Welcome to Trimester 3!!

I was toggling between writing about my realisation of the sudden loss of energy I’m experiencing or my excitement that now I look quite pregnant and I’m pleased as punch!! 

Welcome to Trimester 3!! We’re on to the last round 🥳

But I guess I’d write about both… lol… long read ahead, I guess… 

The sudden loss of energy… 

I read about it, heard about it, but never ever imagined it this way! I was speaking with a friend, Tammy, tonight and I tried to describe it to her in my latest “power cut” version. 

Imagine, you’re happily playing music on the “radio”, enjoying the fan being on, even enjoying working from home on your laptop, there’s something cooking in the microwave and all of a sudden, the lights go off, power cuts, internets goes with it, you’re left with “nothing”… 

Yhup! That’s how I feel right now! 

They say it may get worse, I feel it could get better once my body seems to get the memo — right now I’d cut it some slack and say it’s still shocked. Well I’m shocked… I went from hero to zero so fast on energy levels you’d think Ghana’s Volta River Authority was a person running for President with no rains in Northern Ghana and with a sudden cause to announce a dumsor period to the Nation that must vote for her #AllPunsIntended 

It’s not even funny. I’m struggling to work, struggling to get up in the morning, struggling, just struggling… they weren’t wrong about the honeymoon trimester 2. Though I didn’t get that sudden surge of energy at the beginning of it — mine kinda crept on me — I surely did get zapped out of those amazing energy levels the last few days… like the power cut… abruptly… some switch just went off… leaving me with “nothing”… 

That said, it’s also a beautifully quiet reminder that it’d be over soon. I’m in no hurry for Ariosua to show her/his face earlier than due, but knowing that this exhaustion is over soon is heartwarming.

But then, as my friend, Valerie, put it tonight, I won’t be just exhausted then, I’d be exhausted with a crying baby 😂😂😂😂 Bless her, she made me laugh alright! 

The pregnancy look 🤩… 

I never ever thought I’d say this… or even do a little happy dance tonight in front of the mirror because of it but I’m excited that I’m finally starting to look pregnant… whoooooooossshhh!! 

At first I dreaded it, then got so proud of not “looking” pregnant, then got totally frustrated that I had to actually verbally let people know I was pregnant and now that my nose is popping and my bump is showing… Uuuuuuweeeeeee! I’m so happy! 

I’ve fit in most of my pre pregnant clothes without a fuss. I’ve lost a lot of weight so I’m actually surprised Ariosua and myself are still healthy. So that was a plus. I also was thankful I didn’t look pregnant when I wasn’t ready to let others know I was, especially right after the first trimester when we had started breaking our silence on it. First trimester was hard, oh my, it was hard, and thanks to some medical opinions, keeping quiet was helpful in keeping me in a better state to hold Ariosua in with all the medical tracking and assistance I could get. I guess they were right. 

Then when we started announcing and I’d get the “But you don’t look pregnant” comments, I’d beam with instant pride! “I look fly, don’t I?” But sometimes it could be shattering, including the day I wore my “I’m pregnant” outfit to the office to announce my good news without saying so! And it didn’t announce itself 🙄 I still bore… my friend, Delight, was at the office that day and can attest to both: how it didn’t show and how upsetting it was for me. All that effort to look pregnant down the drain… just like that!

Then when I felt all those around me could see the change, I had one more hurdle to cross: the innocent bystanders who didn’t know me from Adam. 

Imagine having to tell the Uber driver to go over bumps slowly only to close-to scream in shock and then almost immediately threaten him with some form of “do you want a child born in your car today?” expression after he decided that the bump he went so quickly over wasn’t a bump enough? Yhup… frustrating!

Or go with me down memory lane, just about 2 weeks round today’s corner, to the time I had to carry my collection of books and other items that had my sketches to an interview in one big “tote” bag. I signed in at the entrance, a few steps from where I had parked the car and then asked for help to carry my bag into the building. The impressively-dressed security man look bewildered: as if I’d asked him to quit his job and sing and clap for me up the stairs. That’s when he started explaining that he can’t leave his post, blah blah blah. I could have cried then, I’m not used to asking for help. So I said, “Oh, I can’t carry it myself. I really need the help. I’m pregnant”. It’s like a light bulb lit brightly in his head and suddenly his narrative became more helpful. He didn’t carry it because he honestly couldn’t leave his post but he was so “caring” and “more helpful” after that. Hmmmmmm. Frustrating… 

Or the time I went to the bank and after all my deep breaths, sighs and occasional groans, I asked if I could eat my chocolate bar and was invited to do so. Thinking my bulging tummy was obvious, I was shocked to be compared to a male friend of this banker who sat before me. His friend also had to eat sweets to keep his sugar levels up. I asked if his friend was diabetic and he said no but just had to do so if he was getting hungry. So I commented I had been away from home a while and needed to eat soon because my low sugar levels were being caused and aggravated by my baby who was fussing then… You should have seen this banker’s shock and heard it in his “You’re pregnant?” ask. And then we spent the next 10 mins or so with him telling me how he didn’t know I was pregnant, I don’t look it, blah blah blah… Can you imagine I left home with the undeniable conviction that I looked pregnant? But no, I just looked like a lady with a fat belly 🤦🏾‍♀️ I now notice ladies with large bellies and wonder if that’s how I appeared to these men. Frustrating! 

But nowwwww, see me! In less than 2 weeks my nose doesn’t only look large and pregnant right after I wake up in the mornings but large and pregnant all day every day🤩. And if face masks were still a blocker, see my bump now… whooosshh… it’s like the Lord “goes” before me now in this belly of mine 😂😂😂

I know I don’t look as huge as the average pregnant woman this far into my journey but at least now I look pregnant. Finish!!! Nose and all!!! 🤩

I’m actually laughing at myself now. I’m not sure if I’d feel the same way next week or next month even. But that won’t stop me from celebrating now in spite of the continued aversions and indigestion episodes that have plagued me all through this pregnancy, including the episode that’s keeping me wide awake tonight 🤦🏾‍♀️

So here’s to marking the beginning of Trimester 3 🍾🥂with an exhausting reminder of who’d be “here” soon, a finally-significant pregnancy nose, and a large enough belly that I hope won’t be mistaken for sheer obesity anymore. Here’s to a beautiful trimester ahead, because you better be a good one to me, Trimester 3 😂😂 I’m tired… so tired already… as Zouli, my colleague, used to say to me before she went on maternity leave, “Je suis fatigué.”

11:00pm

Pregnancy Diaries || Tuesday, 14th September, 2021 || 28 weeks, 0 days