Pregnancy after PPCM--Part 3

It's amazing how people don't realize how important family support is in our everyday lives. For women who have gone thru PPCM I have found it's like 5 times more important. It's important for our family to understand our condition and know that yes during pregnancy we are vulnerable and sometimes even when we are not pregnant but WE know what WE can and cannot do. Since my heart failure issue my family has pretty much treated me like if the looked at me too hard I was going to break. Along with that came the questions "can you eat______?" or "is it ok for you to do ____?" and among the braver people "can you get pregnant again?" and "are you sure it's safe to get pregnant again? I mean you could always adopt or travel the world with your husband instead?" although PPCM women understand that these questions stem from general concern and love for the said woman the still sting, some questions deeper than others and yet people don't stop and think about it before hand.
When I last left you my family was suffocating me with concern and I was contemplating hiding my pregnancy for them so they wouldn't have to worry about me so much. One day I was doing my daily chores when I got a phone call from my mom. She mentioned that my aunt had told her that I had said that we wouldn't be going home for Christmas she asked why. I told her that we needed to save money and my husband needed to save vacation time if we were going to try and have another baby. Then she asked if maybe I was planning on hiding my pregnancy from them. I swear my mom is psychic but only with her kids LOL. I told her I had thought about it because I really didn't want to worry them and I knew that when I got pregnant they were going to treat me like I was completely unable to take care of myself. I told her about the conversation I had with my aunt and how she was planning on sending people to babysit me and how that bothered me to my very core. At this point my mom started laughing, it confused me to say the least. She then explained to me that she had nothing to do with that and that she knew me better than that and she had no plans on coming up to babysit me because she knew I wouldn't let her on base if she did LOL. She said that she's always going to worry about me because she's my mom not because I'm "broken" (as I put it) and that she was going to love this child as much as my first and she was going to be thrilled and she didn't want to miss any part of it.
This was the greatest gift my mom has given me since my birth. The relief I felt was unmeasurable!! And I was thrilled that this meant that I could share my pregnancy with my family and that my mom had my back...like always :). Since, my mom has not missed a beat! As soon as I got my pregnancy (lab) test back I told her that she was going to be a grandma again. She was thrilled and so was my dad. I call her after every appointment and both my parents have been fabulous supporters as has the rest of our family. Some family members are still nervous but they try not to show it. And after every milestone we all take a collective sigh.

Someone once said it takes a village to raise a child...I would go further and say that is takes a village to make a child too despite the science ;). When planning a post-PPCM baby I would encourage women to talk to their families and not be afraid to state what they need be it privacy, serenity, a cheer squad, or just plain ol' love and suppport. Without my family I would not be where I am today on my trip down Mommy Lane...

To be continued...