker 1: times throughout my pregnancy, which was pretty traumatic. And then
Speaker 1: on top of that, there was one time that was
Speaker 1: really really bad infection and my body started like because
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, I've just got to fight this infection.
Speaker 1: So like it was projecting Austin, so it was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like spasmy like contracting almost to push Austin out to
Speaker 1: like fight this infection. So that was super, super traumatic.
Speaker 1: Besides for the kidney issues, my pregnancy was relatively normal.
Speaker 2: After overcoming her kidney infection. George's pregnancy was pretty conventional,
Speaker 2: and her and her partner Mitch, approached the whole process
Speaker 2: in a unique way.
Speaker 1: I guess we didn't really know what to expect because
Speaker 1: it's your first pregnancy, and I'm someone who didn't really
Speaker 1: look into it. I was just kind of like, okay,
Speaker 1: like I'll just go along and experience it as it
Speaker 1: is and I'm sure they'll tell me along the way.
Speaker 1: So my partner and I we went to baby bunting
Speaker 1: and this is like our first like like real shop
Speaker 1: that we were going to do, and we went in
Speaker 1: and we both just looked at each other and unbelievably overwhelmed,
Speaker 1: and we just walked out and we went to the
Speaker 1: tool shop next door and bought a dropsaw to like
Speaker 1: do like renovations instead. We thought that was more important.
Speaker 1: And like towards the end of my pregnancy, my mom
Speaker 1: kept she was like, Georgie, you don't have anything, like
Speaker 1: you need more than a pram and a bit like
Speaker 1: you need more stuff. So we were just very, very
Speaker 1: cruisy throughout the entire pregnancy.
Speaker 2: Georgia carried her breezy outlook the whole way through.
Speaker 1: So like when I get to my birth, that was
Speaker 1: kind of like could not have been more us if
Speaker 1: we tried. I was finishing up for my PhD, So
Speaker 1: I was just doing interviews, and I even had interviews
Speaker 1: on the day that I gave birth because we weren't
Speaker 1: planning to convert that day. My plan was to get
Speaker 1: induced the following week because so I was like a
Speaker 1: high risk pregnancy, and the doctors kind of wanted to,
Speaker 1: I guess, control what they could control, so they were
Speaker 1: going to plan to induce me and have me in there,
Speaker 1: and so like I thought I had a list time,
Speaker 1: so I hadn't packed a hospital bag, I hadn't done
Speaker 1: any thinking like that. The room wasn't really even set
Speaker 1: up yet. I just thought that I would get to
Speaker 1: it once I kind of switched off from my PhD
Speaker 1: and had the last day of that.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but I did not sleep
Speaker 2: well during my pregnancy at all, so Georgia waking up
Speaker 2: in the middle of the night didn't really cause her
Speaker 2: much concern.
Speaker 1: So I woke up at two am, and like, I
Speaker 1: just thought it was another you know, insomnia, and I
Speaker 1: had read about Braxton Higgs contractions because I started getting
Speaker 1: tight feelings over my belly and then on top of that,
Speaker 1: I started getting a very very similar pain to when
Speaker 1: I had kidney infections, so I was also thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's probably another kidney infection. And then previous tobout what
Speaker 1: I would do is I would wait for my partner
Speaker 1: to wake up. He's terrible on nose, like terrible, so
Speaker 1: I was like, I'll wait for him to wake up.
Speaker 1: His alarm was five point thirty, so it was two AM,
Speaker 1: and I was kind of like just kind of like
Speaker 1: in pain, but kind of just like rolling with it
Speaker 1: and kind of going. I went into the lounge droom,
Speaker 1: and I was like part of me thought, oh, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe I am in labor, but then I was like,
Speaker 1: surely not. So then I've gone like to the bathroom
Speaker 1: and then like my waters had broken, but little did
Speaker 1: I know that at the time, And then on top
Speaker 1: of that, amitious plug later past, So like you think
Speaker 1: I would put two and two together, but I just didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't know why. So I just thought I pete myself.
Speaker 1: So I'm just like deal with that. And then it
Speaker 1: got to like four thirty maybe five ish, and like
Speaker 1: my belly was starting to tighten, but again, it wasn't
Speaker 1: what I pictured contractions to be like. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: that I couldn't feel actually what was going on in
Speaker 1: my body, so I just feel like it was very
Speaker 1: like on the surface contractions. So I started to like think, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe I am in labor, like we seem sauce. So
Speaker 1: then I called the hospital and I just kind of
Speaker 1: told them some of like what was going on and
Speaker 1: about the like nucus plug and stuff like that, and
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, bring your bag in, we'll just
Speaker 1: check you out. And in my head I was like,
Speaker 1: haven't you packed my bag? So it was like ten
Speaker 1: past five this stage, and I'm like, okay, shit, I'm
Speaker 1: going to pack my bag. So I'm like racing around
Speaker 1: the house like trying to pack my bag, and my
Speaker 1: partner wakes up and he was like, what's going on?
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, so I've been up for
Speaker 1: the past few hours. I've called the hospital. They suspect
Speaker 1: I'm in labor, and he's like, why did you not
Speaker 1: breake me? Like what is wrong with you, Georga? And
Speaker 1: I was like, I just thought i'd let you sleep
Speaker 1: and like let your alarm go off. So then he's rased,
Speaker 1: had a shower. I couldn't think I haven't barely packed
Speaker 1: anything in the hospital bag. We got to the hospital
Speaker 1: and they've like taken us into the room, and I
Speaker 1: don't think they even really suspected that I was in labor.
Speaker 1: They just kind of, you know, where they checked the baby.
Speaker 1: So they've put like the thing to check his heart rate,
Speaker 1: and then they were started distress because his heart rate
Speaker 1: was really low.
Speaker 2: As her midwife was assessing her, Georgia was keen to
Speaker 2: know how far how long she was.
Speaker 1: So yeah, she's so casual, and she does the sweep
Speaker 1: and she kind of looks at me and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: am I in labor, Like what's going on? And then
Speaker 1: she calmly said to me, yes, you're about nine centimeters dilated.
Speaker 1: I started crying because I just hadn't mentally prepared and
Speaker 1: she was like why crying, and I was like, I'll
Speaker 1: just stop ready, like I'm not ready for him, and
Speaker 1: she was like, well he's coming regardless. So yeah. So
Speaker 1: then they like took us up to the room and
Speaker 1: they were just kind of waiting for me to be
Speaker 1: ready to start pushing, and I just was not interested yet,
Speaker 1: Like I was just like nope, Like I was just
Speaker 1: kind of hanging out for a little while. And then
Speaker 1: they explained to it, like they were like, Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: it's good to go empty your bladder before you start pushing.
Speaker 1: My partner and I laugh at this part of the
Speaker 1: story all the time. But so I've gone to the
Speaker 1: bathroom and I've gone to put a catheter in, and
Speaker 1: as I've gone to put a catheter in, I could
Speaker 1: just feel his head. Yes, so his head was just
Speaker 1: there and I just started screaming on the toilet and
Speaker 1: Mitch comes like running in and he was like, are
Speaker 1: you okay? And I was like, I can feel his heads,
Speaker 1: Like I could feel his head and he was like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure what you want me to do,
Speaker 1: but there is like four midwibes out there, so they
Speaker 1: came rushing in and they're like, okay, get on the bed,
Speaker 1: like we're going to start pushing. And then literally, as
Speaker 1: I've transferred onto the bed, the rest of my waters
Speaker 1: are broken, and it like it was like a movie scene.
Speaker 1: It was like just sprayed everywhere all over Midt.
Speaker 2: Given George's spinal cord injury, she doesn't feel labor the
Speaker 2: way that most women might, but after half an hour
Speaker 2: of pushing, she was close.
Speaker 1: Even with pushing, I didn't know whether I was pushing,
Speaker 1: so I pushed for twenty seven minutes, but like it
Speaker 1: was taking a while at one point, and you could
Speaker 1: see that they were getting stressed and I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm doing anything, and she was like, no,
Speaker 1: trust me. When you push, like something's happening, there is movements.
Speaker 1: So it was nice to get that reassurance from her.
Speaker 1: And then Austin Yeah, came into the world. So he
Speaker 1: arrived and it was a moment of relief, like he
Speaker 1: was here and just like absolute happiness. To be honest,
Speaker 1: Like I almost agree the first few minutes because it
Speaker 1: was like a bit of a shock to the systems.
Speaker 1: So they've like brought him up, and you know how
Speaker 1: they bring him up in.
Speaker 2: A rush like many of us, those first few moments
Speaker 2: with Austin aside were not as Georgia expected.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they brought him off onto me and I kind
Speaker 1: of like was like, what is going on? And then
Speaker 1: I felt sick afterwards, so like my partner had to
Speaker 1: take him and do the skin in the skin and
Speaker 1: I was just recovering. I think it was like for
Speaker 1: like two hours.
Speaker 2: So after their first few nights and weeks together, the
Speaker 2: mama instincts took over.
Speaker 1: I guess maybe it's normal, but I had overwhelming anxiety
Speaker 1: in regards so I just had to protect him, which
Speaker 1: I'm sure as partly normal. And then what I've learnt
Speaker 1: later on is I just saw him as so vulnerable
Speaker 1: and then having my injury also when I was younger,
Speaker 1: I just it was like a little bit of a trauma,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Like I was just so I
Speaker 1: just wanted to protect him. And I was very, very,
Speaker 1: very stressed the first few days, if not months, to
Speaker 1: be honest, just because I guess anything could happen like
Speaker 1: it did with me, so I was. It was very heightened.
Speaker 1: I wish I couldn't say it was a beautiful time,
Speaker 1: but I was just so heightened and so stressed. And
Speaker 1: then Austin was like a severe colic baby for a
Speaker 1: few months, so and not knowing obviously anything about a newborn,
Speaker 1: it took me weeks to kind of realize that, like
Speaker 1: something wasn't right and this wasn't normal what we're experiencing,
Speaker 1: so like it was like a bit of a double whammy.
Speaker 2: As the storm settled, Georgia felt a deep sense of
Speaker 2: gratitude for her village and her love for Austin. She
Speaker 2: believes that village is vital for other mothers, but particularly
Speaker 2: those women with a disability.
Speaker 1: I'm so lucky. My partner is beyond amazing. I don't
Speaker 1: know what I would have done without him, So he
Speaker 1: was kind of like my stability and rock throughout that,
Speaker 1: especially the firstew weeks, both sides of the family, I
Speaker 1: guess help us. It's very like a shock to the system.
Speaker 1: A simple task just become so much more time consuming,
Speaker 1: and like you've got to adapt in many ways, I
Speaker 1: guess to get things done. I guess the one thing
Speaker 1: that I've learned is that they also will adapt, so
Speaker 1: your baby or your child adapts with you. And that's
Speaker 1: probably been the most amazing thing to experience. Like Austin
Speaker 1: is just so children, so happy. And I was actually
Speaker 1: talking to a friend about this, who's a quadriplegic, and
Speaker 1: he was saying how it's like his kids know, they
Speaker 1: know when to mic around and I guess misbehave with
Speaker 1: the parents and not too with another one. And that's
Speaker 1: been the really, really, I guess, cool thing about it.
Speaker 2: Georgia's story is very unique, so we've got Australia's favorite pediatrician,
Speaker 2: doctor Gollie on hand to break down the medical perspective
Speaker 2: on what their focus is when someone is giving birth
Speaker 2: without any feeling below the waist.
Speaker 3: Certainly, pregnancy and childbirth in particular present very unique challenges
Speaker 3: for women who do have a spinal cord injury. There
Speaker 3: are obvious reasons from a mobility point of view, but
Speaker 3: they also require specialized care and awareness about specific complications
Speaker 3: that may exist in those with a spinal cord injury.
Speaker 3: So the easiest way to think about it is to
Speaker 3: break it up to the pregnancy period and then the delivery.
Speaker 3: During the pregnancy, there is a condition called autonomic dis
Speaker 3: reflex out, which basically means that your autonomic system, which
Speaker 3: controls your heart rage, your blood pressure, all the things
Speaker 3: we don't have to think about, you can get sudden
Speaker 3: spikes in blood pressure that can occur, especially if we've
Speaker 3: got a spinal cord injury high T six above, et cetera,
Speaker 3: and that specific this reflex can be triggered by labor
Speaker 3: contractions or bowel issues bladder issues, which are very common
Speaker 3: in this population. The other thing which is really problematic
Speaker 3: is that there is reduced sensation, so you can't often
Speaker 3: feel things beneath certain levels, which means that well, at
Speaker 3: firstly you may not even recognize that you're going into labor,
Speaker 3: but there's also more incidence of UTIs you attact infections
Speaker 3: as well as pressure saws, your center of gravity. It
Speaker 3: all changes, and it just adds another layer of complexity
Speaker 3: to an already incredibly challenging thing. And also lung function,
Speaker 3: so breathing is a really important part of maintaining a
Speaker 3: healthy respiratory system is an important part of those with
Speaker 3: spinal cord injuries, and it's even harder if you can
Speaker 3: imagine the lungs are being squashed from the bottom up.
Speaker 3: And then specifically, if we focus on the delivery, as
Speaker 3: I said, detecting labor is a big thing, but then
Speaker 3: also pain relief is important. You know, it becomes just
Speaker 3: a little bit more complicated when we're talking epi drools
Speaker 3: for example, and the choice needs to be made between
Speaker 3: the pregnant woman and the obstetric team. Do you go
Speaker 3: for a vaginal delivery do you go for a caesar?
Speaker 3: And then there is the entire chapter as we discussed
Speaker 3: and heard with Georgia about the postpartum care, so every
Speaker 3: mom after delivery requires significant support. We are adding extra
Speaker 3: layers of complexity when it comes to those with a
Speaker 3: spinal cord injury and also just the ability to mobilize
Speaker 3: and care for not only yourself as the mum who's
Speaker 3: you're covering, but also a newborn too. As a final comment,
Speaker 3: I just want to say, I think it is just
Speaker 3: phenomenal how far we've come to see families have this opportunity.
Speaker 3: As we've heard with Georgia, Mitchen and Bay awesome, but
Speaker 3: with the right planning in preparation, anything is possible.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us on Diary of a Birth,
Speaker 2: where we celebrate all the amazing ways that we as
Speaker 2: women bring life into the world. If you'd like to
Speaker 2: share your birth story with us, we'd love to hear
Speaker 2: from you. Details are in the show notes. Diary of
Speaker 2: Birth was hosted by me Kasanya Lukisch with expert input
Speaker 2: from doctor Golly. Our executive producer is Tom Lyon, with
Speaker 2: audio production by Scott Stronach.