CASE REPORT
Problems with child care after successful pregnancy in a patient with spinal cord injury – a case study
 
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1
Warsaw Medical University, Warsaw, Poland
 
2
Mazovian Centre of Rehabilitation, Warsaw and Konstancin-Jeziorna, Poland
 
 
Submission date: 2017-09-18
 
 
Acceptance date: 2017-12-01
 
 
Online publication date: 2018-06-18
 
 
Publication date: 2019-11-19
 
 
Corresponding author
Beata Tarnacka   

Department of Rehabilitation, First Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, Barska 16/20, 02-315 Warszawa, Poland. Tel.: +48 603 944 804.
 
 
Pol. Ann. Med. 2018;25(2):258-261
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Pregnancy in spinal cord injury (SCI) patient’s population is rare. The problems with child care are also rarely described in the literature.

Aim:
To present a case of a woman with incomplete tetraplegia and problems during pregnancy and child care.

Case study:
A case of a 30-year-old SCI woman with C5 fracture due to a motor vehicle accident is described. She was admitted to our neurorehabilitation ward with severe tetraparesis and discharged able to walk with assistance. After discharge, the patient was referred by a senior physical medicine specialist in our outpatient clinic, and 4 years after her SCI, she got pregnant. Beyond acute clinical problems related to SCI, many chronic medical issues arose, such as orthostatic hypertension and constipation during her pregnancy. After 39 weeks of pregnancy, she was admitted for caesarean section because of somatosensory problems and received epidural analgesia. She gave birth to a male baby, weighing 3500 g. During the first weeks after delivery until now, she has had several problems with baby care due to limb paresis and spasticity, which she could not predict before.

Results and discussion:
For a mother with SCI, child care is restricted by many everyday problems occurring after delivery.

Conclusions:
The management of pregnancy and delivery in this setting emphasises the importance of a multidisciplinary team. The knowledge of these problems can help prepare these patients for child care.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None declared.
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