What a year - My pregnancy journey

 Surprise! What a year it has been. I won’ t even go on and on about why I haven’ t posted anything on here for over a year as this post pretty much explains it. Many of my friends and instagram followers voted recently that this subject and my experience is something that would interest them, so here we go.

How did I find out and what gave it away?
One thing to know about me is I may be an emotional person but when it comes to actual crying it isn’ t as much of a thing. I would only shed tears when there is no more room for me to keep things bottled up. Let’ s call it a last resort. I’m not saying it is the healthiest way to deal but hey. With that said most of the month may I felt crazy emotional. Tears constantly building up.  Eventually I couldn’ t hold them in at all. And let’ s say it as it is. My breasts were sensitive as ever.  I remember one day feeling real sensitive and thinking to myself, that doesn’ t feel like me at all.
All I had to do then is some calculation and I realised I was well late. I was originally assigning that to stress I have been under. Clearly it wasn’ t the reason.
On may 31^st I decided to do a test and as we now know it was positive. I booked all my doctors appointments as soon as the news settled in. First appointment confirmed the pregnancy and outlined everything I should be expecting. This is when we decided to hold off on telling people for a while. That has been the hardest thing to do. I believe we waited a whole month before we announced the news to our family and closest friends. Those were actually the only people that knew. Even my work colleagues found out only months after. Well except for my managers as I made sure they knew as soon as possible in case I had trouble or needed time off for the doctors visits. Telling them was actually the best thing I could have done as they were really supportive and gave me a lot of help and information I needed during the pregnancy. Social media was the last place I shared the news with. That was in December which was just a month from my due date. Now I didn’ t necessarily plan to wait that long or look like I am keeping it a secret. It just kind of became fun knowing that  every instagram post I shared had a little secret only a few knew. Eventually I just couldn’ t keep it in any longer as a lot of my friends that I may not be in daily contacting with still didn’ t know but I knew they will be thrilled.

Cravings and nausea?
I felt pretty lucky that nausea only stuck around for a little while during the first trimester. It was always very mild and manageable. The only time I had to really try control it by munching on something was at public transport. Trains and buses I had to take multiple times a day made it a little difficult, but as soon as I got to second trimester- it pretty much disappeared.
As far as cravings, those kept changing with each month. Overall I built up a real sweet tooth. It hasn’ t actually left me yet. My appetite for anything savoury /salty is gone. One thing I completely went off are eggs. No idea what happened there, I just remember having some one morning and the taste was suddenly appalling. Unless it was the McDonalds breakfast muffins. Those seemed to be a regular morning craving as soon as I arrived to work. Talking about McDonalds- their nice cold Coke has always done me well. As well as Mountain Dew once I reached third trimester. Pair it with a nice pizza that I had way too often and you are golden.

Tiredness?
Now this hit me like crazy. And I realised everyone was right about the fact that pregnancy tiredness is like no other. Even now having had my baby for 2 months, tiredness during pregnancy felt worse then with a newborn. It may be the fact that even though you are exhausted, there is a baby you need to take care of, which makes it feel more tolerable. During pregnancy I felt like no matter how much a rested it was never enough. I napped any chance I got. Including on my birthday. I fell in love with naps to be honest. And that is coming from someone who spent years pretty much boycotting napping. I felt like it was such a waist of time. Unless I was sick and near my death bed you wouldn’t catch me sleeping during the day. Boy has that changed.

 

First feelings postpartum?
Physically I was very lucky to have healed quickly. Main thing that helped me was walking. Making sure to get moving and stretching as soon as possible. By week 3 postpartum  I had no problems, no muscle soreness or anything. 
Emotionally that is a different story. If you are about to have a baby or thinking about it, make sure to be ready for the waterfalls. They are totally normal and will come at random moments.  First 2 weeks postpartum will be the thoughest. Physically and mentally. The lack of sleep will one hundred percent highten any feelings you might have. And even after those weeks you aare not done. Thinking about the pregnancy days, seeing how big your baby has gotten, waking up at night for feeding again... All that will without a doubt make you fill up with emotions. Best thing I did was let it out. If you feel like crying just do it. You will feel better. It is natural and totally normal. 
With all that said, I somehow felt right at home in my new role. The very first day we went for a walk I just knew that this is me. I remember thinking to myself, this feels right. And two months later I still feel the same. Everytime I look at my baby girl I am filled with that feeling.