So you now pregnant. This is what you've always wanted to be; pregnant, to be a mamma, to have a little piece of you.
Even knowing that I would get all big and fat - I always wanted to be pregnant. I have always loved pregnant women, I think they are so beautiful and always imagined what it would feel like having this tummy, and the thought of growing this little baba in your tummy always fascinated me.
So finally there I am... PREGNANT with twins!.
In the beginning, I remember always feeling so disappointed that my tummy was so little and wanting it to be nice and round and not just look like I had eaten 2 burgers for lunch. (Boy oh boy how that time goes so quickly...)
After that not really pregnant, not really fat phase. I got to the little bump stage and that's when I would tell people I am huge and then they'd see me and be like, "seriously Sandra!".
With my body, I have never put on weight on my tummy. I always put the weight on my thighs, my bum - my tummy was always flat - so getting a tummy was new to me.
There also has to be something said about how for the very first time you lose all control over your body. Yes you can still eat healthily and manage the additional weight gain, I guess, but watching your tummy grow at a pace you can't relate to, and then as the time goes on and you hit the peak of summer and the water retention and swelling takes over. this is not easy.
These are all the little symptoms, aches, special moments and not so special moments no one told me about. I, on the other hand, am going to be the person that tells you... everything (even the things you don't say aloud). Maybe now is a good time to say the below content is not suitable for children under the age of 18 (",) and if you are not comfortable viewing this content please refrain from scrolling down any further.
(Who said I couldn't try to be funny). So here they are my 10 'things'...
1. Nausea and morning sickness. So this is the trick, they refer to it as morning sickness - I had all day sickness and nausea. So literally the morning I would vomit or just have the most intense nausea, the rest of the day intense nausea and then at night when I got back into bed shew really really intense nausea. Mine carried on for 5 months. Yip a whole 5 months. For some people who have it the whole 9 months, I am so sorry, and then for the mamas who don't get it at all, you should all get pregnant more often.
2. Leg spasms and cramps. Oh my gosh, I got this soooo bad. The gynae said it was because I was pregnant with twins that this might have been escalated a bit more. But oh my goodness - rough. That moment in the middle of the night when you have just managed to close your eyes and then this body jolting cramp wakes you up so fast that you scream. Yea those. Your toes point in every direction your calve muscle has spasmed so bad you can't even touch it. Oh, my word this was the worst. Then along with that was just the dull ache all day and the worst at night. When your legs cramp so so bad, right down in the bone, they feel too heavy to even lay down on the bed you don't know what to do.
3. The lack of sleep. From about September (so around 5/6 months), it hit me hard. Pregnancy is a strange thing. So for some the first trimester the fatigue and exhaustion are intense, You feel fatigue that no one can describe. I think this is where husbands don't understand. I was before I was pregnant a morning person I could get up at 4 am or 5 am and be in a great mood, I could work or just chill till late, 11 pm bedtime was an early night for me. Then the first trimester and by 3 p.m. (yip only 15h00) I could barely keep my eyes open. By the time I was home making dinner or bathing or walking to bed was a task. I would be asleep on the couch before 7 pm most nights.
But then, the second trimester comes and you get this energy boost, this sudden 'Red Bull' feeling. you just literally have energy again, you have a sense of humour again you feel like you again.
Then just as you think you're a rock star and you can do anything pregnant that you used to do, the final trimester hits you and you are exhausted again, but only this time you don't sleep.
One of my biggest issues was that I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't lie on my back, well because you just aren't allowed. Obviously couldn't lie on my tummy and was not at all comfortable on my sides because it felt like the one baby was lying on the other and just felt so uncomfortable I couldn't do it. No pillows or support made any difference to this weird gravity feeling. So I had to sleep sitting upright. I had a million pillows along with a pregnancy pillow and I slept at an angle.
They say you don't sleep during your pregnancy because it's your bodies way of preparing you for when you have your babies, I think there may be merit in this. I'm not, by any means saying that your body gets used to the lack of sleep but I think you just adapt and learn to cope.
4. The line. Oh gosh, this. So I know a lot of people don't have or get the line. I got the line. I got a very dark, very skew line. I am quite OCD about a lot of things and skew and off-centre stuff completely throws me over the edge, so to have my tummy have the line above my belly go a bit off-centre and then be completely straight below my belly button- still throws me.
Look I did my research and I have been in the industry for long enough and know a lot of pregnant women to know that the line happens, I was never worried about getting it, If I remember I was excited to get the line. What NO ONE tells you and no one prepared me for, was that the line doesn't go away when babas come out. That the line doesn't even go away 1 or 2 months later. Some people never lose the line, others it can take up to 1 year, I am hoping I fall into the latter percentage.
As it currently stands, Mamma still has the line 8 months later. I didn't get a single pregnancy stretch mark. But I look at my line, and even though it has faded, I wonder if stretch marks would've been easier to deal with. Which is the greater of the two evils?
5. Everything gets bigger, yes everything. So yes the obvious, your tummy, your boobs, yip my boobs looked great - full, perky and right where they needed to be. Yea with the weight gain you generally gain a bit of weight all over so the obvious, face, bum, legs etc.
So with bigger boobs, naturally comes bigger nipples? (Not logically in my head, no), but in reality yes. Not only did these peculiar looking things get bigger but darker too.
Happy to report these went back to their usual more balanced size and shade. The boobs, however, did not stay perky but are now not able to stand on their own and have the appearance of a balloon that is slowly losing air.
Did anyone say #mommyboobjobforchristmas - yes, please?
It's the peculiar parts that shook me. No one prepared me that my vag (yes I said vag) would be swollen and puffy and slightly out of proportion (yea that may be too much info, but I did warn you). I mean, I understand now why you have this huge tummy pressing on your bladder and all womanly parts so for your vag to not get swollen or be affected by the pressure would be silly, but I mean still no warning from anyone??
The one that really really hit me, the 'pregnancy nose' yip I had it. My nose grew guys it changed shape size everything. This was not a good look for me, and I am the lucky one mine went back to normal, some people it doesn't go back. Yea you heard right, it stays.
6. Constipation. I still am not sure how this wasn't a major issue for me, I had one really bad time with this, but for the majority of my pregnancy, my tummy worked better than it has my whole life. And maybe TMI but ever since then, my tummy has been so much better.
If you are really suffering from constipation and haemorrhoids, what I can suggest and recommend is go buy a little bottle of Witch Hazel from Dis-Chem, It is literally like R30 and lasts forever, You just put some on a cotton pad and put on the area for a bit and try to do this 2-3 times a day. The best treatment for haemorrhoids.
For constipation, the one time I did get it and it was a problem I took liquid paraffin, I know it sounds deadly but again just a little bottle not more than R30 and you just put a bit with some juice and drink and it just lines your tummy nicely.
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7. The hair situation. So there's no sugar-coating this. I am Portuguese and having unwanted hair is not a 'foreign' concept to me. in the beginning, I found the hair situation got worse. Then how weird all of a sudden it almost disappeared. I hardly had to shave or manage the hair growth it was amazing. Do you know the little victories in life, when you are 8 months pregnant and can't see from your shins up and well cant even reach that low to shave?
Then the hair on your head, well that was great. My hair wasn't falling out in clumps anymore. was luscious and full and shiny. Post-pregnancy the hair does fall out. its almost like it makes up for the 9 months of not falling out so not ideal but once that levels out again I found my hair texture has completely improved and straightens in half the time. My once bushy curly hair has almost become a more calm curly and let me tell you for someone with curly hair this is a real victory.
9. Those lips. This I prayed for. I have always wanted my lips done. Like real Kylie Jenner lips. (So far, haven't managed to get these done, but they are absolutely on my to-do-list). I got a small version of pregnancy lips. I noticed an improvement and a little more oomph but wasn't nearly as close as I had hoped and then the one thing I wanted to stay vanished as soon as babas were in my arms.
10. Your organs seriously are squished. I had such great apps on my phone during my pregnancy and TheBabyCentre app had videos that popped up to show how your organs move out the way and make space for baba. Incredible this.
So yea the usual, you are out of breathe all the time. You feel like you have eaten a horse after only a few bites but still have the hunger pains. The food feels like its sitting right there in your neck. your bladder has no room and squished amongst everything so yea you need to wee a lot. all the things you realise and know.
There it is a little more about me you may or may have not wanted to know. I hope I shed some light in the darkness or reinforced any strange and peculiar experiences you may have felt. Would love to hear if you had any more I may have missed and forgot to mention.
Mammas gotta stick together so let's share from now on. Deal?
xx
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