Facing a Tough Choice: Should I Have Surgery While I’m Pregnant?

By Erica Kain
123rf

Ever since my first child was born, my wrists have been in pain. When my daughter was just three months old, I was diagnosed with de Quervain’s disease, a kind of tendinitis that can be severely aggravated by motherhood. With this, my third pregnancy, the pain has become unbearable, and I’ve just been told that my only option of finding relief is surgery during pregnancy.
Apparently, the wrist actions required for breast-feeding and carrying an infant can be incompatible with a woman’s wrist structure (which seems antievolution), causing tendons in the wrist to swell and become painful to use. Pregnancy can also aggravate tendinitis, and many women experience their first symptoms of Carpal tunnel syndrome while pregnant. Read More