{"id":11114,"date":"2018-07-02T18:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T09:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moonrider7.com\/?p=11114"},"modified":"2018-07-03T03:59:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T18:59:07","slug":"moving-from-a-manual-wheelchair-to-a-power-wheelchair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/2018\/07\/02\/moving-from-a-manual-wheelchair-to-a-power-wheelchair\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving From A Manual Wheelchair to A Power Wheelchair ~Mizuki\u2019s Maternity Life 1~"},"content":{"rendered":"

I posted a blog post last time<\/a> about my new baby girl, Emma, has arrived. <\/span><\/p>\n

While my memory is fresh, I would like to share some stories about my maternity life as a wheelchair user. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
My maternity keychain that I used while I was pregnant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every pregnant woman\u2019s body would change and would find new inconveniences in daily life as their babies grow. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In my case, as a manual wheelchair user, I started worrying about using the wheelchair when going up-hills. I wondered if my body position, bending my upper body forward and pushing the wheelchair by arm\u2019s strength and tightening stomach muscles, would affect my baby. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Especially it was my first pregnancy, I was very concerned that it might cause a misbirth by giving pressure to my belly.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
5 months pregnancy at the shrine to pray for healthy delivery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a long gentle uphill from the ticketing gate to the wheelchair accessible exit at the station near my home. Since I commute from the station every day to go to work, I cannot avoid the route. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat should I do?\u201d I asked myself worryingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After some considerations, I made a decision to \u201cchange from a manual wheelchair to a power wheelchair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once I decided, I talked with the wheelchair company that I always consult when I have questions about wheelchairs. There are 3 options to gain a power wheelchair. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Order a custom-made power wheelchair that fits my body<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Rent a ready-made power wheelchair and pay monthly<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Purchase a second hand ready-made power wheelchair<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The first option, a custom-made power wheelchair, didn\u2019t meet my requirement because it takes a long time to custom-make a wheelchair as it starts from the body measurement. It might have arrived after my baby girl was born and would not fit my body at the time.I just need a power chair that I can use before and after my delivery while my body is bigger than that before pregnancy. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Therefore, I considered options of a ready-made power wheelchair. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Renting one and pay monthly, the second option, costs about 50,000 JPY\/monthly. At that time I was 5 month pregnancy, so if I rent 5 more months, the total cost would be 250K JPY at least. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Surprisingly, purchasing a second hand one costs about the same, 250K JPY. <\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    After thinking the following points: <\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • It would be convenient to carry the baby if I can have my own power wheelchair even after the delivery<\/span><\/li>\n
    • I may be pregnant again and have 2nd or more kids in the future<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      I decided to buy a second hand. Although the wheelchair is used, it looks very clean. Its tires and motor are renewed, and the wheelchair company even gave me a 2-year free maintenance. <\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      \"\"
      6 month pregnancy me using the power wheelchair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

       <\/p>\n

      So, I ordered a power wheelchair in the end of last year, and the wheelchair company brought it in the beginning of this year. <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      When I started using it, I didn\u2019t like the slow speed and its wide width which doesn\u2019t allow me to go through a narrower path. After a while, however, I began loving it so much!<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Especially, a pregnant body changes drastically during the last 3 months of pregnancy. The belly gets bigger and the pelvis shape also becomes wider to get ready for a baby to come out. <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      I still used my manual wheelchair sometime until 7 month pregnancy if the destination is a small restaurant or so. It was impossible to do so after 8 month pregnancy. My body didn\u2019t fit in my manual wheelchair anymore. Even if I forced myself to it, I felt hard to breathe and couldn\u2019t run as fast as I could before the pregnancy. <\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Thanks to the power wheelchair, I could go to work until 9 months pregnancy (before maternity leave) and go shopping by myself until 10 month pregnancy. It was totally a stress-free maternity life. <\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      I had another good point to use a power wheelchair too. I enjoyed wearing a while coat during winter time. <\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      In a manual wheelchair, a white coat easily gets dirty by tires as I need to push the wheelchair by myself. So I usually wear a dark color coat in winter. However, I didn\u2019t need to worry in a power wheelchair at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      I am wearing a white coat in the picture below. \u00a0During maternity period, I could have some fun in fashion that I couldn\u2019t before.<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      \"\"
      New Year temple visiting with Jeff in Asakusa, Japan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

       <\/p>\n

      After the delivery, my body is changing back to my normal size, and I started using my manual wheelchair outside. <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Since I used a power wheelchair for 5 months which I barely moved my body, I now go for a walk in my manual wheelchair everyday to get my muscle strength back. <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      I would be really happy if this episode could help pregnant Moon Riders or ones who are planning to have a baby soon. I will keep posting episodes that can be helpful! <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Every pregnant woman\u2019s body would change and would find new inconveniences in in daily life as their baby grows. In my case, as a manual wheelchair user, I started worrying about using the wheelchair when going up-hills. I wondered if my body position, bending my upper body forward and pushing the wheelchair by arm\u2019s strength and tightening stomach muscles, would affect my baby. So, I decided to use a power wheelchair instead of a manual wheelchair. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[88,153,150],"class_list":["post-11114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-love-story","tag-international-marriage","tag-parenthood","tag-pregnancy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11114"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11128,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11114\/revisions\/11128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}