Pregnant and Nauseous: Welcome to my life!

Hi everyone!

So, this is my first ever blog post and I'm not entirely sure where to start. Maybe a bit about myself. I'm Shannon, I'm 29 and live in sunny Scotland.

I decided to start this blog to try and help out other parents who might be having the same struggles and challenges that I have or can maybe just relate to individual things that are going on in my life.

Pregnancy and parenting can be a struggle. There are so many conflicting opinions and pieces of information that it's hard to tell if you're doing the right thing or not. Being shamed because you dare to feel or something different from someone else can make the journey often feel lonely, even with a supportive partner. At the end of the day the only person who really knows how you are feeling, is you!

No matter what you say or do, you can feel judged. For example, I am currently 19 weeks and 5 days pregnant and I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to say when people ask. Do I say 19 weeks and 5 days? Do I say 19 weeks? Do I say 20 weeks? Do I say something in between? I've had people give me looks for saying any of these answers, it's a minefield. If I say 19 weeks and 5 days, then am I giving the impression that I care too much? If I say 20 weeks, am I giving the impression that I dont care enough? These things shouldn't be overwhelming but they are!

I had a rough first trimester. I was so incredibly nauseous that I ended up taking weeks off work just to survive. I couldn't even get out of bed; it was awful! When I tried to talk to someone about it, they couldn't understand and thought I was just being dramatic. It made me feel worse and like I was failing as a pregnant woman. If I can't handle 'simple morning sickness,' how will I survive as a mother?!

When I spoke to some others, they sympathised but then went down the route of making me feel like I should still be working and being sick isn't something that I should take time off work for.

I'm lucky to have a supportive husband who helps out with everything in life. I wouldn't be able to do it without him, but even with him, I felt alone. Even Though he tried, he can't feel the way I feel, he isnt pregnant and feeling like he is going to throw up every second of the day. It can take a toll and feel very lonely.

Everyone makes you feel bad for not thinking that every part of pregnancy is rainbows and unicorns, the truth is, its not! Everyone is different, some people can go through pregnancy and it be an incredibly smooth experience and some people can go through pregnancy struggling and wishing for it to end. Both experiences are valid and totally normal! Part of what I want to do with this blog is share my experiences and normalise talking about the not so fun side of pregnancy and parenthood.

Anyway, I hope that this gives you a bit of an idea of who I am and what I want to achieve. Hopefully, something in here can help even one person because pregnancy is hard and we all deserve some credit for growing a whole tiny human.

Thanks for reading, from one struggling mother to another xx