Ridiculous Things I've Learnt In My First Half Of Pregnancy

As a first time mum to be, I had no clue what to expect from pregnancy. There has been so many things I've come across that I never even knew existed and finding other people who were going through the same shock as me was pretty reassuring to know I'm not the only one. So I thought I'd share a few things just incase one of you is sat there thinking the same thing.

Morning Sickness

Let's start with the obvious. "Morning sickness typically happens to you in your first trimester." NOT EVERY TIME! I basically breezed my first trimester without knowing I was pregnant. It was only because I was late I just checked because I got myself worked up...if i hadn't of checked I could have gone the whole 12 weeks without feeling any different. Then BOOM! Like a big fat slap in the face it hit me. I thought it was flu...wrong. Morning sickness came to bite my ass with vengeance and here I am at 22 weeks writing this with a bottle of water after being sick 3 times today. Also morning sickness isn't just being sick. If I stand up for too long I get dizzy and have to sit down. No matter where I am I must sit...yes this means in public places. At gatherings I have been in a full blown conversation and had to slowly squat to the floor and tell them to just carry on, I just need to be low to the ground. This makes you feel like a total freak. Yes it's also happened in H&M whilst trying to pay, mortifying to say the least.

Pains

This hadn't even entered my brain. You see people all the time getting more and more pregnant and you don't even think about it hurting; well it does. There's this ridiculous thing called Round Ligament Pain, which in my case felt like if I sneezed my belly was going to rip open at any second. Usually this happens when you move suddenly or bend down etc because your body and joints and more relaxed to accommodate baby. But with me I only got it when I sneezed. One sneeze and I'd be rolling around on the bed like I'd been shot. The crazy thing is this amount of pain is totally normal. Then the stretching pains and aches begin. Recently I've felt like my belly is so heavy to what I'm used to I will just fall forward like a backward beetle stuck on it's back. Yes I'm well aware I'm only half way through and by the end I may well exist just face down with my bump in the air because I'm not allowed to lie on my front! 

Food Aversions 

We mostly hear about hilarious cravings people have like dipping mars bars into mushroom soup or something similarly gross, we won't really hear too much about people going off food they once loved more than their unborn child. For me...no meat and pretty much all hot food until about 2/3 weeks ago. If it was cold great, if it was cooked, stay away from me or I'll vomit everywhere. Even words of said meats were enough to make me gag. My other half very much enjoyed reminding me of this greasy pork filled pita called a Gyros he was obsessed with in Greece back in June...even this one word would be enough to make me heave. This is still something that is very prominent. I don't like meat that much at all and have only just been able to stomach chicken in small pieces. I did however become obsessed with dairy products. Ice cream (I'm on tub 7), cheddar cheese, cheese strings, milkshakes, yoghurts (I was getting through a pack of 6 muller corners in 2 days, this was me fighting to not eat them all in one sitting...I then literally had to battle with myself to have 1 a day. Which leads me onto my next topic...

Random Emotional Overloads

Sticking to the topic of yoghurts and foods you MUST have or your world will end around you. I had just opened my last muller corner, the banana and chocolate cornflake one...saved it till last because it was my fave. I put it on the side to shut the fridge, turned back around and literally watched my hand forget how to hand and it just pushed it off the side onto the floor. WTF hand?! This ended me. I was in floods of tears and just sat on the floor next to my beloved yoghurt and wept for its passing. What made it worse was the ever so helpful labrador came in and hoovered it...I had to fight his banana smelling face so he wouldn't eat the chocolate pieces. I'd say this is my biggest breakdown so far, thankfully. And I have yet to experience one in public. A smaller burst of emotions was opening baby clothes I ordered online. When they arrived I was not prepared for just how teeny there are and this made me cry. Yes, I cried because baby clothes are tiny and too cute for my body to handle.

Baby Brain

Ok, so we knew this was a thing right? When our friends or family members have been preggers and they come out with hilariously stupid comments that make little to no sense at all. (MY sister once stated leprechauns lived in my mothers downstairs toilet). But I didn't realise just how much it happens. For example - I lost my own lunch in the house. Yes that is how special this topic is. I had made a nice cheese sandwich. I had put it down to make myself a drink. I then took my drink upstairs. An hour later I realised I had forgotten my lunch downstairs so I went hunting for said lunch...couldn't find it ANYWHERE! Got the hump with myself for being so bloody stupid and went back upstairs. Another 30 minutes later I went into the garage to grab a yoghurt...there on the side was my cheese sandwich. I had taken it and given it to the garage. Why? I have no idea! I don't even remember doing it! I'm sure baby brain is only going to get worse through this pregnant but seriously, it makes you feel so totally stupid.

You Pee A LOT

So me being my naive self this made total sense to wee more towards the end as baby is pushing on your bladder or occasionally using it as a play thing while inside you. But seriously from about 15 weeks if I laughed too hard, it was close I'll tell you that much. Even trying to sit up in bed the wee pang would hit. Not to mention when you have to go, you REALLY have to go. No saying "it's ok I can hold it"...no you can't!!! There have been multiple times I've have been in the car and hit a bump and felt like my water broke...thankfully they haven't. No I was not prepared for this, but at least I'm not some of the poor ladies who have spoken about literally wetting themselves in public at only 18 weeks gone. I am now doing daily pelvic floor exercises to prevent such horrific occurrences in public.

Lack of Excitement

This one is not so ridiculous, and after reading up a lot about it recently it made me feel whole lot better. If you read my Pregnancy Story you will know this was not a planned pregnancy and in the beginning it was seriously hard for me to accept. Once I had accepted it, I then felt really disappointed in myself that I couldn't feel excitement. I am very much a "it's happened now make the most of it" person so I found how I was feeling very confusing. I was being congratulated by those we chose to tell first, some of them were so happy it made me jealous that I wasn't as happy as them. I felt pretty detached from the pregnancy for a while. Even at our 12 week scan I was aware I was seeing a baby but in my head it wasn't mine. It wasn't my baby wriggling around and waving at us. It was amazing and I couldn't stop smiling but I just felt like it wasn't real. In order to make myself more excited and attached to my bump I fully immersed myself in baby things. I bought little bits I read up everything there was to know but this didn't help all that much. It was only really when we had our gender scan with no doctors, a happy atmosphere, totally relaxed, in a place I feel most at home did it really hit me. When we found out she was a little girl, that was when pregnancy hit me. You don't really hear much about people not being excited in pregnancy as there are so many parties, baby showers, smiling selfies, gushing status' that I felt really alone on this topic. But it's totally normal. Some people just aren't as excited during pregnancy, but it doesn't mean you'll love your little peanut any less when they arrive. So if you feel like this, give yourself a break and don't beat yourself up about it. Or if you're really worried chatting to your midwife can really help.

All these things however are just temporary and all part of the experience. I know that no matter how many times I'm sick, nearly wee myself, forget things, cry or throw a tantrum, in the end I get to hold my beautiful baby girl and know it was all totally worth it. Doesn't stop me wishing it would hurry up a bit though.