My Spina Bifida Story

P A R T 1

Hello I'm Hannah Arabella's mum 👋

I have set Arabella this account up to share her spina bifida story and help others to understand Arabella's pretty hidden disability considering the severity. I was 19 when I fell pregnant with Arabella in the February, I was over the moon and I was around 8 weeks. Arabella being my first I suffered really bad with morning sickness, and i was bed bound for what felt like a week but was around 3 days. I was extremely nervous as I had suffered a miscarriage previously , but was so excited for my 12 weeks scan that was just round the corner. I spent those few weeks building up to it just relaxing and taking it easy (which can I say looking back now 3 children on was lovely 😂).I finally reached my 12 week scan and everything was perfect, I cried with joy seeing my little jelly bean on the screen in front of me and left with a huge smile on my face. After this I couldn't keep my excitement in, i spent the build up to my 20 weeks scan shopping and relaxing as much as I could (belly growing this wasn't easy). During this time I had all the general check ups, midwife appointments etc, in which babies heart beat was good and strong every single time. On the day of my 20 week scan I woke up with the biggest smile on my face and was struggling to keep my excitement in until the afternoon when my scan was. I remember getting to the hospital and just thinking this is it I'm going to find out whether your a boy or a girl and I couldn't wait. I entered the room where I got myself ready to lay down and have my scan whilst giving my details to the ladies. Excited as I could be she went on to scan. I was beaming "I can see my not so little bean on the screen again" and was so big , I was so focused on seeing my baby I hadn't noticed that the lady scanning me hadn't really said an awful lot, and was focusing around the head.. I asked if everything was ok? To then be answered with I'm just going to get a second opinion. By this point I was 20 and confused my heart dropped and I had no idea what was going on. The lady returned with a plus 1 and went on to explain it was a girl, but there was complications.

Part 2 coming.....