The Beautiful Journey

It has been a while since I last posted here. Sometimes life gets in the way of things we want to do. I delivered my baby girl, and we are happy, and everything is fine.

But I would like to share my pregnancy experience.

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My bump didn’t get obvious until I was six months pregnant. But from the moment the woman announces that she is pregnant, people start asking if you’re having a boy or girl.. regardless of the fact that you won’t know for certain until your 18-20 weeks ultrasound. So you state the obvious, that you don’t know.. and they ask if you have a feeling one way or another.

We still love to predict the gender of our babies before we really know, even if you don’t plan to officially find out until birth.

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I’ve always heard that the way you are carrying during your pregnancy is one of the most cited ways of determining the sex of your baby. According to this myth, if you’re carrying high – you are having a girl, if you’re carrying low – you’re having a boy. I’ve also heard that if you’re carrying a girl, your belly weight will distribute wide ( meaning that you will gain it all over) .. While if you’re carrying a boy, your belly weight will distribute out ( baby seems to be all in the belly ). Well, it was the opposite with me! While in my first pregnancy with my boy, all my body gain weight, and I looked like a ball! Where now with my girl, it’s just my tummy which kept on stretching forward! Which made me think I’m carrying a boy! Until my doctor declared later that it’s a girl!! Anyway, everything I’ve read says that how you carry is a poor indicator of gender since the way you carry is more determined by your muscle and uterine tone as well as the position of the baby.

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My first trimester was pretty easy, I was so lazy, always tired, just wanted to sleep all the time, no matter how much sleep I’ve got! and every day I was waking up to the expectation that I might throw up! Since in my first pregnancy, I had that morning sickness, and although they told me it won’t last more than 14- 16 weeks, but it did last more!  But this time it just didn’t happen, I was so relieved.

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But the heartburn during my second and third trimesters was so bad, every day and night. I consulted my doctor and she gave me medicine, but it didn’t actually help. And being the kind of healthy woman, I always try to turn my attention to the alternative to taking pharmaceutical drugs. I hate taking any kind of pain reliever or medication, and even more during pregnancy, but heartburn is the only exception I made.

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I’ve always heard that heartburn during pregnancy means that the baby will have a full head of hair! Because the same hormone that relaxes the muscle at the bottom of your esophagus, is also the same hormone that promotes hair growth! So there’s a connection between the two! And I do believe it’s true, since my girl came with a long thick black hair! which fell out shortly after and grew in light brown!

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While pregnancy comes with a whole array of strange side effects, but one of the strangest occurred when I was walking along, minding my own business, and – out of the blue- Oh my, I can’t feel my legs! It felt like a cramp, I tried to move it up and down, but it was so hard to move, and the pain seemed to get worse!

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These painful spasms radiate through my calves and up my legs during the day, but were more unbearable at night, when fatigue and fluid accumulation are at their peak! It comes suddenly, lasts from a few seconds to several minutes, but nighttime leg cramps were the worst! It wakes me up, and preventing me from sleep sometimes!

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I remember many days waking up to the feeling that the pain has paralyzed me, I couldn’t move, I was yelling and crying, it was so agonizing!

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My Doctor said that these spasms are so common during pregnancy, and they might happen from carrying pregnancy weight, compression of the blood vessels, and a shortage of calcium or magnesium!

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I also suffered from iron deficiency. I was craving soap, Ice, and sand! I couldn’t get laundry detergent off my mind, I craved all the powdery kind! It’s amazing how much it influenced my life- I became like a drug addict, loved to play with sand, and taste it! kept a handful of it in my pocket, so I can touch it and rub my hands with it all the time! had to walk down the soap isle in whatever store I’m in, and when I wash the dishes I used an excessive amount of d.w. liquid, loved to get a fabric softener and wave it in front of my nose and it soothes me, besides I put one under my pillow!

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I experienced other symptoms because of this Anemia, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, lightheadedness, and the worst was restless legs!

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But at the end, I enjoyed the journey, watching my baby growing inside me, being the center of attention, feeling special knowing I’m making a person, and what is more special than this?!