SHANIE RYAN
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Shanie Ryan October 4, 2020

My Birth Story

My Birth Story

If you follow me on Instagram (@Shanie_Ryan) you will know I have just uploaded some of the  realist, raw and personal images that I will ever post… They are the images of my birth story.

I decided that I couldn’t share so much of my pregnancy with you all via my social media and blog to then just ignore birth, and not talk about the labour especially when so many of you have reached out to me asking about my birth story…

I also thought it was important to reassure all of the pregnant ‘mummy’s to be’ out there that despite Covid 19 and all of the restrictions that remain in place around birth partners, that the midwives are going above & beyond to ensure your birth experience is not far from the normal experience. I can tell you that my midwives were amazing from start to finish and seemed to think the restrictions still being in place were ridiculous. They we’re very flexible with the “rules” so do try not to worry.

My little boy River was 4 weeks old yesterday, so I decided it was time to watch back my birth video. What an amazing experience to be able to re-live it, to watch it back, and to recall what happened, it really helped me to process my birth story. It helped me to feel proud of myself for getting through it without screaming the entire place down and to enjoy the moment he was born again only this time without the discomfort Lol.

Rivers Birth Story;
Location: East Surrey Hospital Birthing Centre.

Pain Relief: Gas & Air 

Birth: Instrumental Ventouse Delivery 

Labour Time: 12 Hours.

So firstly, let me just say that I look back on my labour and birth as a positive experience, but that is not to say it wasn’t hard nor did it all go to plan!
Overall I had 80% of the experience I had wished for and included in my birth plan. The reason I feel that despite needing intervention during my birth, I still had a positive birth experience was because I took the time to create a detailed seven page birth preferences document that covered every scenario. I insisted that my care providers had read and understood what I needed to feel safe and supported during my labour. My fiance Tony had also studied the document and knew exactly what I was hoping for and therefore he was very vocal and controlled the room on my behalf.

I went into labour at 5am. It started when I woke up to a bad tummy ache, (I had a spicy Indian the night before, so my first thought it was just the food) so I emptied my bowels completely. 15 minutes later I needed the bathroom again and noticed that my mucus plug had come out (also known as your bloody show).  At that point I then realised my tummy ache was in fact the start of my labour. I started timing my contractions on the Freya App and after an hour bouncing on my birthing ball in the kitchen I woke Tony up to let him know that I was in labour. Within 2 hours of me waking up the app told me it was time to go to the hospital. My contractions definitely became more frequent and much stronger quite quickly and I had started being very sick (which was unexpected and weirdly like a form of pain relief). Once we got to hospital my waters started to trickle as I was walking up the stairs to the birthing suite. As soon as I arrived I was taken straight into the birthing pool and was given gas and air to help with the surges. On arrival at the hospital I was told I was already 5 cm dilated, I couldn’t believe I was in established labour after only 3 hours! A quick 6 hours total labouring and I had gone from 0-10cm. This entire experience was calm, focused, intense and intimate; with my midwife being present but not intrusive. Tony was a constant voice of encouragement, reminding me of my positive affirmations, massaging my back, and keeping me hydrated.

Labouring is intense and you’ve got to dig deep, its important to remain positive and to keep focused on the fact that every surge brings you closer to meeting your baby. If you can do that you get through it positively, it’s mother nature and time evaporates when you are in labour so when people talk about how long there labour was it never actually feels that long when you are living it. Looking back I enjoyed the labour experience it was almost out of body and quite a spiritual experience, the gas and air was so helpful as was the hot water of the birthing pool. Tony put some of my yoga music on in the background and laid out some battery operated candles to create an environment that I would find relaxing.

Once I got to 10cm dilated I felt ready to push, its like a feeling of baring down that can’t be ignored so my midwife told me to go with it. After such a rapid labour, I genuinely thought that I would have delivered him within an hour of pushing maximum (so did my midwife for that matter). However, after 2 hours of pushing he was still not with us which I was beginning to worry about and also to get frustrated with. For a moment I began to doubt myself, maybe I wasn’t pushing correctly? Maybe I wasn’t pushing hard enough? But Tony & my midwife continued to reassure me that I was doing a great job. It turned out that his head was stuck just a couple of cm from the exit. The midwives were concerned that I had been pushing for quite some time and were worried that I was getting exhausted and advised I should accept help getting him out. But as he was absolutely fine in terms of his heart rate and wasn’t in distress I decided to keep going and to try to deliver him naturally! This is where it was good to remind myself and to feel that I was in control of both my body and my baby and no one could force me to accept help if I didn’t want it, it was ultimately my choice. I am a pretty  determined person, so my determination to push ended up at a very long 4 hours 40 minutes of pushing (which tells you if you put your mind to it you can literally push your body to its limits). But, after that amount of time I had to admit that I had absolutely had enough, especially after the empty bowls and vomiting situation, I literally had no fuel left in the tank to give me energy to keep going. After four hours of pushing they realised that his head being stuck was now a real problem and was preventing him from being born so the doctor came and  tried to manually turn his head straight as I pushed so he could make it past my pelvis. However, his head kept going back (he actually sleeps with his head turned to the right like this so we get it now 🤷🏽‍♀️) .

In the end, Tony and I agreed that it simply wasn’t fair on me to keep trying. I was utterly spent, I was actually starting to go a little loopy and I was now causing damage to my pelvic floor and bladder from pushing for so long. We eventually agreed to put my wellbeing and physical health first, so we agreed to go ahead with the episiotomy and ventouse suction cup delivery.

Now, I won’t lie this wasn’t pleasant, I cant describe the feeling so I wont try but it was the only time I really let out a scream but, it was in fact over in less than 15 minutes and once they placed him on my chest I didn’t care about anything else but meeting my baby and all was forgotten.
My doctor & my midwives told us that they had never ever carried out an instrumental delivery in the birthing centre before. However, when they asked me to move to the labour ward I got so upset about having to move to a different, brightly lit, sterile environment that they decided to put my wellbeing first and made the call to move the equipment needed to me instead.
This flexibility meant that despite my birth not going entirely to plan and ending up with instrumental intervention, they allowed me to keep my calm environment consistent helping me to feel safe even when things got difficult.

Despite needing stitches once River arrived my care providers quietly slipped away and allowed me my “golden hour” of skin to to skin to bond with my baby. He latched onto my breast within 20 minutes of being born, before having one hour of skin to skin with Tony whilst I had stitches ect.

My labour & birth was a grand total of 12 hours from start to finish, it was a long one but my beautiful boy is here safely so it was totally worth it and we have already decided we will do it again so it couldn’t of been too bad Lol.

 
 
 
 
 
 

ADVICE…

  • Rest in between surges ie; close your eyes, be quiet almost take mini naps.
  • Drink LOADS of water even if you don’t feel like it, I couldn’t eat at all during labour, I vomited 20-30 times but Tony made me drink 4 litres of water in total and a bottle of iced tea for sugar and the midwives were very happy I managed to stay so hydrated despite the sickness.

 

  • Take a handheld electric fan with you, after two hours of pushing I got quite hot and bothered. Tony holding the fan on me was a godsend.
  • Say yes to the catheter to drain your bladder during labour if you can’t pee, it doesn’t hurt and it helps create space for baby to move down the birth canal.
  • Dextrose tablets helped with energy when I couldn’t eat . During labour move around lots. I got out the pool, I sat on the toilet, I was on all fours, slow dancing with Tony felt good and then being on my back propped up. Just keep changing it up when ever the midwife suggests it.
  • Put music on that you like or helps you remain calm. You won’t hear it, but weirdly the background noise helps you zone out. Get yourself a tens machine for early labour!
  • Take a pillow from home, hospital pillows suck and when you get into bed following delivery you will want to be comfortable for cuddles.

To put your mind at rest, despite covid I had an incredible team of care providers. They did everything normally with a mask added in. They didn’t make my partner wear a mask in the room and they let him bond with us for 8 hours after delivery. River and I were kept in over night and discharged 10pm the following day but I felt safe and cared for even when my partner left. On that note, I want to say a huge thank you to Jo & Cristy my amazing midwives from East Surrey Hospital for taking incredible care of me and baby River, also to Dr Radwah who delivered him safely and moved the theatre to the birthing suite for the first time in her career for me. 

The fourth trimester is feeling a little harder than the birth tbh, mostly as my body is so tired from over 4 hours pushing and the episiotomy and rectal healing from pushing. Recovery has been hard, slow and undignified. But being a new mummy is rewarding and he is breast feeding amazingly despite his little tongue tie which keeps my spirits up. Make sure you check back for my fourth trimester blog post in the near future where I will get into all the ‘post birth stuff’ in more detail.

Mama’s to be… You’ve got this, I promise! My best advice is be prepared, do your pelvic floor exercises and write a detailed birth preferences document for your partner and your midwives and please don’t worry, your going to meet your baby and that is all that matters in the end.

Love Shanie & Baby River xXx

RIVER james ryan SINCLAIR
16/08/2020
7lbs 3

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Shanie Ryan August 11, 2020

The Second Trimester

The Second Trimester

Let’s get into the second trimester…. 

Hopefully you have now made it through the ickyness of the first trimester and you are starting to see a tiny little bump as a reward for all of the exhaustion of growing your placenta and your little bean. 

The second trimester was by far my favourite few months of pregnancy. Once the fog of exhaustion lifted I felt quite like myself again, I had bags of energy, an urge to get organised, my appetite returned and I was back to enjoying my work outs. This time also really represented celebration in sharing our news with friends and family as well as getting organised for our little ones arrival.

Sharing the good news!

I am sure you have heard the general rule of thumb is that it is best not to share your good news until after your 12 week scan has gone ahead and you are reassured that all is good with baby. BUT… I personally think it is a personal choice and you should do what ever is best for you. Tony and I found out we were expecting at just 5 weeks pregnant, but after a brief conversation we had agreed to tell our immediate family at just 8 weeks pregnant. Two reasons prompted this decision; firstly we were approaching Christmas and our families would definitely notice that I wasn’t drinking and secondly if the worst was to happen and something did go wrong with the pregnancy, it would be something that we would want family support with anyway. So for us there was no real point in keeping it a secret. However, we didn’t tell any friends or extended family until after 12 weeks, and I didn’t share the news on social media until after my 20 week scan, so just pick who you tell and when according to what is best for you.

Check out us telling our parents below…  (They thought we were taking a family photo Lol)

BOOKING YOUR CLASSES

Now, prior to my entire pregnancy being highjacked by a global pandemic I had the usual first time mum idealistic ideas of hypno-birthing courses, pregnancy yoga classes and Antenatal classes galore! Sadly they all got cancelled when lock down began BUT, prior to that I did get myself organised by signing up to several courses.

When it comes to Antenatal classes you would be surprised how quickly they get booked up, so I would definitely recommend that you book early! Check out what your local hospital has to offer as they often offer either complimentary classes or more affordable options. A friend of mine recommended the ‘Bump & Baby’ antenatal classes (available across London £250.00 per course), the course included infant first aid classes and an afternoon tea with the other parents at the end which I thought would be fun and a nice way to connect with other new parents so we booked onto this instead of the hospital one. 

However, my hospital was offering a 4 week hypno-birthing course for just £100, which was cheaper than most out there so we booked ourselves onto this to compliment the Antenatal course. I knew being the closet hippy and yogi that I am, that my birth plan had to include hypno-birthing as a big part of my experience, so for me this was a no brainer. 

If you are in your second trimester right now, then the likely hood is that like me, your pregnancy journey has probably been affected by Covid 19 and the above options are not likely to be available to you in person. If so, don’t panic just go digital! Now, I’m not going to pretend its the same because its not, it sucks and you will feel like you have missed out on a part of your pregnancy experience, I know I certainly did, but sometimes you have to make the best out of a bad situation and keep positive especially when you are pregnant. 

Tony and I signed up to ‘The positive birth company’ hypno-birthing course. At just £39.00 for the digital pack it covers quite a lot in the easy to watch videos. It also provides you with downloadable content containing helpful tools such as a birth preferences template, audio support materials and printable positive affirmations to name just a few of the helpful downloads. 

As for antenatal courses ‘Bump & Baby’ did offer us a digital version of the course but without the afternoon tea, and without the hands on baby first aid course it felt too pricey for just an online option. So we got our money back and instead I simply read what turned out to be one of my favourite books during pregnancy; ‘The Positive birth book’ by Milli Hill. This book covered everything and more that any antenatal course would cover, so save your pennies and get reading instead (Check out my last blog post ‘The new mummy book club’ for more recommended reads)

An essential course for us to partake in was a baby first aid course we signed up to the E Learn Baby first aid course ( https://my.elearnhere.co.uk/courses/mini-first-aid-parents-course/ ) It only took around 2 hours to complete and cost us just £10.00 ! I know… what a bargin and it covered all the basics including choking, burns and CPR. 

 

take care of your second trimester symptoms

As you will know already the first trimester is all exhaustion and feeling less than your best. As much as the second trimester is a welcome relief it does come with its own niggles. For me the biggest one was a common problem called pelvic girdle pain also known as (PGP) or symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD). It is basically uncomfortable AF and symptoms are caused by a stiffness of your pelvic joints or the joints moving unevenly at either the back or front of your pelvis. The solution for me personally was a visit to a pregnancy specialist chiropractor (https://www.chiropracticbyhand.com/). Polly really helped me out, by ensuring I had great alignment, and relieving my symptoms quite quickly, I also had follow up appointments with her whenever I felt like the niggly pain or aches were returning and by the third trimester I had no pain whatsoever. Another thing that lots of women say works a treat is getting a support belt, I personally didn’t but lots of ladies swear by it. A pregnancy pillow also works for some, however I hated mine and gave it away quite quickly, instead opting for a regular pillow between my knees whilst adjusting to sleeping on my side (Im a front / back sleeper usually). I also kept up with my Zoom yoga classes once a week to help with my stability, strength and alignment being careful not to over extend my body as the relaxin hormones kicked in meaning I was more flexible than usual. 

Another thing that I started to experience in the second trimester was heartburn. At times it definitely felt like I was carrying a baby fire breathing dragon over a human child Lol. With heartburn it was all about paying attention, if I ate too late, if I ate anything too spicy or certain foods like peppers would aggravate the heartburn big time. So the key for me was to try to notice what triggered my heartburn and avoid it. I very nearly gave in to Gaviscone once or twice, but I held out and opted for some cold coconut milk instead which always helped soothe the symptoms. 

PREGNANCY BRAIN (YES ITS A REAL DAMN THING!)

I gotta admit I genuinely thought that “pregnancy brain” or ‘Baby brain” was a crock of shit, until I got struck down with it BIG TIME! I mean genuinely, overnight I became actually stupid. They say that “Baby brain” refers to memory problems, poor concentration and absent-mindedness… To me personally It felt like half the information my brain was capable of processing got deleted one day and i’m still trying to find it Lol. It was the extreme forgetfulness that surprised me the most. Tony could ask me to do something and within 30 seconds I would be staring into space wondering what it was I was supposed to be doing. Simple words and names would just vanish from my brain, or I would have driven to the shop to buy bread and bananas, then I got there I simply couldn’t remember why I was there so I would come home with milk instead having guessed what it was I was there for Lol. If it wasn’t so ridiculous I would cry but I gotta say it did become quite comical after a while, my fella and my best mate banter me about it all the time, at least it amuses them! 

The fact is this is a real thing and from what I have read it is caused by hormones. A recent review of 20 studies assessing more than 700 pregnant and 500 non- pregnant women concluded that general cognitive functioning, memory and executive functioning were significantly poorer in pregnant women. So if you’ve noticed you’ve become a total moron lately then honestly don’t sweat it, its not your fault and i’m just as much of a hot mess as you are!

The solution… write lists! I started keeping a pen and pad by my bed as I tend to remember things before bed. I also made notes in my phone (Granted I then forgot to read the bloody notes, so the pen and paper definitely worked better!) 

Exercise

Prior to pregnancy, I was pretty fit and into a good exercise routine that I enjoyed. My average week consisted of boxing, hot yoga & bootcamp and I loved it! 

We knew we wanted to try for a baby in 2020 so in the year leading up to it I really tried to get into the best physical shape possible. I wanted to ensure I was fit and healthy going into the journey, also we felt with both of us being healthy it would make it easier for us to fall pregnant in the first place.

I made a decision from the day I found out I was pregnant that I was determined to stay in shape and to stay consistent in my exercise routine, it would be mind over matter all the way. Even in my first trimester when I had zero energy and I felt pretty rough I still showed up to every class… granted some days I really did just go through the motions, on other days when I felt better I would try to push myself a little… but, I always made sure I showed up which I believe was key! But the second trimester is where you can really get back into your training and actually enjoy it. Your energy is up and your bump is small enough not to to interrupt too much with your usual activities. The general rule is you can continue whatever activities you did before you became pregnant, but don’t try something new. You can maintain your existing fitness levels, but don’t try to improve, and you can do almost everything during your second trimester except Ab work such as crunches and sit ups. I would definitely recommend doing a little research on You Tube or booking a session with a pre natal qualified PT for guidance on what is safe and what movements you should avoid. 

Now let me keep it real, lockdown could have absolutely obliterated my fitness plans and thrown me off my game plan. But thanks to so many PT’s and fitness programmes going digital and offering free online classes I managed to train 3/4 times per week during my second trimester which not only kept me in good shape, but I genuinely feel like it kept me mentally strong during a challenging time. I actually think its a bit of a blessing, as lets face it with a new born baby its going to be super tough getting to classes so getting into the habit of working out at home with digital support is probably going to be the way forward for me now anyway.

Some of my online recommendations are;

  • @ResultswithBump & @RWL –  Owned by new mummy Lucy Meck & PT Cecilia The website / App provide plenty of workouts as well as nutritional advice for both mummies to be and fitness enthusiasts. This is a paid subscription so keep an eye out for the free trials to decide if its for you or not. [Ad]
  • @HassanYoga – Hassan is my hot yoga teacher who started his weekly zoom classes during lockdown. It is donation based classes and he has continued them on Friday & Saturday mornings despite lock down being lifted. I love his way of teaching and his energy and flow and did my last class at 39 weeks pregnant. 
  • @CarlyNewson – I love mix and matching Carly’s work outs. You can do them whenever you like and stitch 3-4 of them to together to create a bespoke work out. It is all available for free on her Instagram page or you can join her subscription service for live daily work outs.  She offers some pregnancy friendly options if you scroll back to when she was pregnant herself, she has low impact options for those with injuries as well as hardcore workouts too. You can do whatever suits you throughout pregnancy and then up the difficultly when you are ready post partum.

 

GET ORGANISED

My favourite thing to do in the world is to organise, tidy and declutter! Tony is someone who loves a good DIY project, so the second trimester was that time for us to create the ultimate to do list and get organised. We tackled a massive wardrobe clear out, emptying and decorating the spare room so we could turn it into our babies nursery and we refreshed the decor in the rest of our flat.  As I am writing this, I am just two days from my due date. Trust me when I say use your second trimester to tackle these bigger jobs as when you hit the third trimester you really don’t have the same levels of energy or motivation and the belly really just makes everything more difficult. 

Another thing to do that takes time, is to get your gift registry started. I thought I would fly through this task but genuinely it takes bloody hours! When selecting things you will need for your newborn there is a lot of research that goes into it and that takes time! For example; which bottles to get, what steriliser you want, what dummies are best. These decisions aren’t easy to make as you are learning about these things for the first time and there are soooo many brands to choose from. So give yourself plenty of time to get this done prior to your baby shower or little ones arrival as people will 100% ask you if you have a list of things you need / want and its always best to be prepared instead of ending up with everyone buying you a bunch of dodgy outfits you don’t even like! 

I used https://www.myregistry.com/ it was super easy to use and everyone who brought us gifts said the same. 

Check out my ‘Ultimate New Parent Shopping List’ blog post from a couple of weeks back if you need some guidance.

The Ultimate New Parent Shopping List…

I hope you enjoyed this blog post ! Don’t forget to get in touch via Instagram @Shanie_Ryan to let me know what you think, hit me with any questions you might have or to let me know if there are any subjects you would love me to write about in the future! I love receiving all of your lovely feedback so much.

Baby Sincs is due in just 2 days, so it may be a few weeks until my next instalment but I promise to be back picking up where I left off soon enough… 

Love Shanie & Bump xX

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Shanie Ryan June 21, 2020

“Yay I’m Pregnant” (& loving it), This is a positive vibes only zone!

“Yay I’m Pregnant” (& loving it), This is a positive vibes only zone!

It’s been a hot minute since i’ve posted on my blog, so welcome back! 

If you follow me on Instagram you will know that my  incredible partner Tony and I not only got engaged this year but we are also expecting our first child together in August. We were blessed enough to fall pregnant super quickly, and despite experiencing my first pregnancy during a world wide pandemic and as a result of that, then spending most of my pregnancy in quarantine…. so far I have had a very positive experience with only a few shitty moments along the way. But mostly its been great and rather than shy away from that fact, or keep quiet about it, I wanted to share it with you and speak openly about my positive pregnancy for the following reason…

Its funny, as soon as you tell people that you are pregnant, their first reaction is always surprise and excitement, however  what I wasn’t prepared for was that within 5 minutes of the  buzz and excitement dying down, “it” begins!

What is the “it” I hear you ask?

Well here “it” is…. I noticed quite quickly that despite their good intentions, people have a strange habit of projecting their own experiences of pregnancy and birth onto you and your partner even if its super negative! It is often unsolicited advice, inappropriate comments or detailed story telling, and i’ve got to be honest, in my experience so far, more often than not, it isn’t the positive kind of story telling, comments or advice that you would hope for from people who are supposed to be happy for you. Where is the positive energy guys???

Tony and I heard everything from… Tony should “Move out for the next 9 months, as with all the hormones I would be a nightmare to live with”, to people describing how “awful” their birth stories were; sharing gory details and displaying their trauma for us to see in plain sight. People were even telling me that my pregnancy was going to be this miserable experience that I needed to strap myself in for, oh and then there is the insensitive “your gonna get fat” jokes! I mean really guys? How is this helpful?

Overall people tend to be pretty negative, however, they don’t actually realise they are doing it because everything is said as some sort of joke or in jest which is the worst part about it I think. They don’t even realise how insensitive they are being, or that what they are saying could negatively impact our experience and conjure up anxiety and fear at a time where it is vital to be calm and relaxed!

So with that said, VERY quickly Tony and I decided, that we needed a plan to protect ourselves from anything that might cast fear or uncertainty over our journey to becoming parents.

 

Step number one in our quest to have a positive experience was, we were going to have to get comfortable with being blunt and perhaps at times even quite rude to people who try to protect their negative experiences onto us!  We made a pact that from now on neither he nor I would not be allowing anyone to get past the first sentence of any story or comments that might make us feel worried or fearful of the journey ahead. We would literally shut down the conversation with “i’m sorry, but we aren’t open to hearing anything that isn’t 100% positive at this time, so we are going to have to stop you there”.

Next we booked a consultation with a holistic pregnancy coach (@Lacinne & @CoupeDC). I got to know them when they featured on episode 12 of my podcast ‘Influence Me’ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN. They themselves had a holistic pregnancy, followed by a free birth (aka unassisted birth) and they have raised their daughter exclusively on breast milk and a plant based diet. They seemed like our sort of people, and “parent goals” so we decided to book an appointment and they didn’t disappoint. They were super positive yet honest about their pregnancy, birth and parenting experience and gave us lots of confidence that we too could have an enjoyable journey and birth. This was the kind of people and energy we wanted to be influenced by, so we sat down with them before we even saw a midwife to establish the balance between the holistic approach and the medical led approach to pregnancy and birth.

Shanie with Lacienne & Coupe 

We also did some research and put together a reading list; One of my favourite books that both Tony and I listened to on Audiable was ‘The Positive Birth Book’ by Milli Hill. After reading this book I felt instantly empowered, educated in both pregnancy and child birth. I felt in control of my journey to becoming a parent and confident that I could have a positive birth regardless of how it played out. Tony also read this one with me and now feels confident that he will know what is happening during every phase of labour and he knows how best to support me when the time comes.

My final step was to follow some positive birth accounts on Instagram such as @ThePositiveBirthCompany @Birth_ed @BadAssMotherBirther , you would be surprised how powerful it is the randomly take in incredible birth photos, videos and positive stories every day whilst scrolling. Even on a subconscious level it helps eradicate fear and fill you with excitement at meeting your newborn baby when the time comes.

@Birth_ed

It is such a shame that so many women and men automatically pull for the negative pregnancy and birth stories, and i’ve actually found that the women with the positive experiences are the quietest in the group and the least likely to share and speak up. I’m sure a lot of it comes down to people not having dealt with the trauma of their own experience properly so therefore they project it onto others whenever they get the chance because it is their truth, even if it is a case of the “wrong audience”. Then the people who had a great experience end up feeling guilty or uncomfortable sharing a positive version of events as they don’t want to boast and brag so instead they keep quiet.

However, as a first time mum to be, it can be pretty toxic to be hearing awful stories, especially when you are feeling so vulnerable already. So I wanted to write about my experience so far by adding some pregnancy focused blog posts into the mix that are still super honest about the tough parts of pregnancy, but that have a little more  balance between the tough moments and the positive magical experience of growing a human being.  Over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing my personal experiences of the first, second and third trimester, exercise in pregnancy, the truth about expecting during a pandemic, as well as sharing lots of useful and practical information from writing my birth plan, packing my hospital bag and what was on my new baby shopping list!

Overall, my pregnancy has been awesome, i’ve loved feeling my baby grow, wriggle and kick over the past few months. I have loved this new developing bond between Tony and I as we get closer to becoming “Mum & Dad”, and i’ve even loved the experience of watching my body change (which honestly I thought I would hate! I’ve genuinely surprised myself there). Pregnancy does not need to be a list of crappy things you go through, or that happen to you. Yes some of it is bloody hard, and I know plenty of women have it really tough and don’t enjoy it at all and I honestly don’t envy them whatsoever. But some women have a beautiful experience, enjoy pregnancy and that should be allowed to be spoken about and celebrated openly too, so here I am saying its not been easy at all, but i’m pregnant and i’m loving it! (most of the time).

Check back soon for my first trimester post!

Shanie & Bump Xx

 

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