The things I’m looking forward to AFTER my pregnancy

Someone asked me what I’m looking forward to after my pregnancy, and it really got me thinking. Some of it isn’t the typical stuff and some of it really surprised me as to what I miss. It’s often the simple things we take for granted.

Look, I’m definitely keen for a glass of champers, but first and foremost it’s COMFORT that I’m going to savour. So here’s my list:

• Lying on my stomach – oh how I took this simple action for granted. I love it! I write in my journal while lying on my stomach, I sunbake (with sunscreen of course) on my stomach, I play with my cat (pictured in the cover photo) on the rug on my stomach and I sometimes lie in bed on my stomach. I’ve missed this so much. The option to lie in any position without fear of squishing the growing being inside of me or the shuffled organs jammed in together. And after my pregnancy, I’ll be having a c-section so it’ll be a little while to go but that first extension on to my front, pressing my belly into the ground, will be simply glorious.
  

• A colonic – I know! Random first choice, but I really like them!! 
  
  For those who don’t know what they are. it’s a health practice where the system is flushed with water. I had a few at the end of 2019 and start of 2020 and it really helped my body reset and feel cleansed, especially after big holidays and before big events. So now I’m craving one!
  

• Sleeping on my back – I don’t do it often, but at the moment I wake up any time I roll onto my back and i’m so aware of it that I shouldn’t be doing it, and it does make me a little dizzy. I can’t wait to just be able to relax and roll around in sleep as I please.
  
  
• Eating soft cheese – a few people have said don’t stress and if you wanna eat a bit of cheese, go for it. But I’m ok to practice some abstinence and that cheese is going to taste so damn good when I eat it.
  
  
• Champagne (well sparkling wine, as we must call it) – I’m a big champagne fan and I have missed it. The non-alcoholic stuff just doesn’t cut it. It’s like sparkling apple juice really. And it seems the more they try to make it taste like wine, the worse it tastes. So bring on the proper bubbles – A big ol glass in the hospital bed please. I can’t wait for those first tingly sips on my tongue.
  
  
• A massage on my front and back – during pregnancy, you have to lie on your side during massages. And while the feeling of having someone’s hands over my body is sill helpful and healing, it’s really not the same as the regular experience of lying on your front and having your full back massaged. And then lying on your back to have your head and shoulders done.
  
  
• Hot tub – I really don’t have these often, and I rarely have baths actually, but as soon as you’re told you can’t do something, you want that thing x10. We went for a massage experience in October and my girlfriends were able to go early and use the spa and sauna before their relaxing massage (on their fronts!) I couldn’t partake and although again I don’t do it often, it was a reminder of what I couldn’t do. So as soon as I’m allowed to submerge again (apparently 2-4 months after a c-section) I’ll be booking myself in for a FULL pamper session with all the hot tubs, plunge pools and saunas my heart desires. They’ll have to drag me out of that place kicking and screaming!
  
  
• Walking without hip pain – it’s the simple things we take for granted. Being able to walk from my bed to my bathroom without twinges and pangs of pain shooting through my hip and making me stumble. A day without pain will be bliss. (I know this could take time to heal, and especially after my surgery, but I will savour that day).
  
  
• Not being huge– I’ve tried most of, or all of my life, to maintain a trim, strong and healthy figure. I don’t want to be skinny, to me that equates to illness. But I do like to have a slimmer shape with strong muscles to support my body. Gaining this much weight and physically being so much wider has been hard on me, both mentally and physically. I do look forward to getting back to regular exercise, although I’ve been quite good throughout the pregnancy with regular walks and a weekly pilates reformer class. I will at least enjoy being able to see my toes again without having to lean so far forward that I almost tip over.
  
  
• Bending without groaning – I feel like an 80 year old. Picking things up, getting up from the couch, even putting on underwear. I moan and groan. It’s not conscious at all – it just happens. Perhaps because as I bend, my organs are being squished together in the basketball that is my stomach and it’s a release of oxygen that comes racing out? It’s rather unattractive and makes the task seem more arduous than it already is. So soundless bending and moving about will be a tranquil change.
  
  
• Not having giant boobs that stick in my face – they are just so high! It baffles me everyday how they have grown so much and may well continue to grow further. It’s bizarre and often unsettling! I used to have nice little handfuls (as my husband so kindly described them to be) and I miss them. They were perky and round with small but well proportioned nipples. I now have discus sized nipples on these giant mounds that seem to constantly be protruding outward and upward. Like my own personal flotation devices, despite the fact that I feel my swimming and floating have in actual fact, got worse! Baths are the worst for it. I’ve had to stop having them, or filling the tub with so many bubbles that they obstruct the view of these oversized inflatable rockmelons on my chest. Praying that I get back to my lovely little handfuls, though I’ve been informed I could well be left with two sad little deflated balloons instead. As long as they are smaller – that’ll do for me … and a good bra!
  
  
• Snuggling with my husband – although we still cuddle and show affection often, it has been hindered by the bump. But also by my moods and emotions. Sometimes the last thing I can stomach in a day is to be touched. My boobs are so sensitive, and at times my belly is tender too. He does something so simple and natural as to roll over and put his arm on me during the night and it makes me jump up. It also instantly sets me off into a bad mood. I look forward to a time when I can embrace those sweet moments of affection that he so regularly showers on me and truly indulge in our cuddles. 

What did you, or are you, looking forward to post pregnancy?