So here I am with baby number three in tow. You would think I’m an expert by now but the reality is, no one is in the fine art of bearing a child. Each time is different and unique, just like the special little package you’re carrying around inside your body. Now don’t think for a minute it gets easier either. This time around, everything is damn hard. There should be a handbook that is given to you to let you know of everything that can happen – because some really freaky stuff goes down.
To mention a couple of uninvited symptoms that have crept up on me this pregnancy: chronic headaches followed by bloody noses, which are apparently normal, although I have not met a single other person this has happened to; severe varicose veins; and vomiting and nausea way past the first trimester, which is when you are assured it will end (ladies, for some it doesn’t!)
Then there are the simple things like when I’m rushing out the door to get to an event or to work on time, and I look down to see toothpaste stains all over my shirt because my belly had blocked the sink. I can no longer wear socks or shoelaces as I’m unable to put these on myself. And then there’s sneezing… Oh, the fear of the sneeze! All I have to say is: bring a pad and don’t catch a cold because if you do, you will find yourself staring at the “big girl pants” (which are basically diapers) section in Watson’s regretting that you only started your Kegel exercises that morning. They should teach you about your pelvic floor in school because I had never heard of the thing before I became pregnant, by which time it was already too late. As for sex, I’ll have to write a whole other column on this topic.
This all sounds very negative, and for those who don’t have kids I don’t mean to scare you. Because at the end of the day, for some foolish reason, it’s all worth it – so much so that here I am doing it for the third time. Like I said, no pregnancy is the same. Take, for example, my blog entry on my first pregnancy, which was all fairytales and cupcakes, feeling in tune with the universe and all that nonsense.
Currently, I have 83 days to go till my due date (not that I’m counting). Despite everything, I can’t wait to have my angel in my arms and to be surrounded by intense love and abundant chaos.
An Australian native of Swiss, German, Irish, Thai, Chinese and Arabic descent, Cara G is a multi-hyphenate in all senses of the word – model, TV host, co-founder of juice brand The Genie Concept, and soon-to-be mother of three. Follow her at @caragmcilroy.
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Header image: Michelle Proctor