You hear the stories about how wonderful pregnancy is and how it gives you this "glow.
" But for me, pregnancy was not a pleasant experience.
I found it difficult to adjust to being pregnant.
Morning sickness was a nightmare - they should call it "all day sickness"! Whoever said it was just a morning thing should be shot.
Feeling sick all day and then throwing up religiously every night for 4 months was awful.
I couldn't even walk into the kitchen without feeling ill.
And the thought of eating just made me run for the toilet! I didn't know what my body wanted.
I had no appetite for the majority of my pregnancy.
I couldn't bring what I normally brought to work for lunch as cold meats were not allowed so I ended up eating avocado and cheese sandwiches for 4 months (though I did vary it up - sometimes I had just plain cheese sandwiches and other times I had just avocado sandwiches.
Yay - not!).
I had sciatic nerve pain which nearly crippled me in the early parts of the pregnancy and then resurfaced again with a vengeance at the end of the pregnancy - so high heels whilst I was pregnant were definitely a thing of the past! And my memory - what memory?? I struggled to remember things that were said to me a minute ago! I had the embarrassing incident of asking my boss for some instructions and then having to ask her again and then again within the space of 5 minutes.
After which, when I walked out of her office, I completely forgot what she had said to me! So if I had to go back in time and give my pregnant self some advice, what would that be? o Relax - don't stress out about things you can't control.
As long as you do what is best for your baby, then that is the best you can hope for.
o Sleep - get plenty of it! Don't take sleep for granted and be thankful you can have 7 hrs uninterrupted pleasure (and yes, even though you are waking up in the middle of the night to go the toilet, I still count that as getting uninterrupted sleep!) o Stay off the high heels early - don't try and toddle around in heels for the sake of vanity.
Your back will thank you.
o To ward off the nausea feeling - just accept that you are going to feel like crap.
You can try the ginger drinks, the regular eating/snacking, but if they don't work, then sorry, you are just going to have to deal with it! o Childcare centres - get in early!! When I started looking for childcare 6 months into my pregnancy I was told it was too late - most centres had a waiting list of over 100 people.
Start as soon as you know you are pregnant, if not to save you from having to drive around to 15 different centres and heaving your pregnant belly in and out of the car.
And definitely don't delay it until the baby arrives - I had to go to one centre carrying my 6 kilo baby for about 40 minutes.
Needless to say, my back and neck were a wreck the next day.
o Don't wait until the last minute to get all your major baby items - I was at the height of my pregnancy in summer and trying to visit baby shops after baby shops in summer when I was about to pop was a nightmare.
o Frozen meals are great - after the baby is born, the last thing you want to do is cook.
So if you can (and you don't feel like you are going to be sick every 5 minutes), cook lots of meals and freeze them.
That way you can just pull meals out of the freezer when you are feeling exhausted.
So there you go - my tips to my pregnant self.
Now I just need to fast forward into the future and get some tips for raising a baby!!