I’m 18 weeks pregnant today and feeling great so I thought it time to share my pregnancy story to date…
It took us a matter of years to conceive my son so despite using Herbalife nutrition for ages and being a healthy weight AND much fitter (exercising 3 or 4 times a week), we were astounded to find that I was pregnant after literally the first attempt this time.
The first 12 weeks were hard – I knew I was pregnant immediately because I went off my morning Thermo and would struggle to drink a shake before 11 am and then I could only stomach the sweet Chocolate or Strawberry flavours. (These were things that a number of clients had mentioned before finding out they were pregnant.) I had all-day-nausea for pretty much the whole first trimester and really struggled – but forced myself as much as I could – to eat healthily as I didn’t really want to eat anything at all. My only craving was for fruit flavoured ice lollies – not exactly full of goodness!!
Luckily by the end of the 12th week I started to feel much better and was delighted to FINALLY announce my pregnancy once we’d had our first scan, as I was looking “fat” and my skin had become hormonally spotty after months of working to get it looking good! – Not great for business with a huge “LOSE WEIGHT NOW, ASK ME HOW” advert on the side of my car and actively promoting the Outer Nutrition skincare regime to everyone as I had been getting great results!
The last month has been much easier and so far (touch wood) I have managed to avoid the various health problems that I suffered from in my last pregnancy… Last time I was diagnosed with Obstetric Cholestasis (also known as ‘OC’ or ‘Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy’) – a liver condition which gives you a higher risk of having a stillborn baby in the final trimester, and my son had to be born early and spent some time in the Special Care Baby Unit as his heart valves were not quite ‘ready’. I am told that there is a high probability that this condition will re-occur in subsequent pregnancies but so far all of my liver function tests have come back “normal” and I’m having a healthy pregnancy. I also had a very high bloody pressure last time and spent some weeks in hospital towards the end, but my BP is also great so far!!
As I suffered from Symphasis Pubis Disorder last time (where the hormone relaxin causes too much movement in your pelvic area, causing severe back pain) I have stopped the heavy exercise I was doing prior to my pregnancy as a preventative measure but am still active with a 2 year old in tow! I have to say that I am looking forward to getting back in the gym and exercise studio next summer though!
So as of 18 weeks, I’m feeling really good if a little tired by the end of the day (and missing my LiftOff – one of the few Herbalife products which shouldn’t be used in pregnancy). I thought that I really wasn’t suited to pregnancy after the constant problems last time – where I completely missed the blooming stage – but actually I’m feeling so good this time and I really think a lot of it has to do with having a much more healthy lifestyle and the support of Herbalife nutrition.
