I was planning a blog entry listing the top five pregnancy symptoms I didn’t have. It was supposed to be very smug and ha-ha and I-am-wonder-pregnant-woman and intended to rub all pregnant womens noses in it. Of course, I was just begging for divine retribution and God obliged. But more about that later.
Lets do the top five pregnancy symptoms that never were first and get to the divine thunder and lightning part later.
1. Morning Sickness – All these years I’d always thought I was a very pukey kind of person with an overactive gag reflex. I puke before exams, I puke at bad smells, I puke on giant wheels, I puke on mountain roads and I even puke after a prolonged bout of coughing. So, I obviously assumed that my first trimester would be one long puke fest. And as I took a pregnancy test prompted by a prolonged bout of nausea and diarrhoea, it seemed the prophecies would come true. However, the nausea turned out to be as a result of a bout of food poisoning and soon settled down. Then came a lull where I waited for the dreaded morning sickness to set in armed with all the information that my aunt and the internet could provide. But as I neared the end of my first trimester with nary a puke in sight, I had to admit that I’d managed to beat the odds. Whoopee !
2. Mood Swings – I greeted the two purple lines on my pregnancy test with a flood of tears and six hours of raving and ranting. My chief grouse was of course that the much planned for Italy trip was now postponed indefinitely. Once I got over the initial shock , I’ve been surprisingly calm and balanced. Of course, the fact that Vishal wasn’t around for the first six months and I really couldn’t snap at his parents probably helped. Barring a couple of episodes of snapping at my sister ( which may not be hormonal ) its been remarkably smooth sailing.
3. Food Cravings – Generally my diet is extremely craving based. I have four designated stops on my commute home when I can stop to pick up aloo tikki ( the thela next to the hospital ), bhel puri ( at Sunder Nagar ), coconut water ( outside the park before Chirag Delhi flyover ) or Shawarma ( at PVR Saket ). I invariably make a stop at one of these joints everyday depending on my mood and level of hunger. I also stop to pick up a bhutta almost everyday when in season. Sometimes I’ll stop off at two or even three of these places. But this is my regular routine pre, intra and hopefully, post pregnancy. Maybe, my eating habits are so governed by my cravings that I had no room for adding anymore pregnancy induced ones. So, no midnight ice cream trips. I have been obsessively consuming bananas and sprouts. But that is more my obsession with eating healthy than any craving per se.
4. Skin and hair changes – There has been almost no change in my complexion. I am genuinely glad to have been spared the horrifying acne which I’ve seen on some colleagues. My dark circles are as prevalent as before and I have a noticeable lack of any glow. My hair has become even more frizzy and dry and unmanageable. I’ve probably also sprouted a few dozen more white strands than before. But if you encountered my tricoloured ( black, white and mehendi – orange ) shaggy mane you’d agree that any pregnancy damage is trivial.
5. Constipation or Diarrhoea – I am blessed with bowel movements as regular as clockwork. Just to rub it in, I also had no heartburn, no headaches, no varicose veins etc.
I’ve been having this nagging back pain for the last week, but I just assumed it was a sprain because of bad posture. A couple of days back, it suddenly got worse and I was in too much pain to even finish my opd. Then I realized that I had a new shooting pain radiating to my left leg which didn’t improve in any position. By the time, I got home I was in bad shape. Even a tiny movement of my spine would send teeth rattling jolts of pain down my leg. I was sweating and crying trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. I finally managed to get to sleep lying on my side on a hard mattress on the floor. I can’t even describe the agony of trying to turn over. The next morning, my spinal muscles had developed a painful spasm limiting all movement. Anyway, I’ve taken leave and am gradually improving. I spent a couple of days resembling Frankensteins aunt, walking with my right hip stuck out and dragging my left leg around. But my spinal mobility is improving gradually and hopefully I shall be as good as new by the time labour hits. The big question is - do I go back to work for a week or just kick back and relax and enjoy the last couple of weeks of uninterrupted sleep before the storm hits ?
By the way, 37 weeks tomorrow so no more Proleuton injections. Who-hoooo !
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