I look like a Black Shrek!!!

There's a lot of amazing things about being pregnant - another human is growing inside of you...it's a miracle. Every time you feel the baby move, or in my baby's case kicking and punching ...you feel the bond getting stronger. The scans where you can actually see the baby starting to take form are unreal and it makes you start thinking about the reality of having a child that you will be responsible for, for the rest of your life!

However, the symptoms of pregnancy are just butters!!! Most people will say I'm lucky because I didn't have any morning sickness at all. Most pregnant women suffer from nausea, vomiting, or both during their first trimester. Symptoms are usually worse in the morning, but they can continue all day long. Awkward!!! Imagine going to work and throwing up all over the place...not the one!

Now I'm not sure if this is karma...because of all the characters/animals I've compared my friends to over the years but pregnancy has changed the way I look! I have a gift...I can take a look at you and tell you what/who you look like. My closest friends have been compared to Pumba/Squirrels/Horses etc. they may deny it at 1st but they know its true. But why me??? Pregnancy has literally turned me into Shreks wife!

You may think it's not that deep...but it actually is! My nose has taken up half of my face and is showing no signs of slowing down...I've never had a small nose so I thought God will allow me...but no, the curse is real! #pregnancyhurts So my face is getting eaten up by my nose and so the rest of my face is now trying to compete! My cheeks, lips and eyes are all bulging out in the name of keeping all things equal. To make the whole situation worse I decided to go for a big curly hairstyle which I thought would distract everyone from the size of my face but instead it just makes me hot and sweaty which is just another thing I could do without!!!

I went to tell my mum my revelation about looking like Shrek because I thought she would comfort me as that is what mothers are supposed to do...But nope she was like, "that's exactly what you look like! And Prince walks, talks and eats like Shrek." She finished my whole life in one sentence. I went to go and have a lie down so the pain could subside but when I closed my eyes all I saw was my future family portrait:

Another annoying symptom I have is that I no longer sound like an 8 year old girl...I skipped a womanly voice and went straight to Morgan Freeman! There's so much bass in my voice that the room vibrates when I talk! I mean why do things like this happen to me...I also have the blackest neck in history and don't even get me started on the amount of hair growth in every place imaginable...lovely!

But in the voice of Morgan Freeman, "If all these ridiculous symptoms bring me one step closer to seeing my beautiful shrekified baby...let it be."

3 months to go!!!

I'm exactly 6 months pregnant today. Half a year!!! Time has literally flown by with no signs of slowing down. I thought writing a blog for the whole 9 months would be a bit long so I waited patiently for the final trimester to put this experience into words.

My journey started 4.5 months ago on a random Wednesday. As I work for a fantastic company, I was scheduled to go for a full health check up with Bupa in Canary Wharf. This was my first time so I was a bit nervous and was praying that everything would be ok. they started with the basics - weight, height, BMI, urine test, blood test, blood pressure etc. Then they stepped it up with the spinal check, ECG, lung function/capacity test and a flexibility test to find any stiffness in my muscles. I would highly recommend a health check - it was thorough and they gave you a detailed report on your health within a week.

Anyway, I digress...my ECG showed that my heart was beating faster than average and was slightly irregular so the Dr asked me whether I had been dizzy, fatigued or sick. I told her that I'd been dizzy a few times after working out but just put it down to dehydration. She asked me various other questions and said she would like to do some more tests. My mind was racing because I didn't know what the outcome was going to be and I felt like I had zero control.

She called the lab for the urine sample to be brought down and informed me that it was highly unlikely but she would do a pregnancy test on my urine just to rule it out. I was thinking, LOL how jokes would that be if I was preggers. Prince and I had discussed it over the past couple of months and I had been #teamwait and he had been #teamcreate. Now, truth be told we had agreed in marriage counselling that we would start trying for a baby in January hence his enthusiasm but I had just got a new role at work and thought one more year would have been ideal!

So the urine sample finally came down and I was so calm, we were laughing and chatting as we were waiting for the result. Then she went over to look at it and said, I don't understand...it says you're pregnant. My first thought was that she was joking and was just saying that to scare me so I smiled and said, okie, Then she said, you're taking the news quite well. I was like, what!!!! are you serious??? My brain stopped functioning, I was thinking of everything all at once...there was silence for like a minute. Then she broke it by saying, let me do another test just in case... After the second test was also positive, we both just sat there and laughed for a bit.

The Dr then did a stomach examination and because I was feeling some pain in my stomach she got scared and said the pregnancy might be happening in the wrong place so she was sending me for an emergency antenatal check up. As I had come via tube she said I needed to call Prince to come and get me. When I called I said, the Dr said I'm not well and I can't get on the tube so come and get me.

I will never forget Prince's words, "You were probably ill before you got there and you managed on the tube ok, you will be fine getting back. I'm busy at work I can't come all the way to canary wharf. I believe in you, you can do it." So I said ok, speak to the Dr. After literally 10 secs he agreed to come and get me!!! I couldn't believe it. When it was me, he thought I was over exaggerating but when the Dr said it, he lapped it up!

To cut a long story short...he came to get me and acted extremely concerned. I looked into his naughty puppy dog eyes and told him that I was pregnant. And his first words were, "You did it." I didn't understand the statement and tbh I still don't understand it now. But when you're happy you laugh at everything and happy I was...we laughed throughout the journey to the appointment not at all caring about the complications the Dr thought I had because we knew God is and will always be on our side!