I am officially Social Media Pregnant! They say no two pregnancies are the same and this one is definitely different from the first one. The past few weeks have been filled with morning sickness everyday for the first 11 weeks and nausea (which is still present). With Hudson I only had morning sickness twice and felt much better after 9 weeks. Let’s get into some questions :

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Was this pregnancy planned?

Ah! probably the most frequently asked one. When I was pregnant with Hudson, I said that I only wanted one child. Being pregnant was hard and I had a very difficult pregnancy from borderline gestational diabetes, swollen feet from 9 weeks, carpal tunnel syndrome, discolouration around my mouth and chin area and the list goes on. Seeing him grow up though , I could see that he was going to be so lonely. His oldest cousin is 16 years old and his youngest cousin is 7 years old. Whenever we have family gatherings, I end up playing with him, because everyone else was older than him. I am also getting older, some of you might know that I will be celebrating my 40th birthday this December. Over 40, and the higher the risks will be in your pregnancy. Hubs and I spoke about it a couple of times and decided that we would try and if it, was meant to be it would be. It took about six months to fall pregnant with Hudson and only two months to fall pregnant again.

How far along and when is the due date?

I actually thought that I was 12 weeks when we went for our detailed scan two weeks ago, but it turns out that I am actually 14 weeks already. Our due date is 8 October. Because I went into pre-term labour with Hudson at 36 weeks, my chances of delivering early is pretty high. Our doctor suggested that I speak to my gynaecologist about taking progesterone from 16 weeks, this will prevent going into pre-term labour again. I was heartbroken when I had to leave Hudson at the hospital and this time, I really want to go home with my baby.

Any cravings so far?

With Hudson I had no cravings at all. With this baby, the cravings are insane. Very early on, I started craving butternut soup, as in really badly. It was the middle of summer and all I wanted was a bowl of hot soup. Another craving is beer. I hate beer, so this was completely abnormal for me. Thank goodness for non-alcoholic beer. A strange but very delicious combination for me right now is pickles dipped in peanut butter. Its soooooooo good!

Fears and Anxiety

During my pregnancy with Hudson, I never felt that pregnancy glow, nor confidence to show off my baby bump. When I first found out that I was pregnant, with baby number 2, all those fears came rushing back. I think social media bombards us with the perfect pregnancy bump. I am sorry, but I do not fit in with the category of the perfect bump. When I posed this question to you in Instastories, it saddened me so much. The amount of DM’s I got from curvier mom’s who did and are not feeling confident in their own skin, because no brands are catering for their body type. Are “we” the “others” not entitled to carry life for 9 months? are we not worthy of also feeling confident, stylish and comfortable? The overseas market caters for inclusivity, and some responses to questions also stated that they would much rather, buy online from overseas brands. So what does this mean? Come on South African brands, you are missing out on a big gap in the market.

Questions, questions….

Have you thought of names, what is the baby’s gender, and on and on and on! I think the first question is probably the most irritating. When I was pregnant with Hudson, I had all these names, and they were all shot down by in laws because this one’s friend at work has a son by that name; this cousin’s Aunt has a grandson named this….. and that! and that! so this time around, we will keep that name secret until baby is born. If it is a boy, he will have his Dad’s name as a second name. If it is a girl, she will have my late mother’s name, as a second name.

Each pregnancy is different

Are there a few things that I want to do different in this pregnancy ? oh yes! Each day I look into the mirror and I smile. I smile because I am worthy, I smile because there is a life growing inside of me, and I am embracing the bump and everything that comes with it. I am also striving to be more active with this pregnancy. With Hudson, I was convinced that I could not do any type of exercise, because it would hurt the baby. Starting off with simply doing daily walks around our complex. I look at my two boys and my heart just melts when I see the two of them together. I have the kindest and most generous soul’s as my my husband, and our little boy has inherited all of these qualities. I am sure that once our little boo is here, life will not be the as we know it. I do not think that Hudson fully understands that there is a baby in my belly, but he has started giving hugs and kisses to my belly each night.

The Count down…

When I was pregnant with Hudson, I did not have a blog, and i did not do such a great job of documenting my pregnancy. With this pregnancy I am excited to take you a long for the ride. Let there be bumps and speed a long the way! I have so many ideas for posts, but really hope that I will have the time to do everything. This is also a big year in terms of my career and studies. Here’s to wishing for a healthy pregnancy and nailing my Oral PhD defense. This year will definitely be one for the books and I am excited to take you all on this magical ride.

All the above images captured by Nikki Oliver Photography