Ok so today I found my first stretch marks on my lower belly - at 32 weeks and 6 days pregnant. They aren't huge and I know I'm being vain and silly complaining about them, but I was very sad. It feels like this body doesn't belong to me anymore! There is not one bodily system that has gone unscathed through this pregnancy:
Despite all these "side-effects" of pregnancy, I'm actually having a great pregnancy! I still look like me, I am still working full time, am still active, and feel all maternal and loving and amazed at the precious life inside my belly. I know many other women have it much much worse (for example, 9 month long morning sickness, symphisis pubic dysfunction pain, heartburn), so I shouldn't complain, and I'm not! I feel very blessed and lucky to be given this opportunity to bring life into this world and to create a little human made up of me and my beloved. I know this is a wonderful position to be in.
However, I was/am HIGHLY unprepared for the sheer physicality of pregnancy. I guess I never thought about the stresses on the body, and how much it takes to grow a human. Hollywood makes it look so damn easy.
AND I've got labour to look forward to, which I hear is like running a marathon that you can never fully prepare for. :)
As for the stretch marks which prompted me to write this post, I know they will fade, and I know that they are a small price to pay for Baby. Hubby was wonderful about them but I suspect I could grow a second head and he would still love me just as much (or even more, seeing as I would have a second head I could devote solely to him!). I am very lucky and I will definitely get over it. Just needed to vent. The hormones don't help either with rational reasoning skills at present.
- Gastrointestinal / Digestive - constipation. gas.
- Urinary - hello, going to the bathroom a million times a day!
- Cardiovascular / Respiratory/ Circulatory system- my heart has to deal with pumping an increased volume of blood around the body and so I'm huffing and puffing to do the simplest things like climbing one flight of stairs or even walking up a gentle incline. I have to sleep on only the left side of my body so as to increase the blood flow to the placenta and not compress the vena cava.
- Endocrine - Sigh, gestational diabetes. Hormonal mood swings.
- Immune / Lymphatic - depressed immune response (massive hayfever this year) and increased lymph in my body.
- Musculo skeletal - ligaments and tendons softening and stretching and making my lower back very very sore. Insane wake-me-up-in-agony cramps in my calves.
- Nervous - headaches, eyesight deteriorating, baby brain, highly emotional!
- Integumentary - the ridiculous itchiness of my skin in the first and second trimester and now newly arrived stretch marks. I must confess my skin (generally) has continued to be clear and glowy and my nails are indestrucitble. I've also not noticed any difference in my hair.
- Reproductive - I'm growing a baby! :)
Despite all these "side-effects" of pregnancy, I'm actually having a great pregnancy! I still look like me, I am still working full time, am still active, and feel all maternal and loving and amazed at the precious life inside my belly. I know many other women have it much much worse (for example, 9 month long morning sickness, symphisis pubic dysfunction pain, heartburn), so I shouldn't complain, and I'm not! I feel very blessed and lucky to be given this opportunity to bring life into this world and to create a little human made up of me and my beloved. I know this is a wonderful position to be in.
However, I was/am HIGHLY unprepared for the sheer physicality of pregnancy. I guess I never thought about the stresses on the body, and how much it takes to grow a human. Hollywood makes it look so damn easy.
AND I've got labour to look forward to, which I hear is like running a marathon that you can never fully prepare for. :)
As for the stretch marks which prompted me to write this post, I know they will fade, and I know that they are a small price to pay for Baby. Hubby was wonderful about them but I suspect I could grow a second head and he would still love me just as much (or even more, seeing as I would have a second head I could devote solely to him!). I am very lucky and I will definitely get over it. Just needed to vent. The hormones don't help either with rational reasoning skills at present.
RSS Feed