Pregnancy for me was the worst; I spent most of my days up until 30 weeks with my head in the toilet bowl, and the sickness didn't really stop until my labour was over. I suffered with horrendous heartburn, had awful restless, tingling legs for weeks on end, itchy skin, sleepless nights upon sleepless nights, and yet somehow, I look back on it quite positively. Because of course, it's all worth it in the end once the beautiful, squishy baby arrives, and strangely I always look back on the things I miss about pregnancy, rather than the horrible parts of it!
1. Naps. Aaah sleep, how I do miss you. Being sick so often meant that half of my pregnancy was either spent in bed or lying on the sofa, and no-one judged me for taking a good 3-4 hour nap during the day. I mean, that baby making business is EXHAUSTING. These days I really have to choose between tackling the never-ending washing pile or taking a quick nap when Ada goes down for one, and sadly the housework wins most of the time.
2. Being able to eat anything and everything I wanted. The one positive of having hyperemesis was that I lost a stone in my first trimester, and being able to keep down so little, I could basically eat what I wanted. I did try to be the healthiest I possibly could, but if I was a choice between a salad I'd throw up, or Mcdonalds fries I can keep down, the fries won! Plus the lack of caffeine meant hot chocolates everywhere I went *scrummy*.
3. Thick hair. I've always had thin hair and an okay amount of it, but pregnancy sent it into overdrive. It sat so much nicer and looked so much healthier; I didn't realise quite how much it thickened up until I lost it all after Ada was born and spent two weeks covered in molting hair.
4. Feeling Ada move inside me. There honestly is no feeling like those first few little flutters as you start to feel your baby moving, it's just magical. Ada used to go absolutely crazy every time I got in the bath, and it was like our special hour together each day when I'd just rub my tummy and she'd respond back with kicks and punches (it's nicer than it sounds, honest!)
5. Baths. From my earlier point, towards the end of my pregnancy I took a bath every. damn. day. Even though I was majorly lazy and moisturised very rarely so ended up with crazy dry skin, bath time was just the best. Whenever I felt achy and tired, a bath would sort me out; these days I'm lucky to get a shower three times a week!
6. Being taken care of. Whilst I was ill and getting to grips with my pregnancy, Kane was ACE. He did all my food shopping, all the cleaning around the house, he even washed my hair once after I'd been sick ten times in a day. Sadly it didn't take long for things to get back to normal and me to take back my role of housewife once I was feeling better *sobs*
7. Comfortable clothes. There are some seriously stylish expectant Mama's out there, but I was not one of them. I practically lived in leggings and maternity jeans with an oversized t-shirt, and although it's nice to be able to dress up a bit more now, the comfort was awesome.
8. No periods. This one is pretty self explanatory, being able to have another baby again was not a welcome return for me.
9. Using pregnancy as an excuse. I took three driving tests and the third was when I was pregnant; I failed the other two thanks to nerves, but immediately explained I was pregnant during the third, just in case I had to pull over and puke! If I was doing anything wrong during my test I just blamed it on baby brain, and whilst I can't remember doing anything too wrong (except hitting the kerb on my parallel park!), I'm sure he looked favourably on me 'cause I was pregnant and crazy hormonal. And I basically used "baby brain" as an excuse for everything I forgot or did wrong for the entire nine months.
Is there anything you miss about being pregnant?