Preggo Woes

Working my butt off in the gym at 27 weeks AOG.

                           

This pregnancy brought out the paranoid person in me. Since this is a planned pregnancy, I took all the necessary precautions as I was anticipating for a possible conception. I was taking folic acid as early as 2 months before I got married (and stopping every time I found out I'm not yet pregnant, haha), got rid of all whitening lotions and creams, finding my way to eat healthily and I took yoga classes when I got here in Bangkok. I was ready to do anything just to have this little muffin. 

One year and nine months of marriage and four unsuccessful attempts later, my pregnancy sets in however it is accompanied by a hullabaloo of negative scenarios such as abortion. As much as we want to share the good news to everyone, I asked the husband to keep it to ourselves for the mean time as I was afraid I might only disappoint our loved ones if I lost the embryo. But our little secret didn't last a week as he was super excited to break it to our immediate family members. We implore them to pray for a successful and healthy pregnancy and baby.

At 27 weeks as of writing, the last week of my second trimester, I am beyond grateful that everything went smoothly since day one. I suffered the usual 1st-tri distress of headache, nausea and fatigue on an almost daily basis for almost three months. Adding to that is the contrasting hunger pangs and lack of appetite. I mainly craved for Maranao food particularly my Mom's cooking but since it's out of my reach, I can only be patient with whatever in store for me here. I didn't want to make my pregnancy a burden to my husband, I am lucky enough that he frequently brings me anything I might want to eat but my taste buds seemed to have been numb during those days. So unlikely of me. I am quite lucky to be not working while pregnant because I can just lie down at home whenever I feel nauseous (I haven't experienced vomiting, lucky me), I can only imagine those mothers or mothers-to-be who are enduring all the discomfort in the middle of work.  

My baby bump says hello! :)

On the second trimester, the discomfort gradually disappeared but my appetite came back not without a fierce revenge! I eat almost every 2-hours that my taste buds seem to be very accommodating to whatever you shove in my mouth! Consequently, I gained quite a lot of weight, some few pounds in excess of what I am supposed to gain at this stage of pregnancy. I try to eat healthily, meaning totally cutting out caffeine and soda drinks, more on dairy products, fresh vegetable and fruits, fish and meat, rice and bread. I try to strike a balance with the nutrients that my baby and I need without gaining too much weight, but I guess I can't help to eat more than what is required. Well, I'll deal with that post-delivery. Haha!

As I am gearing towards the third and final trimester, some of the physical discomforts are slowly coming back. I suffer from pregnancy insomnia, difficulty of breathing when lying flat on my back, allergic rhinitis attacks, the creepy-crawly sensation on my legs whenever I lie down to relax which urges me to frequently move my legs (restless leg syndrome), and my appetite is no way going downhill. My baby kicks very strongly and frequently nowadays that sometimes she's giving me a hard time to sleep. With all of these, never did I complain. I embrace all these distress and consider it as a blessing. With all the pessimistic scenarios brewing in my head during the first trimester, I am so grateful that my baby and I have reached this far. In few months' time, I will cradle my beautiful daughter in my arms and shower her with all the love in this world, in shaa Allah. I always caught myself daydreaming about her and our future conversations. The husband and I are so blessed beyond words.  

Confirming the truth of what other mothers say, it is during one's pregnancy that one realizes to appreciate our very own mothers. Being a firstborn, I constantly think that all the excitement stirring inside me must be the exact same feeling that my Mom had when she was pregnant of me. My Mom was even working so I can only imagine what she went through for the six of us, most especially when she was pregnant with my triplet siblings! OMG. True enough, no matter what we do for them, we cannot repay all the hardships that our mothers have endured to bring us out into this world and eventually in raising us to be morally upright people.

My parents are coming over here in Bangkok in two days' time, I am so excited to tell them my pregnancy story.  I cannot wait to hug my Mom so tightly and THANK her for everything she's done for me and my siblings. Friends, while we still have our mothers with us in this world, let us not waste a single opportunity to give them joy and happiness. In shaa Allah. :)