Pregnancy is not easy for everyone. Some people sail through with no problems, and don't get me wrong, I'm pleased for them. I'm glad they've enjoyed every minute. But for the rest of us it can be pretty shit sometimes.
I'm 34 weeks pregnant with my third child at the moment and it's not been plain sailing.
I had my first two kids in my 20's and they were pretty straight forward. I had the usual morning sickness and aches and pains and that was about it. I'm now in my early 30's with an 8 year gap between being pregnant and it's absolutely ruined me.From the start the sickness was horrendous. Then at 18 weeks I started bleeding. I was scared I was miscarrying (thankfully I wasn't), but it turns out I had Ecoli. This can be common in pregnancy, but for weeks I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was exhausted, crying, vomiting and really quite poorly.
Antibiotics sorted it out, but it wasn't long before I got another urine infection. I've had two subsequent ones. All this stuff is common in pregnancy, but it doesn't make you feel any better knowing that.
Because my previous pregnancies had resulted in what the consultants say are 'small' babies, I have had to be monitored for the growth of the baby. So since about 24 weeks I've had a scan every 3 weeks and monitoring in the hospital weekly. Going to the hospital that often has been difficult, especially juggling two other kids. Of course I know it's all for the best, but it has really tired me out.
Last week I picked up a bug and vomited every day for a week. I could not keep any food down. I think I caught it on one of my hospital visits. I saw the consultant at the end of the week and he gave me anti-sickness tablets. Finally I thought I might be able to keep something down. I did keep food down, but the tablets had a really bad effect on me. I had bad shakes and felt like the room was spinning and I was going to pass out.
The funny thing is, that in the week I didn't eat anything the baby grew to what they consider to be a 'normal size'. How does that work?
Don't get me wrong I'm happy to be pregnant. But if I had this experience with my first child, I don't know if I would have had any more kids. I also know that compared to a lot of pregnant women, I've had it easy.
If someone isn't enjoying their pregnancy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling that way, in my opinion. Making women feel bad needs to stop!
