My pregnancy experience

Hola my loves! I feel kinda bad for neglecting my blog for the longest hiatus but I am determined to update more frequently from now on! In case you don’t follow my Instagram (where all my life stories happen), I AM PREGNANT! And very much so at the moment since I am approaching 38 weeks O.O (quick lesson: 40 weeks is gestational duration but 37 weeks is full term which means baby could come any day now!)  Throughout the 9 months I’ve experienced some of the worst ups and downs of my life, emotions I never knew I can possibly have, and thoughts that I don’t dare tell anyone in case some people decide to throw me in jail..hahaha #jknotreally So I thought it would be nice to have a summarized version of my pregnancy experience here!

I found out I was pregnant literally 5 days before my big beach trip to Dominican Republic and a huge house moving. Me and hubby were beyond excited (me more than him I think secretly lol) but when we actually did arrive at our all-inclusive resort all I could think about was all the cocktails that I can no longer have… *tear*

Coming back home to our new house, my symptoms started almost immediately and it was EXTREMELY difficult to cope with all the changes in our commute, lifestyle, unpacking for the house, AND physical/psychological changes that comes with pregnancy. They say first trimesters are the hardest and it cannot be more true! Every smell was nausea-inducing, I hated all foods, but yet was hungry enough every night to wake up from hunger (and anger)!

I tried to battle the nausea by using scents that I normally adore pre-pregnancy all over the house, but they slowly started to make me nauseous as well.. if there is one thing that I suggest you DO NOT DO in the first trimester, it’s to use all your favorite scents from pre-pregnancy. Your mind/body somehow associates scents with memories and experiences, so if your favorite scents end up making you nauseous, you will never be able to use it again even when you’re no longer pregnant.

Once the second trimester hits, it’s HALLELUJAH time. I kid you not, some days I forget I was pregnant. Nothing was causing me to be nauseous, I can eat whatever I want, have endless amounts of energy, the best sleep in my life, and the best part? My bump wasn’t showing at all so I still fit into my clothes plus trick people once in a while. It’s fun! This is also when we got to find out the gender of the baby… (it’s a BOY!) and go on our trip to LA (bucket list item check!). Towards the end of the second trimester is when I really noticed a shift in our culture to place more of an emphasis on the baby as opposed to the mommy. Every site or forum I visited on tips on travelling while pregnant was giving advice on ensuring the safety, comfort of BABY as opposed to enjoyment for MOM. It’s like the mom just fades away when she has a baby, her health/happiness does not matter anymore as long as baby is healthy. As someone who has been spoiled and pretty self-preoccupied her whole life you can see why this was hard for me to accept.

And then third trimester come and it’s even MORE about acceptance. Hormones are on the rise again and causes all kinds of discomfort, many of which have no evolutionary basis or protective reason to exist in the first place. I mean fine – round ligament pain is TERRIBLE but at least it’s your body preparing itself for labor by loosening the joints so baby will come out easier. But nosebleeds and blocked nose at night? Blame the hormones. Why? No reason – mother nature just wants you to suffer on top of all the other discomforts. Also, say bye bye to putting on your own socks and/or sandals. Flip flops are the way to go! Towards the end, baby will be so big that he will push your other organs aside. Taking a full breath? What’s that? Eating a full meal? Wanna but can’t. I was lucky that I never got any swelling of the limbs or any rashes but my heart goes out to those of you who did! T.T I guess this is all mother nature’s way of telling us that we just have to accept the fact that our bodies right now do not belong to us. That it probably will be this way for a very a long time even after birth. And there is nothing we can do but to accept it.

Thinking ahead to after baby mango’s arrival, me and the hubs have a pretty well established mental framework on how to raise him. Here are some points that I’ve pinned to my mental pinterest board:

1. We think kids are too spoiled these days and we definitely do not want to be one of those. No helicopter parenting – we believe in both love AND discipline.
2. We want him to be as independent as possible, and that starts at an early age. This means sleep training, giving him what he needs and not what he wants, and teach him the values of putting in work and effort in exchange for gratification.
3. I have my own life too. I know this one is particularly difficult for moms to hear, but I do not want my life to revolve around my kids. They will be my priority, but that doesn’t mean that I am not allowed to pursue my own dreams, look a certain way, or live my life how I want. I am not an extension of my kid – I am my own unique individual.

That being said, I CANNOT WAIT to start working out after delivery, and get my body to an even better state than it was pre-pregnancy. I cannot wait to travel again, to explore the world, to try new things, to go after my dreams. I know motherhood is very hard but there has to be a balance somehow, and I believe I will find that balance.

This turned out to be a pretty long post! Thank you hubby for taking these amazing shots, for always being there for me even through the hormonal nights, and for believing in me. ILYSM!!! Please don’t forget the champagne on my delivery day. <3