New Mummy Blog: Pregnancy Is Making My Body Unrecognisable

When you’re pregnant, one thing you come to accept fairly early on is that your body is no longer your own. You hope that one day it will be returned to you, although unfortunately probably not in the same condition that it was previously. But for

now and for the foreseeable, it’s no longer under your control.

The Weight Gain

Of course it’s inevitable you’re going to get bigger but there’s always hope the weight gain will manifest as a neat little bump, leaving the rest of your body untouched. Yeah, right. 
During my first pregnancy, I went from being a gym bunny size eight, still enjoying the after effects of my pre-wedding shape up in the preceding year or two, to nothing short of enormous.

I can’t even tell you how many pounds I put on, because there was no way I was going anywhere near the scales.

Honor wasn’t even a big baby, so I can’t pass the blame on to her. But severe morning sickness meant a stop to my gym visits before the end of my first trimester, and my only pregnancy craving being cake – any cake, didn’t matter what flavour, type or colour – meant my fate was sealed.

The Water Retention
As if I didn’t feel big enough, then came the water retention in the last few weeks. My hands and feet were unrecognisable. I was like one of the ugly sisters, ungainly trying to stuff my puffy feet into shoes in vain.

My husband nicknamed them the klumps, in honour of Eddie Murphy’s oversized character in The Nutty Professor. And then there was my face – the cheeks, and the multiple chins.

Post-Birth Blues
Things didn’t improve much once Honor was born, either. My hair, so healthy in pregnancy, started falling out by the handful.

My pregnancy belly showed no signs of shifting – that magical weight loss aid all the celebs swear by, breastfeeding, didn’t have quite the same effect for me. Admittedly, that might be something to do with the cake craving, which didn’t disappear along with the end of the pregnancy.

Round Two
This pregnancy, I haven’t piled on quite so much (yet – there’s still time) but I was starting from a much softer position, still carrying some baby weight from number one, much of my body unrecognisable, and not ever having felt like I’d regained control of my body.  

In fact, it was 2011 that I was last truly in charge. Months of trying for a baby meant its own pressures. Then came pregnancy number one, followed by breastfeeding. A couple of months after I stopped nursing, I was pregnant again.

As well as the physical changes, there’s also the never-ending list of things you shouldn’t eat or must not do. You adhere to the letter, of course you do, for you want to give your child the very best start to life.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have the urge to switch the mocktail menu for the cocktail one, or to tuck into the brie on the cheeseboard. And it seems every day there’s a new report out about what you should be avoiding when pregnant – from the obvious (caffeine) to the surprising (make up) to the mundane (hot baths).

And there’s the separating of fact and fiction, and the scaremongers who love to tell you that by eating pineapple you’re risking miscarriage. And again it doesn’t end with the birth, if you’re breastfeeding. Trying to keep track and to do, and eat, the right thing during pregnancy and early motherhood is rife with pressure.

It's All Worth It
It’s all worth it though. It really doesn’t matter if I have to skip the glass of wine for a while longer. And, yes, my body will probably never look the same again, but that’s because it won’t ever be the same again.

It’s made two new humans, after all. There’s that lovely saying about stretch marks – if anything to do with stretch marks can be lovely – about the tiger who has earned her stripes. That’s the thing to remember.

Although it does mean I will be avoiding the mirror, and the bikini, for a long while yet.

[New Mummy Blog: Dealing With Unwanted Comments During Pregnancy]

[New Mummy Blog: Two Very Different Pregnancies]

Are you happy with your post-baby shape? Let us know in the comments.