Before my first pregnancy, my experience with pregnancies was really only limited to seeing my sister go through it. She had a miscarriage with her first, which was absolutely devastating; but then carried her first born to full term. She experienced mostly morning sickness and tiredness. But, as we know, each woman has a different experience through her pregnancies; not only was mine different from hers, all of my three pregnancies were somewhat unique from each other. So here it is… My pregnancy experience – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Let’s start with the “ugly!”
Morning Sickness
The term “morning sickness” can be very misleading, as it doesn’t necessarily have to happen in the morning. In fact, in my case, my pregnancy-related nausea started at about 5pm, like clockwork, and got progressively worse through the night. I basically only tolerated fries and eggs for dinner and had a very specific aversion to chicken that I noticed in my second pregnancy. I didn’t actively vomit as is always shown on TV. I just felt terrible, and dry heaved most of the time. With my second pregnancy, I have a very distinct memory and story of my nausea. I worked about an hour’s drive from my home, and I had just filled my nausea medication in the morning but hadn’t started taking a dose yet. On the way home, I abruptly vomited as I left the parking garage at work. I quickly grabbed the pharmacy paper bag that the medication had been in to catch my vomit, only to discover, to my horror, that the bag had ripped right through the bottom. I cried as I drove home for an hour sitting in my puke. Thank God I had my husband waiting for me with open arms at home, who cleaned my clothes and car for me.
Skin Issues
I didn’t have any major acne in my teenage years, but developed it later in my twenties. It was still relatively mild. When I was pregnant with my first child, I had such terrible acne that my face actually hurt. Working in a retail pharmacy, I got a lot of unsolicited advice. The acne started very early on in my pregnancy, and my usual patients didn’t realize that it was due to my hormonal changes. I was given advice on different soaps and creams and even ridiculous ideas like rub your saliva all over your face (yes, I know). It was hard to maintain a poker face throughout all of it. I have horrible scarring from my acne, and to this day I have my children asking me questions about it. Truthfully, this was something I really didn’t want, but we will revisit this in another post.
My skin also became very dry and itchy but thank goodness I found a cream that soothed everything. I had a friend that developed a rash called purpura over her body. I can’t imagine that to be very comfortable, so I am thankful that I just had some minor itchiness.
On top of all this, I had stretch marks during my first pregnancy that just got increasingly obvious with each child. I don’t anticipate those will ever go away, but honestly, I am ok with that. I choose to wear them like a badge of honour.
Gastro Issues
A lot of time constipation can become a problem in pregnancy. I had the opposite issue. TMI, I know; but if you are reading this, I am assuming you weren’t hoping for a story about how pregnancy is all roses and daisies. I didn’t mind the more frequent washroom trips, I actually felt like it helped with my other issue – heartburn.
I had terrible heartburn and I remember with my first pregnancy I woke up in the middle of the night with chest pain thinking I was having a heart attack. I took some Tums and drank some ginger-ale and it subsided. I had heartburn with each of my pregnancies and sometimes contributed to my nausea. Two Tums a day helped control my symptoms and I sometimes needed the occasional ginger-ale. However, there were days that the heartburn after lunch made it hard to talk to patients for long stretches of time. I feel like after having my children, I have become more prone to heartburn; though that could also be from the added stress of having three children.
Swelling
Lucky for me, I was VERY pregnant three times during the summer heat. I had tremendous swelling of my legs and feet each time. I know that sometimes swelling can indicate increased blood pressure and with my second pregnancy, my swollen hands were something novel to me and were very concerning. My blood pressure was slightly higher than my typical norm but still nothing to be concerned about. My feet were so swollen that wearing shoes became difficult and people either laughed or cringed at the sight of them. I made jokes about ogre feet, but I was a little sad to see my tiny feet become so grotesque each time. After I had the children, my feet took a few weeks to shrink back in size but after three pregnancies my feet have enlarged enough that I don’t fit into some older shoes. So, it’s true, women’s feet can change sizes after having kids.
Pregnancy Brain
With pregnancy and so much on our minds, it’s no surprise that sometimes we forget things or do things that we might not do otherwise. Every time I did something unlike my typical behaviour, I would have people make jokes about pregnancy brain or as one of my co-workers called it “mom dumbs”. I find the latter term to be offensive quite honestly. And as much as I want to blame my haphazard way of living and my forgetful nature on being pregnant, what’s my excuse for when I am NOT pregnant?
I have had friends who have had different “ugly experiences” with pregnancy – like constipation, pregnancy rhinitis, severe nausea and vomiting, constipation, infected styes in their eyes, greasy hair, melasma and so on.
All in all, my “ugly” side of pregnancy was actually not that terrible. I guess that’s what we think in retrospect when something truly “beautiful” like your child emerges at the end of your journey.