The pregnancy weight struggle: second time around

When I was pregnant with Paul, I had the most voracious appetite ever. For some reason, having tested positive with a baby left me constantly hungry – something that I had never experienced in my life ever. I quickly packed on the kilogrammes, and within the first trimester, I had gained nearly 5 kilos. My doctor consistently warned me about putting on too much weight, and while I was fearful of the eventual struggle with losing the additional weight, I was a pregnant woman out of control – I just couldn't stop eating.

It was also a very smooth pregnancy, I was blessed to not have any morning sickness at all. My diet was healthy, but huge. In the mornings, I would drink a big glass of milk, take my pregnancy supplements, and by 10 am I would be munching on my morning tea in the office (milo with biscuits). Since I worked very close to Sunway Pyramid, I was constantly spoilt for lunch choices, and almost on a daily basis, I had a fantastic variety of options to pick from. By 4 or 5, I would be hungry again, and I would be munching again on either some nuts or anything that would keep me full. And then dinner would come – and usually I would have a very heavy meal – but by around 10 or 11 I would be starving again and hence came supper!

Looking quite pregnant at nearly 20 weeks. This was when I was having Paul.

Expectedly, I gained quite a lot of weight. When I was only 5 months pregnant, it was already difficult to walk, and I would go to shopping malls and people would ask me if I was going to deliver anytime soon.

In total, when I had Paul, I gained 25 kilogrammes. I started off at 58 kilos, and by the time I was pushed to the labour room, I was nearly 83 kilos – a walking whale! Oh don't get me wrong, Paul was an amazing baby, and having him was the best decision we ever made – but I won't pretend and say it was easy to lose the weight later on. First of all, by the time Paul popped, I had only lost about five kilos, leaving me with nearly 20 kilos of additional weight to live with. And then there was the myth of breastfeeding helping to lose the kilos, errr, that didn't quite work for me. At least, I was so heavy it took forever to shed off the weight. By the time Paul was one I had only managed to get rid of 7 kilos, leaving about 13 kilogrammes. My bosses thought I was pudgy, and I was secretly quite depressed about the weight.

Post breastfeeding, the additional weight went away within the next 2-3 months, but I only managed to lose another 9+ kilos. For nearly a year I was left with about 4 kilos of dead, stubborn fat that refused to budge no matter what. And since they said that the last 5 kilos are the hardest to let go, I had decidedly 'given up'.

Until this pregnancy that is.

This particular time around has been a completely different experience altogether. First of all, I have nearly zero appetite for the foods I usually adore. Secondly, I seem to have acquired an extreme intolerance for dairy products. In fact, in the first trimester, I was vomitted – up to 8 times a day, and every time I accidentally ingested milk, or cheese, it would mean the  end of a perfect day. I was craving the strangest things, chicken rice, for instance – at one point I was having chicken rice every day for an entire week. I desired pineapples a lot – and because pineapples are nearly taboo especially in the first stage of pregnancy, I had to carefully ration myself – to having a slice of pineapple every hour and sucking on it so that I could quench my cravings.

I lost 3 kilos during my pregnancy. By week 10 when I was going out, I had friends asking if I had gone on a diet and whether I could share tips on losing weight.

17+ weeks and finally, a bit of a bump and increased butt size!

Today I said hello to my 18th week, and happily, I have finally gained about 2 kilos and am finally looking a little bit more pregnant. My appetite still isn't great, I had a fantastic dinner last night but my stomach didn't agree with it so it all came out around 11 pm, but it's okay. I'm surviving here. Being pregnant, working from home and having to take care of a 2 year old toddler is incredibly challenging, but I can't quite say I'm not enjoying it. I started swimming again last Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hubby's taking me on a mini-babymoon next week, a foodie's trip up north so I can fulfil  my Assam Laksa cravings and I'm really looking forward to it.

Most of all, the next 20 weeks or so look set to be another ride of our lives. I'm hoping for yet another smooth, natural and painless delivery, and another trip down the breastfeeding journey with Baby#2.