Pregnancy - LOVE it or HATE it?

[xELENx]

You hear so many stories from people about how they 'loved' being pregnant and missed it when their baby was born. On the other hand, there are those who hated it, for various reasons.

What is/was your experience of pregnancy?

Hate hate hate it. Hate the sickness and tiredness, hate the weird food and smell aversions, hate how my body shape changes and I hate how uncomfortable it can be when you get bigger. I'm only 28 weeks at the moment but I know I have serious swelling to come and have to be huge all through the hot summer months. I would love to have more than 2dc, but I just don't think I can go through another pregnancy (and birth!) again

Loved every second!

@wynston there's a lot to be said about putting yourself through that more than once! I'm one of 3 and my mum had difficult pregnancies with all of us but said if it was up to her, she'd have had more (my dad on the other hand got the snip quickly after my youngest brother was born) lol.

Hate it. But I love the fact that I’ll have a baby so try to concentrate on that.

Another one here not particularly enjoying it. I'm usually athletic/lean and although strong abs are holding in the bump (at nearly 18 weeks) I am definitely wider around the middle. And the boobs 😭 - I absolutely HATE having boobs. I'm used to being pretty flat chested and I now have these annoying things stuck to my front that keep getting in the way - so many women go on about enjoying bigger boobs but absolutely not me.

I'll be honest I fucking hated both of mine. I threw up from 6 weeks right up until labour. I was so uncomfortable, I constantly worried whether baby was okay and the headaches and restless legs drove me insane. I still get restless legs 2 years after the birth of my second. All that wouldn't stop me from having a 3rd and final baby though!!!!

Hated it.
Bled pretty much throughout from 6 to 36+3 weeks. I did have placenta praevia but that wasn’t discovered until 24 weeks so the cause of the early bleeding was unknown.
Anxiety sky high throughout due to above and 2 previous losses.
Terrible sickness - could not brush my teeth!
Pelvic girdle pain
Vomited in third tri so hard I had a valsalva retinopathy and had to have emergency laser surgery to prevent me losing the central vision in one eye.
Result - beautiful, healthy, clever and generally totally fabulous DS, slept through from 6 weeks. He’s a total joy.
He’s an only child

I don't like it, I can't eat and drink what I want, can't do the usual exercise I do/ be as active and I don't like the body changes particularly either. LOVE the baby at the end

@ValleyoftheHorses- you are a hero!!!! I feel like a bit of an idiot as anxiety is the only thing I’ve really had to contend with so far this pregnancy (fingers crossed, just over 15 weeks).
I’ve already warned my Husband I will not being doing this again lol x

Hated it. Worst time of my life by far. By comparison having a newborn was a piece of cake. Even being wheeled out of my cs I felt better than I had in 9 months.

Have loved it, surprised me as I am a pretty active person and thought I would struggle with changes to my body and not feeling as fit... in reality I love my bump and my pregnancy body (currently 35 weeks) and have felt great throughout even though i’ve slowed down. Might be a different story post birth when I miss my bump though :)

Thank you, DS is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. He’s worth it though.
the anxiety is the worst bit!

I absolutely loved it and miss having my bump so much! I did have a pretty easy pregnancy apart from constant Braxton Hicks from about 20 weeks or so that landed me in hospital at one point - that was the only big worry I had. It's amazing to feel baby move inside you and I loved my bump.

I’m 35 wks and I’ve loved being pregnant. First trimester was tough with extreme tiredness and nausea but since that ended at 14wks I’ve really enjoyed it. Ive had bad back pain throughout but that’s my only complaint x

Hats off to you all, women really are incredible!

I can't imagine feeling something moving about inside my stomach, makes me feel a bit squeamish x

Grateful I am able to be pregnant but my gosh I hate pregnancy.
Sickness and not being able to eat for 3 months.
About 3 weeks were I feel "normal" then on to the SPD, restless legs and constant tiredness for the next 6 months - oh and carpal tunnel syndrome!
This is my 2nd and by far the worse by far, can't believe I'm already planning my next lol!

I hate it! I love that there is a life growing inside me, I love the baby and I can't wait for him/her to be here, but I also can't wait for pregnancy to be over! I'm 18 weeks and the absolute exhaustion has never lifted, now I can't even sleep because I'm constantly uncomfortable, PGP is setting in so sitting or turning over in bed leaves me in serious pain, I have splitting headaches, am catching every bug out there, have put on lots of weight and can't stop eating, my boobs are massive and sore and I'm terrified of childbirth (I'm going for an elective c-section too OP). I think that is more or less my list of complaints ☺️ oh and I'm a freelancer where I work so don't get paid if I take a day off sick. And I miss wine!

Dunno. I like being pregnant bit i don't like my body but feeling like my own. I don't like these big boobs and bit begging and to also on my stomach.

So far I hate it but I am SO excited to meet my baby!!!

For me worst part is the nausea and crippling fatigue, my body not feeling my own, not being able to eat and drink what I want, or do the exercise I want to, feeling heavy and swollen and the weight gain. But I am sure I will forget the lot in an instant as soon as I meet my baby boy

I absolutely HATE pregnancy. And I hate that it's a taboo to say so. You can be happy to be having a baby, but hate pregnancy at the same time. Even though I had a miscarriage before this baby, I still despised pregnancy.

I don't get sickness, although this time I had such extreme fatigue that it made me feel nauseous at times. My mental health really suffers though. I have anxiety anyway but during my first pregnancy it tipped over into severe antenatal depression. I wanted to end it all. This time it started again but I had the right treatment. Aside from this though, I hate how uncomfortable I feel, I hate the movements (even though they are reassuring and I'd panic if they stopped), I hate not being able to eat and drink what I like, I hate not being able to ride rollercoasters (a big passion), I hate not being able to do my job properly (I work with people who have autism and challenging behaviour), I hate feeling like an invalid! The position of baby this time was just painful! And I just feel like it lasts forever. I had ELCS both times and I have to say, this time really wasn't pleasant.

BUT...my five day old baby boy is fast asleep next to me now, snuffling in the most adorable way. Totally worth it.

I’ve been pregnant six times, four DC and two missed miscarriages.

I hated the all day nausea with three of the pregnancies but had no nausea at all with three so that was great! Hated the spotty skin during the first trimester and feeling absolutely shattered all day long. Also hated the mood swings and how irrational it made me. Other than that though, I did quite like being pregnant. Enjoyed having a bump and feeling the baby move inside.

I hate it. Everything about it if I’m totally honest. With DS I was lucky and had very little sickness etc after the first few months. However I hated everyone thinking they could tell me what to do. What to eat when to rest what i was and wasn’t capable of. Have free range to touch me & felt like everyone was invading my personal space and private life. Currently pregnant again and Ive been so Sick so far. Vomiting daily, migraines, utter exhaustion. Anxiety through the roof and counting down until it’s all over and I’ve still 26 weeks to go. I tell my DH never again daily.

On the plus side I loved giving birth. Didn’t find it painful and would happily do it weekly for 40 weeks over the actual pregnancy

I’ve loved this forum, great idea @xELENx!

I’ve found it super reassuring to know I’m not the only one with strong anxiety and can’t wait for bubs to be here. Still a way to go... xx