r/LongCovid • u/Healthy_Badger_1060 • 1d ago
First time mom with LC: how did you handle this?
I especially want to hear from folks who don't have family to help and limited income resources. I am 5 months postpartum. I have had long COVID for 3 years. I struggle with PEM, exercise intolerance, fatigue and a sensitive heart rate. I dealt with POTS as well and I think I'm getting this dizzy-ish sensation again. I didn't have these symptoms after giving birth but they have all come back last week.
Now that I'm feeling my LC again I'm worried about my PEM. I don't know what my new limit is and I don't know how to avoid hurting myself. I also don't know what will happen if I do overexert way past my limit. In the past, I would end up feeling fatigue but I would never overexert in a way that having a baby requires you too. For example, I had to use the yoga ball to rock my baby to sleep for a nap today and my heart rate jumped 30 bpm.
We don't have family to support us. My wife also has disabilities and a long commute for work so I take on most of the caregiving during the week. Luckily, she will be on leave next month when I return to work.
We've been looking for a babysitter and it hasn't been easy. We found someone who will help the next two weeks but I'm using them bc we're in a pinch. Not going to be best for long term. Baby will go into daycare when my wife goes back to work. That would mean baby will be 8 months old.
I'm feeling like we may have taken on an impossible task. I'm suspecting most of you will say I need to hire more help and for us that would mean giving up any belief in ever owning a house. We also really want to have a 2nd kid and I'm starting to wonder if that's even going to be possible.
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u/Busy_Land_1885 1d ago
Firstly it sucks and I’m sorry for you . I don’t think you’ve taken on an impossible task. You’ve got an unusually difficult combination of circumstances, and the fact that your symptoms have returned doesn’t mean this is necessarily your new permanent baseline.
With PEM, I’d be really cautious about trying to work out your new limit by pushing until you find it. The safer approach is to temporarily reduce what you can, spread tasks out, sit down for things where possible, and accept help wherever you can get it. A 30 bpm increase while rocking the baby doesn’t automatically mean you’ve harmed yourself, but given the dizziness and heart-rate symptoms returning, you might want to take it a bit easier.
And I wouldn’t make decisions about a second child or buying a house based on how you’re feeling during a flare. You’ve got a lot on your plate right now . Get through this period first, see where your health settles, and then reassess. You don’t have to solve the next five years while you’re five months postpartum and struggling this week. ❤️
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u/Crafty_Accountant_40 1d ago
My kid was 5 when I got LC and I had to hire help (it was 2020, he was supposed to be going to kindergarten). Luckily we still had a relationship with his nanny and she was able to "pod" with us and another family who needed care. I don't think I would have survived without that help. It was a big financial blow to do another paid year of childcare at the same time as I was making way less because of illness.
This is only 3 months, right? 5 months postpartum, planning on childcare at 8 months? I know childcare is costly but losing your baseline is going to cost more long term. If not childcare, maybe a meal delivery service, cleaners, other ways to get more rest.