My Collision Into Motherhood: The Pregnancy

So what was my pregnancy like you ask? Some people would say I was “glowing”, I assured them I was just glistening with sweat. People that know me know that I am quite an active person so I think how heavy and uncomfortable I got made it hard. The pregnancy was quite smooth sailing besides the heartburn and the punches to the nether-regions in the middle of the night. I found a sense of calmness and peace came over me when I was pregnant not to say, I didn’t have my moments of frustration, especially near the end when you feel so large you have your own gravitational pull.

The first trimester was quite nerve-racking those first 3 months anxiously waiting to get to that “safe” 12 week mark wasn’t too much fun. I found myself the most lethargic, tired and nauseous during that trimester. I didn’t have morning sickness but rather day, afternoon and night sickness. I also developed an aversion to any foods that were healthy…. hence gaining 10kgs by 12 weeks! I couldn’t even walk past the meat or vegetable section at Woolworths without dry-heaving.  I lived on any type of carbs; potato, chips….potato chips. I was quite concerned with my weight and I started showing fairly early about 10 weeks which made me wonder,  how huge I’ll be by the time I’m due!

Unfortunately I had gestational diabetes during my pregnancy. For those who don’t know, it is a type of diabetes women can get when they are pregnant, it is due to how your hormones affect your insulin levels. I ended up having to prick my finger three times a day to check my sugar levels and inject myself with insulin throughout my last trimester (lucky I don’t have a problem with needles). It definitely made me feel for those who have diabetes and I only had to do it for a very short time!

So besides the small speed bump of GD my pregnancy was a good one. We found out the sex of bub very early as we had what is called a “harmony test” (an expensive blood test that tells you the sex and if the baby has a chromosomal disorder). The reason I had this test is because my amazing older brother Adam has Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is not usually hereditary but my family and I had that worry sitting in the back of our minds. Obviously we wouldn’t change my brother for the world but that reassurance really was priceless.

So we found out we were having a little girl! Lets just say that night I went on an instagram frenzy and bought so much useless décor for her bedroom and our little fetus ended up having more shoes than me! Pregnancy definitely has its hard times but I swear every ultrasound I had felt like Christmas. I think every mother can agree it is such a surreal feeling waiting and waiting to meet your beautiful little human that YOU somehow created.  Waking up every morning feeling our baby girl kicking was absolute bliss, it felt like a dream.

The second trimester was ok the nausea wore off and the weight gain slowed right down.  I was still working every week in my makeup artistry business then when I got to about 26 weeks I suffered from low blood pressure and started having fainting spells so the doctor advised to go on maternity leave early for the safety of the baby and I. That’s when I became so very bored, my day consisted of attempting to workout, eating, buying baby stuff, eating, cleaning or sitting on the couch in my bra and undies watching ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians” (yes THAT bored).

My husband and I were in the process of building a house, in which we were going to move into just before baby was born (great timing). Lets just say moving house at 35 weeks pregnant wasn’t much fun especially in summer! (Yes I am an idiot who got pregnant in summer). The first room I set up at the new house was the baby room because obviously it is more important than the kitchen.

I gained a total of 16kg throughout my pregnancy, I managed to keep training at the gym until I was about 35 weeks pregnant. I decided to stop because I got to the point I couldn’t even bend over to pick up the dumbbells. Also trying to put on undies and socks was about as complicated as trying to read  “The Da Vinci Code”. Not to mention the peeing between sets became beyond a joke! So near the end I started doing laps at the pool a couple of times a week which I found amazing taking the load off my joints, even though I looked like Free Willy.

I enjoyed being pregnant most of the time besides the obnoxious comments from strangers and by the end I needed a crane to lift me off the couch. Ryan found my pregnancy quite educational, I still remember his face when I was trying to describe to him what a ‘cervix’ and ‘mucus plug’ are….let’s just say he didn’t finish his lunch.  I also found out that every second woman was a qualified midwife or doctor, telling me what kind of labour I was going to have.

Unfortunately because I was on insulin that meant I had to be induced before I got to 40 weeks. This made me a bit nervous because I heard so many stories of failed inductions that lead to emergency caesareans and apparently inductions were more painful. So as you could imagine the last few weeks of pregnancy I tried EVERYTHING hoping to go into labour on my own. You name it I tried it…acupuncture, massage, eating pineapple, reflexology, red leaf raspberry tea, sex (much to my husband’s delight) and bouncing for hours on a stupid ball. I even had a “stretch & sweep” which is basically when the Dr goes so  far up your vagina they can check your bloody tonsils. And still no baby.

The week before I was booked to be induced I decided to give up so I spent that week packing the rest of my hospital bag, finishing up the last touches on the new house and just waited and waited. Then it was time…..

Next Part: The Best Day