The Strongest Moms Around – SCI Moms

In honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, we’ve compiled three videos highlighting moms with spinal cord injuries – moms who seriously can’t be beat in the strength department. As you can imagine, there are certain difficulties that come into the picture when you are a mom with paralysis.

From a busy stay-at-home paraplegic mom in Canada who shares all kinds of tips like how to best use changing tables to a quadriplegic single mom who had her babies naturally, the videos we’ve compiled below are awesome, and would surprise most average people out there who know nothing of paralysis and parenting.

To see how dedicated mothers with spinal cord injuries are, watch our videos below!

Video #1: Canadian paraplegic shows her tricks

Meet Brittney! She is a paraplegic mom of two. In her video, she takes us through her journey of having two beautiful children and raising them from her wheelchair. She also  shares techniques and helpful tips for other mothers who are also in wheelchairs and face the same difficulties, but are able to make adjustments.

And she shares special techniques like buying a crib that opens on the side, so she can put her baby in the crib without any help from her husband. Brittney also made sure to buy a changing table that was lower than her chair so she could still change her babies (and not miss out on those experiences).

And when placing her babies in jolly jumpers, she is able to put her brakes on and carefully put them in the jumpers by her own. Some impressive? It is!

Watch: Raising children from a wheelchair

Video #2: Single mom paralyzed young has babies naturally

Nikki Stamps, a C7 quadriplegic, is the single mom of Cameron and Jordan. Her injury dates back to when she was 16 years old when she had little to no concerns about having children. As she got older, she realized having children was something she really wanted. Her doctors told her that she should have no problems and to not worry.

Nikki birthed two children the natural way and used a monitoring system during both pregnancies to help with the contractions. She could not always feel the contractions because of her injury so the monitoring system hooked up to have stomach and assisted her with that.

And she used a basinet when her children were younger and pushed it as close to the bed as possible so she could pick them up. She would also lean the baby to her body; both babies seemed to have a natural instinct to curl up to make it easier for her.

Watch: Parenting with a Disability – Nikki Stamps

Video #3: Paraplegic mom loves her pool noodles

Meet Jennifer Sexton of Dalzell, South Carolina. She sustained a T-12 spinal cord injury in an ATV accident back in January 2013. After going through the rehabilitation process, Jennifer gave birth to her son Thomas on September 10, 2013.

Jennifer loves using a pool noodle, which aids in picking up Thomas and avoiding bruising on her arm. The noodle allows her to pick him up with a supportive object under her arm. Her husband is also planning to take out the cabinets under the sink so she can get under them easily and take care of Thomas more independently.

She spends her leisure time gardening out back where she has a raised garden making it easier to water the flowers. Jennifer stays positive every day, knowing you don’t have to stop life plans when a spinal cord injury occurs.

Watch: Jennifer Sexton Learns to Parent from a Wheelchair

Are you a mom with a spinal cord injury?  What tips have saved you?

Watch the Videos

– Raising children from a wheelchair

– Parenting with a Disability – Nikki Stamps

– Jennifer Sexton Learns to Parent from a Wheelchair