It felt as if my body was failing me
Wow, I got pregnant after a very short period
Everything happened super fast and went well. At 12 weeks, we shared the big news with all our friends on a Saturday evening. My belly was growing nicely and I felt great. Until after that Saturday evening... The vomiting started. I thought it was quite strange. “Usually it happens before the 12 weeks and not after”, is what I always heard. But okay, I went to the doctor and got some pills for it. With them, I was able to keep the vomiting under control and it stopped after a while.
Around 18 weeks, I already felt my pelvis becoming less stable and my back had to compensate for the increasing weight. I could actually live with that. Certain ailments come with pregnancy and I took that into account. But after 20 weeks, it just got worse and worse. Not very strange, since the weight was only increasing. I've been to physiotherapists, osteopaths, and general practitioners. I even tried acupuncture once, but nothing helped. In my eyes, I had failed. My body had failed. Becoming pregnant was always a beautiful thing in my eyes, but at that moment it really didn't feel that way. All the specialists gave me the same advice: take it easy and endure your pregnancy with these complaints. GREAT.
My life became more limited with each passing week
I had to work less and from 28 weeks on, I was home full-time. My household chores were done by my mother and friends. Simon did the grocery shopping in the evenings. And I was lying in bed or on the couch. I had never felt so awful. I was (am) young, had an active job, and walked a lot with our dog. So how could it be that my back couldn't handle the extra weight? I started to despise my body. And yes, sometimes even my pregnancy. All the things I wanted to do before our dear baby arrived were pushed aside or limited. Mentally, it was tough. Because no matter how often everyone came over, I still felt lonely at times. When it was fun somewhere in the evening, I still had to go home to lie down, and the fun was over for me. There have been evenings when I just cried. Because I wanted to join in with what everyone else was doing. Because Simon gave up his fun evenings to be with me, even though deep down I knew he would have liked to go out too. But I also learned a lot from this experience. You find out who your real friends are. Who will always support you. Even when you really can't see a way out, they are there for you. They even come to clean your toilet. And what I especially learned is that you have to enjoy the little things. Appreciate what you have and can do. Oh, and I've often been asked if I would ever want to be pregnant again with the risk of another pregnancy like this. My answer? 'Yes, because no back pain can outweigh what I've received in return. My joy, my daughter.
JEANINE