Always Important

 Always important. 

That’s what I’m learning even more each day. Ariosua is always important. (Yhup, we’re yet to confirm her/his gender). And sometimes because s/he’s always important, sometimes s/he’s the only one I need to attend to urgently. 

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Eisenhower matrix and how it helps you decide what you must do and when you must do it. Well, when it comes to our Ariosua, s/he’s mostly in the Urgent and Important quadrant. 

Because I have to keep him/her safe, you’d find me drinking lots of water in a day and tripping to the bathroom as soon as I need to go. I’ve come to realise no discussion on any online meeting, work or otherwise, would be worth pre-term contractions from a UTI I could have avoided, or at least reduced its gravity. None. So I’ve learnt to say, “Team, please give me 3 minutes, I need to step away from the call; I’d be back” and then dash to the washroom or grab another helping of water. No reasons needed, team responsibly informed so life can “go on” without me whilst I do my part to preserve the life, this precious gift to us, that’s “growing” inside of me. 

Always important… 

Because Ariosua is always important and s/he needs to be fed well, I’ve probably found more ways to stop crashing. I still struggle to eat properly. As a foodie, it’s quite frustrating to be appalled by things I’d once grab and eat without thinking. I can’t seem to eat chicken, fish, and sometimes meat anymore. Especially those with the slightest hint of garlic (before Ariosua came along, I used to loooove garlic as a spice). The thought alone can make me puke, trust me this isn’t an exaggeration, let me just spare you the details but it’s that bad. But because Ariosua is important, I stick to my 2 eggs everyday! Ariel sometimes likes to laugh at me that I’m now a snake who’s addicted to eggs. I might as well be at this rate 😂😂😂 after all, I still have an acute sense of smell that could make those sniffer dogs at the airports jobless. For all you know I could smell cancer if I knew what those other “special” dogs smelt to detect it. 

I digress… 

Aside my two eggs, I’d currently eat a tonne of lettuce each day because onions are a hit and miss and carrots are now disgusting on most days. Plus many other veggies are hard to even be by! Who would have imagined that I wouldn’t be able to share a room with peas or fresh tomatoes? Or beans on a “bad day”? Sometimes it’s so sad, this whole aversion thing, but I’m thankful pregnancy isn’t permanent. I’d get my old me back soon GW. The midwives’ advice to follow the cravings I’ve had helps keep my plate diversified somehow, and my doctor-cousin, Muffet, and doctor-friend, Eyram, really have helped me make awesome food choices. Because the fear of depriving your child of essential nutrients can be extremely terrifying. I’ve cried before because of this fear. Really grateful to each of them. 

So yes, Ariosua is always important. S/he dictates my sleep patterns and how much sleep I need to get nowadays, how much exercise I can do, if I go to the hospital or not, the emotions I choose to indulge in because I honestly can’t be stressing him/her for any nonsense thereof, even the presence of the chocolate bar in my bag anytime I step out of the house for more than an hour because I can’t risk crashing from low sugar levels. S/he definitely dictates our “sparse” shopping list nowadays, that list used to be tall! Now, there’s only as much as I can stomach myself or tolerate around me. Yhup, Ariel gets hit too, unfortunately. S/he forces me to eat everyday even though on some days I really wonder why God just didn’t allow us to imbibe nutrients from the atmosphere by Osmosis or some other means. Can you imagine this was a thought that was close to a nightmare for me because of my love for food? 😂 Now see me wishing it was a beautiful dream come true. 😆 “This world is not our home”, it’s true 🤦🏾‍♀️

I love Ariosua. I really do. I love her/him here. Making moves in my belly and reminding me that s/he’s the one we’ve been praying for. I also love that s/he’s taught me a lot about prioritisation and living by the hour, literally!! I thought I knew how to do so but now I know I didn’t know as much. 

It’s great to have her/him here. And I guess I understand how babies are the forever boss, always important, dictating our lives and yet always captivating us in love, even before they’re born 🥰 

Looking forward to meeting you outside this body of mine, Ariosua 😘😘 Eagerly looking forward 🥰🥲😍

5:25pm GMT 

Pregnancy Diaries || Thursday, 9th September, 2021 || 27 weeks, 2 days