Post-partum flare-ups are pretty common for women with multiple sclerosis, and it seems that I’m going into one now. So far it’s pretty mild, with numbness in my left leg and pelvic area, and only a very minimal loss of function. If I remember correctly, that’s about all the worse it got after Petra was born, and I’m hoping I’ll be as lucky this time.

The flare-up I had a few weeks after Tage was born was much, much worse–maybe even the worst I’ve had in more than ten years with this disease. That time both of my legs were affected and I could hardly walk, even on a smooth surface. Stairs were impossible, and I had to take a lawn-chair into the shower because I couldn’t stay standing for longer than a few minutes at a time. Not only that, but my left hand and arm were bad as well, so that I couldn’t type or braid Lydia’s hair or do much of anything but sit, helpless, on the couch and watch re-runs of bad ’90s sitcoms on TV.

Though, of course, MS is notoriously difficult to make predictions about, I honestly don’t expect things to get anywhere near as bad this time. I’ve been very lucky with my disease progression these past several years, and to tell the truth, it hardly affects my day-to-day life. Even so, I like to be prepared and am taking the “hope for the best and plan for the worst” approach. Other than that, I can’t do much more than wait and see. At least we have a much better cable package these days.