Breast Feeding

As some of you avid readers may know, as I don’t have any adrenal glands I have to take steroids three times a day as replacement therapy (most of you produce it quite naturally). I, we were concerned that I may not be able to breast feed but hooray I’m allowed. I reserve the right to change my mind about being pleased when I give it a go and I have to put up with leaking boobs and feeling like a food factory.

Prof C also made it clear that he is being very cautious when insisting on a C-section for the birth but he doesn’t want any of my hemangeoblastomas bleeding under the pressure of pushing because the one woman he knew who that did happen to died. She had a much worse set of them than me and had had all sorts done to them like radiotherapy but I’m with him on the better be safe than sorry side of life.

So I’m enjoying being pregnant right now, I love the attention, at 19 weeks my bump is starting to look like a baby bump and not just a ‘who ate all the pies’ bump. I still want to tell everyone I meet but I’m not being that mad.

We saw the geneticist too and as testing/screening for tumours would start at 5years he suggested we wait till then to find out the child’s VHL status. I said I’d rather know as soon as possible because if I know it can be a natural part of who he/she is and if not wonderful. I’d just worry for 5 years if I didn’t know and my brilliant, better than I ever expected to get, partner agrees.

Something else that struck me was prof C’s comment that if our baby did have VHL he expected we would be devastated, you know I don’t think I will be, sad, yes, but I feel like - who better to be around if they do. My parents have never made me feel devastated about it, it’s part of me and it has made me who I am. And I may be repeating myself but what ever happens this child will have to cope with VHL because it’s mum and granddad will have it.

Really feeling upbeat today, I’ve got a smile on my face and it is there quite naturally.

So here’s hoping the next half of the pregnancy goes as well and then the rest of the little bundles life too.