Your pregnancy and post pregnancy body is probably one of the biggest areas of discussion when it comes to babies (after the lack of sleep that is). I know I personally battled with it and still do on a daily basis. Some people embrace the changes whilst others are not happy bunnies at the differences they discover in their body. I fall very firmly in to the latter camp. It got me thinking about how we all feel and so the team are being very honest about their pregnancy body changes in the first of our new Q&A series.

We are going to start by talking about our pregnancy bodies and how we felt about them and will follow up with our post pregnancy bodies in a few weeks. As always please do share your feelings and thoughts below and if you have anything you would like the team to answer questions on in the future do let us know. It is good to share after all.

How did you feel about your body whilst pregnant?

Lolly: If I’m being really honest then I felt a bit freaked out about my body whilst pregnant. You’re really not supposed to admit that are you. I felt space invaded and uncomfortable and completely on show. I’d say I’m usually quite a private person but the presence of a bump felt to me like I was standing on a table and shouting “wahoooo I had sex” in front of everyone. I know, totally ridiculous but there we have it. I know that quite a few women (and men!) enjoy the temporary boob enhancement but I found even my supersized breasts off-putting. I hated the lack of flexibility I developed as the months went on; even bending down to pick something off the floor was an ordeal. Despite all of this I was in complete awe of the ability of the human body to grow another tiny being inside of it. I was amazed that I was growing Hector – all those tiny fingers and toes and complex biological structures – without even thinking about it. It was as simple as breathing. Truly fantastic.

Lottie: I will be honest here and say I didn’t really like it. I didn’t hate it per se but I wasn’t exactly an earth mother type. It just didn’t feel like me and I felt a bit out of control with how it was changing. However, I knew I was growing an amazing baby in there and I suppose that was what mattered.

Fern: I really enjoyed being pregnant – it’s so cliched but for me it really did feel like a magical time and I felt really comfortable in my body. I probably felt more confident in my pregnancy body than I do usually!

Lorna: My hair stopped falling out. My nails felt stronger. I even recall not having to shave my legs as often as the hairs just weren’t growing as quickly! Then my waist started expanding and I did not like that. Obviously I was in awe of the fact that I had a tiny human growing inside of me, but never having anything to wear and constantly feeling uncomfortable definitely takes its toll on your confidence. I must confess, by the end of each pregnancy I had definitely had enough.

What changes to your body did you like the most whilst pregnant?

Lolly: Possibly the only change I liked was to my hair which got thicker, glossier and grew at the rate of knots. I also didn’t have to wash it as often as it got quite dry which was a bonus in my book.

Lottie: If I’m honest I actually can’t think of anything positive. The only positive was I didn’t get stretch marks or bad veins so I guess that’s one thing….

Fern: I liked having bigger boobs and I really liked my bump. I loved it when Elle started to move, that connection is just indescribable. I tried to really look after my body whilst I was pregnant – I did lots of swimming and yoga so I actually felt really strong and in control of my body during my pregnancy.

Lorna: I quite liked my breasts getting bigger. I’ve never been blessed with boobs, so to actually have a cleavage was a treat.

Which did you dislike the most?

Lolly: Where do I even begin?? The weight gain? The water retention? The heartburn? I hated every moment of being pregnant. I was not one of those women lucky enough to get ‘the glow’.

Lottie: I didn’t particularly like anything about my pregnancy body. Not even the bigger boobs and particularly not my large thighs and fat arms. The first pregnancy was better in that I didn’t put on much weight or have a large bump but it just didn’t feel like me. Plus my legs expanded and who on earth wants fat calves? I cried the day I couldn’t get my boots on.

Fern: Having said that, I did suffer from chronic back ache from the very start and had to stop wearing my normal bras even before my boobs had grown. I lost muscle tone and put on a bit of fat because I wasn’t doing anything particularly high intensity and there was quite a lot of carb consuming going on.

Lorna: When I was carrying Elliott my ankles would swell up to the size of my calfs. They looked like a pair of elephant pins. That was not attractive at all. Luckily it wasn’t related to pre-eclampsia. I just obviously had a lot of water retention. And then there were the stretch marks. I didn’t get them until I was 36 weeks pregnant with Elliott. I’d ran out of stretch mark cream and missed a few days of creaming. This could be pure coincidence that it coincided, but I can’t help but wonder if I hadn’t ran out what they would have been like…

 

So that’s us. Team RMF being quite honest about how they felt about their pregnancy bodies. How did you feel about yours?