No one really knows what to expect when they get pregnant as everyone’s journey is so incredibly different. Throughout the past 9 months though, I jotted down different moments where I would say to myself, ‘oh, I didn’t really expect this!” to share some of my own surprising moments.
This doesn’t feel real: I am literally about to get induced tomorrow and part of me still doesn’t feel like this is real. Even after the ultrasounds where we saw the baby move. Even after feeling the million little kicks. Even after watching my belly grow month after month. The fact that there is an actual child growing inside of me is so surreal. I figured that by the end, this would become my new normal but it somehow still hasn’t!
You feel…blah: They say that you’ll glow. They say that you are radiant. But I didn’t feel like it at all! My first trimester I was plagued with hormonal and persistent acne around my chin and mouth area. My second trimester I felt over-bloated and started seeing more hair growth in random unwanted places. My third trimester I barely fit into any of my normal clothing, my ankles were swollen and my lower back constantly ached. It was hard to feel sexy. It was hard to feel confident. Overall, it felt hard to feel like my old self.
The daily ‘so how are you doing’ question: People were obviously excited to hear about a new baby and I appreciated all of the love and support I received from family and friends. But one of the hard parts was getting creative when people would ask me daily, ‘so, how are you feeling today??”. Honestly, most days it was the same! I didn’t want to complain too much but I also had to come up with new and creative ways of saying that I was fine and that nothing had changed!
Acne: I already mentioned this above but it was so annoying I’m mentioning it again. The acne during the first trimester? I totally didn’t expect that. Thankfully it tapered off completely by mid-way through the second trimester but the acne was actually one of my first unexpected signs of being pregnant!
Constipation: Sorry if this is TMI (too much info) but I did NOT expect the constipation that came along with pregnancy. Thankfully my doctor gave me some medication to help and it naturally got better during my third trimester but damn…the first few months were rough!
The hormones and craziness (or lack thereof): I definitely had a few emotional moments throughout my pregnancy but honestly I expected it to be much worse. I thought the hormones would make me a little crazy and I thought I would be googling everything every two minutes and following every single guideline to the tee. But I didn’t. The hubby kept telling me and reassuring me that I was still ME and even my friends told me that I hadn’t gotten any crazier with pregnancy. I don’t know what that means about my normal non-pregnant levels of crazy but hey, I’ll take it!
Energy levels: When I told my boss I was pregnant in September, she came to check on me often to see how my energy levels were and even recommended I kept a yoga mat in my office so I could take naps at lunch. Talk about a great boss!! Yes, I was a bit more tired than usual but I actually attributed most of this to the fact that I cut coffee out of my life when I found out I was pregnant. There were times when the hubby would come home to find me taking a little nap after work, but overall I was surprised that I could still keep up with most of the things I did pre-pregnancy. I hosted Christmas, I hung out with friends late at night, I took a swimming class, I took 2 university classes, I went on a business trip and I kept up my every day work without issues. The only time I noticed a significant slowdown was when I hit the 9th month of pregnancy.
Pelvic pain: I started feeling surprising pain in my pelvic area around the 7th month of pregnancy. Simple things like rolling over in bed were (and still are) awful!
Morning sickness: The most frequent question I received when I told people I was pregnant was whether or not I had any morning sickness. And much to my surprise, I didn’t have any! I did throw up twice during my first trimester but I honestly thing that I simply had an upset stomach due to something I ate. It wasn’t constant or annoying or daily. So, I counted my lucky stars on this one!
Insomnia: Another surprising thing about this pregnancy was the insomnia. It would seem like 3am was my wake-up point (and I really hope this doesn’t translate to the baby’s wake-up point later on!) where I would toss and turn and have the most difficulty getting back to sleep. I would often find myself sliding out of bed not to wake the hubby and binge-watching Netflix shows to pass the time. Luckily this wasn’t a daily occurrence but it did happen pretty frequently.
Love for your partner: Please excuse the mushy moment but oh man, I didn’t think my love for Franco could grow any bigger but seeing him embrace every dad-related moment throughout this pregnancy just made me love him that much more. He would make sure to come to all of the important doctor appointments and ultrasounds. He wouldn’t complain when I would ask him for massages. He’d indulge my simple and infrequent cravings (mainly wonton soup and watermelon) and didn’t make me feel bad when I couldn’t stand the smell of our floor cleaner (which meant he needed to mop the whole house) or my disdain for chicken (which means we never got to eat any). I love how he embraced this new role and I know he’s going to rock being a dad once little baby Albisi is here!
Sense of finality: Amongst all of the unexpected moments of being pregnant, the sense of finality was definitely a huge one for me. As happy as I was, I knew that being pregnant and starting a family was going to mark an irreversible change in my life. Although the changes weren’t necessarily negative ones, I definitely had moments where I was terrified of losing who I was and all of the things I had become accustomed to.
Hot flashes: Probably closer to my third trimester, I started experiencing hormonal hot flashes that I really didn’t expect. My doctor said that these would actually most likely continue even after I gave birth (oh joy) but during that last trimester, it wasn’t weird to see me driving down the highway with the window open in -10 degree weather!
How cool my doctor was: Finding an OB/GYN you’re comfortable with isn’t always easy! Luckily, my mom referred me to hers and I loved her! I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I didn’t expect someone as cool as Dr. Violaine Marcoux. She’s young and energetic and straight to the point, yet always takes her time to answer your questions. I loved that she truly believed that pregnancy wasn’t a disease and that you could keep doing 99% of the things you were doing pre-pregnancy! She was interested in knowing how I was doing in my day-to-day life and encouraged me when I had crazy ideas like going clubbing at 9 months pregnant (she actually encouraged it!). She also loved the fact that I had a blog and told me to quote her giving her best gyno tip “when visiting your gyno, keep your shoes on! We’re actually much closer to your feet than any other part of your body!”. Giant LOL! Thanks for the tip Dr. Marcoux!!