We all go through different combinations of pregnancy symptoms, whether we like it or not during the final three months of pregnancy. For those who remain symptom free, please just thank your lucky stars and know that there are far and few of you out there. Here is a list of just some of the lovely symptoms that I have been experiencing in the last few weeks:
The ‘ I feel like a whale symptom’
The last 4 weeks have been an eye opener or should I say, a big reminder of the third trimester. I feel like a whale now, having gained 9 kgs. For those who have not read my earlier blogs, this is a huge milestone for me. Having struggled to gain any weight during the first six months due to nausea and vomiting, I’ve made a big leap forward and made up for all that weight lost plus more! At this stage, I need alot of reassurance from my husband to tell me that I look as gorgeous as those slender models out there, that my bum and thighs don’t wobble when I walk and that my double chin is cute and that my legs don’t look like tree trunks.
The ‘ I hope I have an easier labour and birth preoccupation’
With this being the second pregnancy, I should be a pro at this, but I’m not. As the time nears to ‘L’ day (or days), I feel apprehensive about the labour, the birth and the baby’s health. Having spent 8 hours at home with mild contractions then 20 hours in hospital in labour with Jeremy, I can’t think of things going worse during labour other than having spent the same amount of time in pain and it ending in a caesarean. But there is worse and that worse is a worse that I don’t want to even imagine.
The ‘Fluid retention and blow up look‘
I thought by having a winter pregnancy, I’d avoid any fluid retention. That was one of the main reasons why we tried to get pregnant earlier on in the year. However, it was obviously in vain. I suffered fluid retention during the last 3 months of my first pregnancy, with the last three months being over the summer. The pain, discomfort and misery that it caused cannot be forgotten. I thought I’d happily escaped the blow up look this time around until I noticed that my shoes were a little tight a couple of weeks ago. Then today, I got hubby to take photos of me with our little boy and I did a double take of the photos. I have a double chin and forget about the rings on my fingers, they can’t be taken off anymore.
‘Haemorrhoids - the grapes on my bum’
If you’ve never had haemorrhoids or children, you should stop reading now. It’s one of those ugly truths that most women with children will not tell those who have not had children before. I never experienced these ‘grapes on my bum’ until I gave birth to Jeremy. I think they are worse than stitches from an episiotomy. For some reason, once they have appeared to say ‘Hello’, they are just there, waiting to come back out to say ‘Hello’ again and again and again, even when all you really want them to do is to go away! I cannot seem to beat them away, whether I am mildly constipated or have diarrhoea (both of which I have suffered from followed by the haemorrhiods during this last trimester).
The ‘I need to get everything done before baby arrives’
It’s strange how everything is travelling fine and then all of a sudden, I just feel the urge to get everything, baby related or not, done before the baby arrives. The other day, out of the blue, I said to my husband ‘I have to clean the oven before the baby arrives, I need to clean the oven NOW!’, obviously, he didn’t want to argue with this psycho chick and said nothing, just gave me an odd look.
The ‘I need a nap *yawn* right this minute’
I didn’t see this symptom coming until I noticed that I was yawning while in the car, at the red lights, watching tv, talking on the phone, before a shower, after a shower, after all meals…just yawning all day long. Silently, I kept saying to myself, ‘It would be nice to have a nap now’ until I realised that, I was in the third trimester now and fatigue has returned with a vengeance.
I know I shouldn’t complain about these symptoms when there are many women who would be happy to have them just to be pregnant. They are some of the symptoms that I would love to forget and make me appreciate my non pregnant body more, the body that truly is mine and not possessed by raging hormones and a baby that will make it all worthwhile.
