I swear I have been trying to write this post for the longest time! I really wanted to do a little post on each trimester and what my symptoms were, what I learnt and felt during each one. Admittedly the first trimester hit me so hard that all my plans of being the best most sharing blogger got thrown out the window. Instead I am going to do a little round up of the first and second trimester in this post. If you’re expecting or planning this might help you to feel a little more at ease.
Funny story; Wayne (I call him Parny if you don’t already know) and I had just decided it might be a good idea to wait a year before falling pregnant, not knowing we were already pregnant! Like they say when you make plans God laughs. We were super excited though when taking the test and finding out I was expecting our little babe just after our two year anniversary. We both love kids and are so overwhelmed with excitement and eager to start our new adventure together as mom and dad.
First Trimester – The Lonely Trimester
What no one prepared me for was the crazy roller coaster ride that is the first trimester. Besides being crazy tired all the time, I would literally drive home from work and pass out cold for two hours, I am not a very strong person when it comes to being sick or in pain. It was particularly frustrating for me to be nauseas as well as emotionally and physically sensitive. I experienced a weird aversion to meat, preparing it literally made me squirm but once it was cooked I would crave it intensely, I guess my body needed a protein injection because I ate a boiled egg every morning. I had days where I would just be nauseas and miserable all day. I tried eating sour sweets and citrus fruits, as suggested by a friend and drinking more water to help the nausea. Nothing seemed to really help besides sleep! I drove everyone around me crazy as I was just off my usual flow. Eventually my doctor gave me a script for some medication to help after I had spent a full day just throwing up constantly.
Besides those bad bits I kept working out everyday, which helped take my mind off my weird bodily changes. On the plus side my boobs went up a cup size which made me feel really attractive as well as my insanely glowing skin. So much so that people were sending me pictures of myself saying my skin looked flawless, stopping me in the street to compliment my skin! As an ex acne sufferer this was amazing. For a little while though my skin started breaking out again before going back to being really glowy.
I was really nervous to travel to LA during my first trimester. I had just found out I was preggy at 7 weeks and my friend, Natasha, who I was traveling with didn’t know since it was to early to tell any of my family or friends. I knew I would have to kinda be strong and hide how I was feeling because I’m such an awful liar I would end up just blurting it out. I ended up telling my Natasha after I ran to the bathroom mid convo to puke my guts out. The trip was really challenging for me as LA was having a heat wave, I had promised H&M all this content which was so hard to produce since I was feeling sick all the time and so tired. Not to mention excusing myself to use the bathroom at press meetings to throw up!
Keeping my pregnancy a secret was really important to me because I didn’t want to have to explain anything if, god forbid, anything had gone wrong but I was literally bursting at the seams to just tell everyone around me that I’m pregnant, more so to share how challenging it was for me. I felt really lonely and sad a lot of the time because I was so sick. Not to mention really guilty for not enjoying being pregnant. I experienced this distress during most of my pregnancy as my fear of the unknown often overwhelmed me. I worried a lot about being a good mom and about how I was going to balance my career goals with being the best mom for my babe.
Telling everyone was really exciting! I told my sisters first before anyone else and my best friend because they’re really good at keeping secrets. I also told my seven year old nephew because we are so close and I knew he would be excited to be a big cousin! When the time came I told him to tell his grandparents and they were so excited to hear the news from him! Both mine and Parny’s parents already have grandkids and they were both really excited to welcome a new addition to the family.
Second Trimester – The Glow Up
The lonely first trimester was totally worth it when the second rolled around! By now my entire family and friend circle knew I was pregnant I just hadn’t announced it on instagram yet since I had a really important scan to go through first. From about 16 weeks I got my appetite back, my skin went back to normal and I could see a faint little bump.
At about 20 weeks I definitely had loads of energy and felt a bit of super woman syndrome thinking I could do it all – to be honest I kinda could! There must have been some crazy happy hormone surging through me.
My bump started showing around 21 weeks which is when I told the world I was pregnant. I kinda wanted to keep the whole pregnancy private which was a strange new feeling for me. I am not a private person, I am sure most of you guesses since I AM A BLOGGER after all. I had to tell everyone though because soon enough it would be pretty challenging to hide. I also shot my Cosmo cover story around this time which was so exciting! The shoot was long and tedious but I soldiered through and luckily I had this invincible energy which allowed me to slay on set for 13 hours (yup apparently cover shoots take that long!)
Around 24 weeks my sister, hubby and I decided to do a quick trip to Dubai to visit our family and friends over there and have a little bit of fun before baby arrives. All of this was totally doable and I didn’t feel the need to rest or put my feet up or anything which was great! I had a bit of round ligament pain during my Dubai trip and started feeling Braxton Hicks for the first time – which I had called “brixton hicks” for a couple weeks (LOL).
Besides a few bouts of anxiety about the future and very minor aches and pains this was definitely a fun trimester where I sometimes forgot I was even pregnant!
Third Trimester – The Grow up
The third trimester, or the ‘grow up’ as I like to call it was probably the most awkward for me but fun at the same time. I think it was fun because I was comically huge and I really enjoyed having a massive bump to style. I look really young so I love when older women would stare at me in the mall, I once overheard two ladies discussing how sorry they felt for me because I was so young. I loved going up to them and saying “By the way I am 28!”. I also thoroughly enjoyed the productivity that came with nesting. My home is organised and gorgeous due to my crazy nesting period! I did my maternity shoot with one of my close friends Niquita and had my baby shower too! There was loads of excitement around soon becoming a mom.
The tough parts though are that the third trimester aches and pains are loud and proud. Leg cramps and heartburn were the bane of my existence with sleep also being really hard to come by. My cravings were lit as well, I felt like I could eat so much more without feeling satisfied. I quickly put on a whole bunch of weight of course. I simply felt uncomfortable and I could without a doubt feel the extra 13 Kg’s I added on during my pregnancy. What made it most fun though was that in a few short weeks I got to meet my baby!
The third trimester was cut short for me as I gave birth at 37 weeks to a healthy baby boy. We are so happy and blessed to be experiencing parenthood now. All the pregnancy drama was totally worth it when I gave birth to little Khalid. I will be posting my birthing story really soon – as soon as Khalid gives me a break from nursing!
Xo Aisha
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