The mythical 'glow'

[FoxyRevenger]

Seriously, this glow thing...it's mythical right?

I felt so crappy in the first trimester and everyone tried to cheer me up by telling my that in the second I'd feel fantastic...

But, I'm now 20 weeks, and I'm exhausted, COVERED in spots from my hairline to my boobs, got the beginnings of SPD so trying to limit activity...I feel that this baby is sapping every bit of energy that's available..

And to top it off, two people have now told me I'm a 'high maintenance' pregnant person. And one of those was my mother!!! (almost as amusing as my colleague telling me morning sickness is all in the mind as I retched into the wastepaper bin).

As you were. Phew!

Poor you . I am pale, stooped from the effort of supporting my heavy boobs and bump, and have permanent dark circles under my eyes. I cannot keep my eyes open past 10 o'clock and struggle to get out of bed again the next day. The bloom/glow is a complete myth IME.
However my DD is a joy and I can't wait to meet my DS in a few weeks! Then it will all be worth it .

People do talk a lot of nonsense. I liked the thread on here a while back about silly things that people say to you when you are pregnant.

As soon as people knew I was pregnant they kept telling me I looked pale. Result? I wore more make up to compensate and now I get, "Oh you look so well!" Probably things they would have thought anyway but as I am pregnant it is a licence to comment on everything about me, hair, colouring, boobs, bump etc. etc.

Yes, I started using Beauty Flash Balm and everyone thought I was glowing...

Aw, I am feeling crappy too.

The first trimester was AWFUL - I was in hospital with hyperemesis, etc. This second trimester has been an improvement, but I am still knackered - more so atm because ds has given me his cold - am spotty, greasy haired and fat.

I hate it!

I am 20+3 and really fed up. Have bad round ligament pains, can't sleep, need to get up in the night to pee constantly and have such itchy nipples it's all I can do not to fecking sandpaper them. I put some cream on them this morning (just bog standard scented body lotion) and oh lordy WHAT a mistake that was! By the time I got to the station to go to work they were BURNING and I had tears in my eyes.

Still got labour to look forward to though...

Oh, God, yes, the peeing all night.
WOrse now than it was during the first trimester.

Morning sickness in the mind?

Oh bloody hell, do people still believe that?

I may have thought pre-dd that it was just a bit of nausea, limited to the 1st trimester perhaps. I'd never met anybody with morning sickness at that point.

Oh lord, when 2 days post-conception I couldn't open the fridge without retching and gagging I'd have loved to meet somebody who thought it was all in the mind. I distinctly remember wandering the supermarket in tears looking for one single food that wouldn't make me vomit as I opened the packet. Didn't even need to put it in my mouth most of the time.

I felt really well and blooming between about 17+5 and 17+7 iirc.

All in the mind?

Never again.

And the HEARTBURN!!! Nine times I was up the other night swigging out of the Gavison bottle. Yum.

Yes it's a pile of shite, pregnancy glow my arse. Well at least for me. Sick till 20 weeks, had numerous cough and cold bugs, exhausted constantly, can't get a night's sleep because of the weeing and heartburn, my hair goes weirdly straw-like, and now my hips have gone kaput so I can hardly walk either. I look like a 95-year-old whale with eye bags.

Yes, I do have a moan about it and there's a lot of stuff DP has to do because I can't. But if someone told me I was "high-maintenance"...!

Ooh emsyj I have itchy nipple too. Tis awful. (not the sort of place you can conveniently scratch in public

He he Foxy I bought some Beauty Flash Balm on e-bay a couple of weeks ago to see if it would help! My face does feel tingly but not sure that I actually look any better.
I went out today and spent vast sums of money on a Body Shop shea butter body butter (try saying that one as fast as you can) as someone on another thread recommended it to stop itchy bumps. Mine gets soooo itchy every evening, and sometimes in the day. I don't really like scratching my tummy in public (although not as bad as scratching nipples).

betty - let us know if it helps. Will try anything!

I almost daredn't post this but just in the interest of balance... I am coming to the end of the first trimester and I definitely feel glowy. Not sure I look it, but I feel better than I have ever done in my life. Really happy and healthy ") I am a little tired, and yes my bladder wakes me up 3 times per night but over the past week I have just felt better and better every day. I know many of my friends also felt great around this time too, so I don't think it is entirely mythical but obviously each pregnancy is different and some people have a really rough time of it

The glow certainly never came my way. I'm now 35 weeks and have felt grotty pretty much the whole time. Morning sickness, fainting, SPD, acid reflux, exhaustion, eye floaters and an enourmous growth on my lip which the Doctor said is pregnancy related. That said, my Doctor was very sympathetic and did say some women just have a rough time all the way through.

I'm afraid I did have the mythical "glow" and it was much commented on. I have never felt so well. I think it's just the luck of the draw.

Being now 4 days overdue I am more glowing with impatience but that's another story.

I am so sorry for everyone feeling so bad, but this thread just made me giggle!!

I am 19 weeks, have bad morning sickness, so itchy I look like I have fleas, greasy hair, stopped wearing makeup, and in my doctors words I FEEL ROTTEN!!

However I have had the most amazing strong nails, when they usually chip and crack!

Oh and quote from wikipedia under Other explanations "...according to psychologist Sigmund Freud, morning sickness is the result of the mother's loathing of the father"

The horn - I am waiting for that! I am keep on being told that 2nd trimester you get uber horny....yer right! DH should be so lucky!

Nice to hear that some are glowing, gives me hope for the next 10 weeks
Lizzie - agree - it's causing real problems as DH thinks me being pg is super sexy and I don't want him anywhere near me. Poor man . Oh well it's only temporary I hope.

The Glowers will never understand the pain of the Non-Glowers! Some people do feel great and more power to them. I hate being pregnant and at 31 weeks am already thinking that it would be SO MUCH EASIER just to have a baby rather than all this discomfort...and, for me, first pregnancy was identical.

I remember our NCT teacher saying we would look back fondly to being pregnant when we had newborns. I spent the entire newborn period thinking "nope, would STILL rather do this"

The only positive thing about being a Non-Glower is that I think the newborn thing, esp if it's your first, is far less of a shock. If you are already feeling fat/rubbish/sleep deprived/unlike your usual self the change in lifestyle is not nearly as dramatic. If you sailed through pregnancy feeling great it is far more of an adjustment.

I use lashings of beauty flash balm & High Beam to fake the glow.

I am, in fact, a big pasty frump.

I'd recomend a fake tan. Shallow, but made me feel so much better.

At last i thought it was just me weeing all the time in the 2nd trimester. I would be glowing minus the purple verging on black bags under my eyes and heavy boobs. Good old flash balm think i'll be heading for fake tan soon

The time when people started telling me how glowing I look coincided more or less precisely with the time I started to get very chubby around the face.

That's what the "glow" means in my book... be careful what you wish for!

People keep on saying I look 'glowing' I correct them with 'no it's just Bobby Brown'.

How can you glow when you are woken up at 1am for a pee then 4.45am for ANOTHER pee (how is this possible when I have not taken on any liquids in this time????). Then my body decides it morning and its am hungry so I have to get up to have something to eat (otherwise I feel sick), I then fall back to sleep EVENTUALLY and 30 minutes later the alarm goes off. Arrrgggghhhhh!