Into the unknown

Hi my name is Nathan, I’m a T8 paraplegic and I have been in a wheelchair since the age of 18.

I’ve had to learn over the years to adapt to many different situations but being a soon to be parent is the biggest challenge to date.

I started this blog to hopefully help others in my situation as my wife and I have found that information for wheelchair using parents is scarce and we’ve had to muddle through thinking up solutions as we go.

I’m hoping to put reviews of products we have found useful and hints and tips that have helped us along the way.

Thanks for reading and hopefully there will be something useful that can be taken from your visit ☺

Let’s talk prams

Well it’s hard to believe that our little man is now 8 months old! Time really does fly. He’s now a wee character that’s always on the move and loves his food! Anyway on to the topic at hand…prams…Never thought I’d be discussing them! For us we looked at many prams and choose our pram based on the ease of pushing it around in a wheelchair. We chose the Venicci gusto pram and we chose it due to its relatively small size once folder and the fact it’s easy to push one handed by myself and also the handle drops down to my height which is a must! We’ve loved using this pram over the last 8 months and will continue to do so for some time yet.

We have also recently purchased the Recarro easylife for use when were camping and short of space. It’s another great pram. It is for 6mon th s plus but unlike most strollers that have two handles for pushing it has the same bar handle as the Venicci. Albeit it doesn’t fold down height wise it is still quite manageable for me to push indoors. It also folds down to a tiny size and is freestanding once folded. Great when you have wheelchairs and shopping taking up the boot space!

Well back to being manly now and no more pram talk from me! Hope the ideas help someone out as always give me a shout if I can help in any way with advice. This father gig is a big learning curve but much more so from a seated position!!

4 months old already!

Well Casey is 4 months already and I have no idea where the time has went! He’s turning into such a wee character and it’s becoming easier for me to lift him etc now as he has good head control and in general I’m more confident in myself. Simple things like changing his outfit is still hard as I don’t have any balance and have to lie down beside him to change him so if anyone has any tips there more than welcome! Overall I’m loving having the wee man in my life and try not to let my disability stop me being the best dad I can be.

Clevacushion review

Another item that I was lucky enough to have the chance to use and review was the clevacushion by clevamama.

The clevacushion is aimed at babies and breastfeeding mothers but I have found it invaluable as a support for Casey while pushing about in my chair.

The clevacushion has a strap that fits around my waist securing it. By using this strap around my waist it keeps the wee man safe whilst i have to use both hands to push (whilst keeping a close eye on him!)

The clevacushion is also used by my wife whilst feeding and also by Casey who loves a wee snooze in it durin the day. It also has toys that can be attached.

Overall I’d highly recommend it for wheelchair users and also mums and babies.

It can be found online at

http://www.clevamama.com/support/clevacushion-10-in-1-nursing-pillow-multicolour.html

Snugglebundl review

So it’s been a busy 8 weeks…yes the wee man is 8 weeks tomorrow and I honestly don’t know where the time has gone! We’ve spent it changing hundreds of nappies and having to dig ourselves out the house due to masses of snow on more than one occasion this year! I’m actually sick of snow now especially as it makes pushing harder in the chair!

Anyway as promised a wee review of the snugglebundl we were kindly given 🙂

The snugglebundl is almost like a hammock for lifting babies or as a few people have mistaken it for a handbag! (We were out and bumped into a friend who offered to take the handbag while my wife got Casey out the pram had to explain he was tucked up inside the said “handbag” !!)

As I said before it’s been a godsend. I would say it’s one of the most used baby items we have and it literally goes everywhere with us. It’s used in the car seat, pram, on his swing and on the baby bean bag to name a few. I’ve found if we forget to put it under him as we did a few times at the start I literally cannot lift Casey up. I just don’t have the balance to lean over and pick him up at the same time as I use one arm to balance of the chair. I really think it should also be marketed at parents in wheelchairs or with use of only one arm for lifting as the other techniques for lifting a baby one handed scared me to be perfectly honest at least I know he’s tucked up safe inside his snugglebundl.

The material used is nice and soft and he always looks really comfortable and warm when he’s in it which is great in this awful weather! It also washes really well and is standing up well with constant use.

For more information check out the snugglebundl website:

https://www.snugglebundl.co.uk

The wee man has arrived…

Well it’s been a busy last week. Our wee man arrived a week early on the 10th. Mother and baby are both doing well and I’m adjusting to the lack of sleep!! The days just go by in a blur! We went out for the day today using the snuggle bundle mentioned in a post below. This thing is genius! Not only did he not wake up being moved from one place to the other but I can also now lift my son without the fear of dropping him or losing balance which this week due to having a puncture is a godsend! (My wheelchair is very tipable at the best of times…adding a puncture to the mix is interesting!)

Anyway time to try and get some sleep while the wee man is sleeping. I’ll try and get a full review up as soon as possible 🙂

Exciting delivery

Today we received our delivery from clevamama.

Not only did they send us the Clevamama 10 in one cushion but also a few other pieces that they felt would be beneficial to me in my wheelchair.

They also sent a bath towel that clips around my neck which should be ideal for when drying the baby. A waterproof toilet training mat that they suggested for use on top of the cushion for bath time and clevahooks which we are thinking might be useful for me getting the pram down the ramp safely.

Looking forward to trying all the items out and doing a full review when our baby arrives. Only 13 weeks to go!☺

All items can be found on there website:

http://www.clevamama.co.uk/

Snugglebundl

Today we received our snugglebundl through the post. We personally had never seen anyone using these but stumbled across them online looking at baby blankets for car seats.

 

The idea we had being that I could use this for lifting our wee one until he can support his own neck as my balance doesn’t allow me to easily lift him as I only have one free hand when stretching. This was a major obstacle for us and by finding this product we hope it’ll make my day to day life easier.

Obviously we can’t test this out till January but the actual product looks great and came in a lovely black and white material.  It even has a a hooded sort of section to support the babies head. Can’t wait to try it properly and have already recommended it at dad’s to be classes who were very interested in the concept 🙂

If your interested in the product they can be found here:

https://www.snugglebundl.co.uk/

Dad’s to be classes

Over the last three weeks I’ve been attending a local dad’s to be class.

The classes have been great and have taught me loads of useful information to support my wife through childbirth and during the early days at home but they have also thrown up some obstacles for me.

The biggest obstacle so far has been how I’ll bath our little one when he arrives. We were given weighted replica babies in class to bath and I really struggled with this due to balance. Bathing the baby the conventional way wasn’t feasable. The solution we came up with if my wife wasn’t there to help was to top and tale the wee man while he rests on my lap. This in itself was easier but still not ideal so we looked into ways to support him whilst he rests on my lap. The solution my wife came up with was using the Clevamama cushion which straps behind me and would support our baby while I washed him. I could also use this whilst pushing about with him on my lap to give better support. My aim is to do a full review of this product once our wee boy arrives 🙂

 

The product can be found here :

http://www.clevamama.co.uk/clevacushion-10-in-1-nursing-pillow-cloud.html