When I discovered I was pregnant; King K and I vowed to do the darkie thing and not tell a soul. Puhlease! I told the first person I saw! How do you keep such wonderful news to yourself when people will know in a bit anyway? Why the secrecy? Anyways, he was not impressed but I was now able to chat to my gals about the whole experience; every little thing – the feeling, the loo visits – you pee a lot, the tiredness, the nausea, the remedies, the metallic taste that food has, ALLES!
What you need to know is “it is different for everyone. Everyone experiences pregnancy differently”. Since we are all different we will have different experiences. Some vomit, some don’t, some feel tired, and some don’t. If you are in doubt; get a professional to advise you. They do it for a living and we pay them for the service so get the advice. Listen to your doctor; the may not be showing off their kids to you and retelling their own experiences but they have the qualifications to make a decision or give valid advice. Some of us well meaning souls don’t have the qualifications!
Get yourself a subscription to fit pregnancy; my baby is 20 months but I still get it; It has great eating tips, great exercise tips and relevant articles on everything related to pregnancy and what to expect those first few days. I just love everything about the mag; I tried a couple of mags but they would often conflict each other or confuse me so I stuck to one that has my figure in mind. I did not want to balloon to a size 44 during pregnancy and after the baby it wouldn’t go away – so I gained 6 kg’s during my pregnancy. There is nothing wrong with gaining weight but be careful not to over-indulge, not move and blame it on the pregnancy
Eat for one – Eating for two is the crappiest advice I got! Just eat when you are hungry; not 7 helpings of ice cream – be reasonable about what you eat and how you eat. Don’t listen to old wives tales that if you eat atchar your baby will be crying all the time… I ate a lot of it and my baby was fine! I ate atchar with ginger or marie biscuits! What other old wives tales are there? Some even go as far as “do not have sex” or something like that… anyways, go with your gut feel but eat for one!
Take an exercise class that is designed for pregnant women- gyms are even offering classes. Just find out and forget the tiredness; go meet other women who are also preggies and want to stay fit. Being fit is essential for the birth anyways. So do it knowing when you pop, you will be fit or almost fit enough to go thru labour.
Forget about labour – everyone has a different story and experience; just wait your turn. I wanted a natural birth; everyone told me how straining and painful it was; I wanted all of that! When my gynae told me my baby was breech – baby hasn’t turned into the birth position, the legs are at the bottom; I was devastated. I wanted to blame someone for this. BUT nature has it’s way of doing things. I had to accept that I would not give birth naturally because of my baby’s position – it is too risky to give birth naturally when the baby is in that position Head first is the way to come into the world. I had to pray that my baby would turn but as it grew bigger I had to accept that this baby would not turn. It would be too difficult and painful for me. So C-section was the only option; I went thru a C-section with no problem. My baby’s umbilical was around his neck so had I forced the doctor to attempt a natural birth; my baby could have been choked by the cord while I pursued my dream of a natural birth.
Enjoy your breasts – as large as they get – they give you some sense of va-va-voom! They are glorious… Just remember that they soon need to feed a hungry baby – Babies are so hungry after the first day that it seems like they wanna feed for the full nine months you carried them. Massage your nipples when you are 7 months into your pregnancy; it helps a little bit when you need to breastfeed the first time.
Some on the by tips are
Have one great friend that you trust; that has a baby, and is not secretive close to you via sms, fax, email or a simple call.
Whenever you leave a place and when you get to the next place; visit the loo. Then you don't need to feel like you need to go while on the freeway and there is no public toilet in sight!
Don’t believe everything you read or hear. Don’t internalize and freak yourself out. I wanted to get tested for everything under the sun – but I had a lovely gynae who has 4 healthy boys and reassured me that all is well – so I got only the tests that were necessary. So read/listen, understand, know about the changes that will happen to your body and your baby but don’t scare yourself about everyone’s experience. Remember tip number 1…
Most of all, Enjoy every stage and try to keep a journal of all the things that happened when you discovered you were pregnant and the symptoms/cures to morning sickness, because once the baby is here you long for those feelings of pregnancy... and you struggle to remember how you coped with the entire experience.
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