Pregnancy, fitness, and disappearing eyebrows

Hey everyone, I am very excited to share the news that I gave birth to a baby boy last month. And like all new parents, I have been running on very little sleep (and giant cups of Sakura tea). Please meet Damon – our little sunshine. Yes, I named my boy after a very handsome vampire. 😀 Remember Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. 😛

I was frolicking in the Snowy Mountains and was on a road trip a day before I found out that I was 5 weeks pregnant. It was an extremely emotional moment for us to see the second line in the pregnancy testing strip. 😀

Apart from the usual symptoms of water retention, tiredness and sensitivity to strong odors, I did not have any extreme side effects. Thankfully, I didn’t suffer from vomiting either. But I did have a few weird symptoms, like disappearing eyebrows. Initially, I thought I was imagining it but slowly realized that my eyebrows were actually fading away. To begin with, I hardly have any eyebrows and if they too go away … I cannot imagine the horror. So each morning, I would draw my eyebrows before leaving the house. Apparently, they need to look identical. Hence, precious hours of my life were spent with an eyebrow pencil, trying to achieve this one single task. More often than not, I would end up looking like Yakku from Chandrakanta. But since I was pregnant, I could pretty much blame everything on hormones. 😛

I still remember the day when in the late second trimester we went shopping for a couch. I sat on a beautiful plush sofa, felt its smooth fabric and leaned back to test the back support. That was it, I had to call my husband to lend me a hand as I simply couldn’t get up. 😛 It was also during those days I came face to face with the terror of sneezing – an act which results in abdominal spasm that makes you feel like you popped out an organ.

By the 34th week, I was googling videos on how to get up safely from the floor. Trust me, there are legit videos on Youtube teaching pregnant women things that one wouldn’t give a second thought. And to think that I used to do handstands not long back. Ah, life and its idiosyncrasies.

Fitness during Pregnancy

Fortunately, I was able to remain active throughout my pregnancy, except for the last 4 weeks when I turned into a total couch potato. I continued to do yoga but with reduced intensity and modified asanas to accommodate my growing belly. I avoided any pose that would put a lot of pressure on the abdomen. Instead, I spent more time walking. By the third trimester, I mostly did stretching exercises but tried to complete around 10k steps every day, keeping in mind not to push myself too much. Of course, there were periods when I would barely raise a finger and spend hours doing nothing but watch Korean Drama.

I started maternity leave at 36 weeks pregnant. By that time I was so big that people were giving me way from 100 feet away. 😛

I had to follow a strict diet from 25 weeks onwards as I was diagnosed with borderline Gestational Diabetes (blame the hormones, again!). Plus according to the NSW Food safety guideline, there was hardly any outside food I could eat – no raw or cold food, no food containing raw eggs, no soft cheese, no MSG etc etc. Even then I would sneak a slice of cake or a hot Samosa once in a while.

Following the advice of my dietician and endocrinologist, I started doing portion control, counted macros in every meal – reduced my carbohydrate intake, increased proteins, and fiber. These changes helped me to keep my blood sugar spike under control, and consciously eat a well-balanced meal. The endocrinologist gave me “all ok” sign at 35 weeks as I was able to manage GD with diet control. Given my pre-pregnancy BMI, I was allowed to gain between 11 to 16 kg. I went one kg above the limit 😛

Delivery

From the 20th week scan, I knew that this was going to be a big baby, so I wasn’t really surprised by the doctor’s decision to use forceps and do an episiotomy during the delivery. Although, I was still horrified at the size of the forceps. I was induced a day before my due date, and 14 hours later, my little bubba came into this world. A good 4 kg baby with a head full of hair.

I had read enough books, articles, and pamphlets on pregnancy, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared me for the pain that I endured while pushing out the baby, even after taking pain relief. I cannot even scale or rate it if someone asks me now. 🙂

Post-Partum

The week after delivery was one heck of a rollercoaster ride – both physically and emotionally. I had to stay at the hospital for 6 days. Since I suffer from Hemoglobin E (HbE) disease, a genetic condition which results in low hemoglobin count (mild anemia), the blood loss during delivery drastically reduced my blood count, due to which I was given 2 units of blood transfusion. Probably, that was also a reason why I kept sleeping all the time. Exhausted to the core!

Frankly, even though I was prepared for my pregnancy and enjoyed the experience of carrying my baby, the physical pain after the birth of the baby was surprisingly daunting. If not for the immense care and support of my husband and midwives at the hospital, I don’t know how I would have survived that week. Just walking to the bathroom required a lot of inner pep talk. Things started to look a lot better once I was discharged and came home.

This week we crossed the 6-week mark. Both the baby and I doing well. I had my first postnatal checkup and the doctor was surprised to see how quickly I have bounced back. 🙂 I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but my core and back muscles are still weak and mushy (can’t find a better word). I got approval to slowly start my yoga practice so here’s hoping for a faster recovery. 🙂

Thank you for reading. I have got so much to tell, but if there’s anything you would like me to write about, please let me know in the comments section. 🙂

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