BEAUTY // OUR PREGNANCY BODIES

Gemma and I spent the weekend together and while I was at her house, I noticed some pictures of her heavily pregnant with Belle. I hadn’t seen these before because we weren’t friends back then (I know, can you believe that?!) so we obviously started sharing pregnancy stories. We both had completely different pregnancies, had completely different body issues and we’re pregnant at completely different times. So today we thought that we’d share them with you.

SAM’S PREGNANCY BODY STORY

Being pregnant didn’t really feel any different to me. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. I had no tell tale signs – I wasn’t sick, I didn’t have any odd cravings (except for Babybel, I had to have one on me at all times) and I didn’t feel tired. You hate me, right?! Please don’t!

I promise I wasn’t a smug pregnant person, it’s just that for me it pretty much remained business as usual. I carried on working with all of the energy I put into my job before, I went to late night events, I travelled. Hell, I even flew to NYC to report from backstage at 32 weeks pregnant. Some people may have thought that I was mental but I felt totally fine. I was pregnant, not ill.

And for all of these reasons, I absolutely loved being pregnant. I loved watching my body grow and change and adapt. I loved feeling this little thing fluttering around inside me. I grew a newfound love and admiration for my body. The fact that it could do all of this by itself, while I got on with what I had do I found astonishing. One of my favourite rituals was massaging two or three oils onto my bump before bed. I found it a really bonding thing, just me and my baby.

I know that every pregnancy is different. I was SO lucky when it came to falling pregnant with, and carrying Leo and I’ll probably get payback with my next pregnancy. If you are newly pregnant and struggling with all of the changes, inside and out then my advice is simple: try and enjoy it. It won’t be for long. And everything does eventually go back to normal. I promise.

GEMMA’S PREGNANCY BODY STORY

I hated being pregnant. I don’t want to sit here and moan as I know that some people struggle to fall pregnant and would love to even be in my position but everyone is different and you can only compare what you go through to your own situation, rather than comparing it with others.

From 8 weeks until 7 months I felt sick on a daily basis. I was never actual sick (although I constantly wished I could be sick as I felt like that would make it pass.) I felt dizzy so often and fainted a couple of times. Once I was in the returns queue at Primark, trying to return £600 worth of product (which makes you want to faint at the best of times!) from a shoot I’d done and I just fainted. Luckily my assistant was with me so she could explain the situation to all the gawkers. I couldn’t shower alone in case I fainted so always had to have someone nearby which was a total pain in the ass. I cracked a rib. I sprained my ankle.

I was so consumed by feeling shitty that I barely noticed my body changing. Belle was almost 10 pounds (ya, I know!) so I was fairly large but it didn’t really bother me. I wore tight clothes the whole way through as I felt like if I wore anything oversized then I looked like a balloon. My face looked like a chipmunk which is what tends to happen when I put on weight, but that didn’t bother me either. Putting on weight while you are pregnant is whats meant to happen, so in my opinion there is no point freaking out about it. One of the only things I did love about pregnancy was that my skin felt really good. I usually get really bad excema (cracked, bleeding skin) and I didn’t get that once throughout my pregnancy.

I was weirdly SO excited for birth, and if it was possible to give birth without being pregnant then I would have 4 kids! I will save my birth story for another time 🙂

We’d love to hear yours. Comment on our insta or tag us in a pic of you pregnant!