2019 – the year of the Shrimp

February 18, 2019

Now that time is drawing near, I have decided to compile my thoughts on pregnancy. What I really don’t understand is that how come making babies is so much fun but pregnancy is such a drag? Talk about being played by nature. I found out I was pregnant at the beginning of July and few weeks later I had a beautiful photo of my uterus to prove it. Of course we wanted a baby, we just didn’t expect it would happen right away and when I travelled back home after year and a half of being away, there was a party or two, a wedding and a few gin and tonics. What can I say? At my first hospital appointment the midwife asked and straight away answered: “How many alcoholic beverages have you had since pregnant, none?” Haha.

I found out in Prague after a beautiful trip with my friends, I messaged in the group asking if everyone is feeling a “bit weird” after the lunch we had yesterday. No? Just me then? Confirmed with a big plus on a pregnancy test. Soon after I had every symptom in the book of “what to expect when expecting”, that’s the kind of good quality literature we have in the household now. It has a super healthy and happy expectant mother on the cover. I had the worst nausea, I couldn’t eat what I normally eat and I haven’t pooped in days. Except for that one time when I had an emergency when walking our family dog in the forest. I only managed to tie her to a branch and the whole time she was giving me judgemental looks. It’s not like she is the biggest lady when it comes to it. The rest of the time in Czech Republic was spent in haze, half sleeping only summoning enough energy to teach my yoga classes.

The flight to the Gold Coast was possibly one of the worst ones yet and I was so grateful for my packed lunch because airplane food is normally disgusting, but airplane food in your first trimester is hell. I had a never ending jet lag that felt like depression. Did you ever cry watching How I met your mother? The all knowing literature said this all goes away with the first trimester so at this time more often then not, I caught myself thinking: “Yeah if you could just go ahead and grow from a blueberry to a king prawn that would be great.”

And away it went – thank god. I started teaching and practicing yoga as much as I could and I really feel like it was a very harmonic time in my life. I had way to much time on my hands, so I started painting, I decorated the nursery beautifully, I made homemade granola probably for everyone we know. It’s definitely not ideal becoming pregnant when you are unemployed because turns out, it’s not really easy finding a job in the first trimester when you feel like throwing up all day and not easier still when it’s visible that you probably won’t stay in the job for very long. And yes, it was fantastic being a yoga teacher, but as a person who is used to being busy and knows that rest is only great when well deserved, this was not ideal. Even still, even thought I am complaining now, I will be returning in thoughts to this time of my life as a very peaceful time. When I was painting the bunting in the next room and listening to Lukas working away in the other and thinking how happy we are, how harmonic our life is and how fantastic it is just to think about healthy food, our balcony garden, sustainable household and just really understanding the meaning of “life is a beach” not “bitch”.

At seven months, I had to stop teaching yoga and stop practicing at eight and now in the ninth month, I was told I shouldn’t even swim. Hopeless. I think the reason I have only gained 10kg is because my muscle turned to fat and everyone knows fat is lighter than muscle.

To be fair ever since doing nothing, my pains have subsided. I had a horrible back and ribcage pain, which I thought was unbearable until the bruised/torn belly muscle showed up. I barely ever go to a doctor unless I absolutely have to, but when I do, I make sure it’s something super serious like a bruised muscle. This is the second time it has happened along with that bruised intercostal muscle back in March last year. I started laughing when the obstetrician told me, so I explained what’s funny and he said: Everything is serious when you are 36 weeks pregnant. So sweet!

Ever since my sporting activities were banned, my friend Lucy suggested I should start knitting and damn I enjoy knitting. My former colleague Dean started calling me grandma and asked if I ever heard of Nintendo 😀 So for the last two weeks you can almost exclusively find me in my baby feeding chair watching Homeland and knitting. I guess I sound really boring to some, I even bore myself to be honest. I know one day though, I will think I wish I could just sit and knit and be completely at peace.

Now before I move onto another episode of Homeland (highly recommend this TV show btw), let me just tell you about my birthday and baby shower weekend. I haven’t celebrated much in the last two years, even though I still got special surprises from Luky. That’s why this year, before becoming a mom (geez sounds serious), I really wanted to have a party just celebrating me. Luky went away around 5AM on the day of my birthday and I didn’t pick him up at the airport until 8PM that evening. So I really didn’t expect him to plan anything given how busy he has been lately. But guess what? He still keeps stepping up his game as the best events manager and boyfriend in the world. Once we got home he suggested a walk on the beach where there was the most beautiful set up with blankets, pillows, strawberries, heart shaped cake, fairy lights, candles and champagne on ice with glasses. We cuddled and watched the stars and the moon until late night. So cheesy, so corny so unbelievably amazing. I will tell you more about this night soon.

The baby shower next day was supposed to be a casual BBQ, but when I have put all the things needed into one pile, it was more than 4 trips to the car and it started pouring down rain just as we were headed to the venue on the grass under the trees overlooking the sea. We had to find a last minute location but it still worked out anyway. And it was a great afternoon, my friend Eva bringing all the blankets and pillows, helping me out with the food, Lisa organised the most amazing cake and baby games and Luky surprised me with more flowers and a handwritten letter from my family. My Czech Friends gave me a yoga bolster that I have wanted for so long and everyone else brought beautiful baby presents and one Champagne bottle for later. Also from Lisa, Saga and Joel I got a bracelet with the Tree of Life and Saga singing hip hip hooray just made my morning. I was so touched, so emotional and grateful for everyone in my life, for all the effort that everyone has made, for all the flowers, just for everything, I felt like I can’t even deserve it. I couldn’t fall asleep until early morning hours because I just kept thinking. I must have been born under a lucky star.