What I Wish I Was Told – Britta Martin’s Pregnancy

Welcome to my next pregnancy blog. I am 35 weeks into it now. This means that the finish line is in sight, or should I rather say the start line? I am very excited about our new arrival.

To be honest though, pregnancy has not been one of my favourite things. Over the last 8 months, it has been a very big learning curve for me and a big emotional roller coaster as well. I have been complaining a lot, that 9 or 9.5 months is a very long time. It seems to take some people, like me, that long to actually get their head around the whole thing.

I am pretty sure I still have absolutely no idea what is actually awaiting us once the baby is out, but even a 22 months’ pregnancy (that’s what elephants have to face) probably wouldn’t prepare me for this either. Just in the last few weeks, I think I have come to terms with the whole pregnancy a bit more.

Professional athletes are very selfish. 24 hours a day it used to be just about me. You have to be like that, otherwise you probably won’t achieve your highly set goals. I was a complete control freak, trying to control pretty much everything. The only thing what was out of my control was the weather, and this used to drive me crazy! I studied the weather report so many times a day to make sure I could still do all of my training, in case of rain or other bad weather. But the day you realise you are pregnant, this all changes.

You are suddenly not in control of anything anymore, especially not what used to be your reliant capital, your body. The baby is taking over and that probably won’t change for a few years. The last weeks and month, deep down, I have been fighting it. I couldn’t quite accept it. I still wanted to do exactly what I had always been capable of. I think I was kind of grieving what I had lost and what I wasn’t able to do anymore.

My friends around me kept training and getting fitter, preparing for races, competing in races, experiencing the rush it gives you and I felt like I was left behind. I was probably concentrating more on what I had lost, instead of what I was about to gain. I guess it makes it hard though, when you have no idea what to actually expect, and you only hear the nightmare stories of no sleep, no life, changing nappies all day, being pooped on, spewed on and screamed at. You suddenly start asking yourself, if this is actually really what I want?

And for me, not being able to do what has been my job and my passion for the last 12 years, was the hardest part. Even though it is hard mentally and physically, getting that daily adrenalin fix from exercising and pushing my body to the limits, having that daily goal and the feeling of achievement at the end of it, was what I really missed.

It has changed though over the last few months. I am really looking forward to the new arrival now and looking forward to the change in my life. A new challenge is about to start and that is a good thing and we are really looking forward to it.

I am sure I will keep struggling, but I am trying to look forward from now on and concentrate on what lies ahead and not what has been in the past.

One thing I have learned is that every single person, and therefore every pregnancy is different. Every single mother to-be has feelings and emotions that are unique and not comparable to one another, which gets me to my next point of this blog.

I was asked, what advice I wish I was told at the start of my pregnancy.  And what would be my number one tip.  As I have mentioned before, every single person experiences pregnancy completely different. I have talked to women, who absolutely loved it, some hated it, some struggled at the beginning, some in the middle and some at the end. All of them I am sure, ended up being great mums. But when you are a somebody, who really struggles at the start and then talk to somebody, who tells you the start is the easy bit and they hated the last three months, you start to panic. Then the next person tells you, that pregnancy is a walk in the park in comparison to what to expect once the baby is here, then you would probably rather like to give up altogether. My best advice is to not listen to anyone or anything. Listen to your body and trust in your ability to handle everything pregnancy throws at you is my best advice.

It has been my philosophy from the start to listen to my body as best as possible, but my problem was, that I didn’t trust in my own ability to cope with pregnancy. Because everybody kept telling me how hard the last few months are, I constantly tried to make the most of my early months. As an athlete with the intention to possibly get back into sport, I desperately tried to stay as fit as possible and regularly overdid it in the process.

I didn’t cope very well with my first half of the pregnancy but mainly because of the mental situation I was in. Since a couple of weeks, I have actually started to relax a bit and to just go with the flow.

Maybe because I am in a better state of mind, I feel fine and fit and probably better then what I have felt in earlier stages even though I am 8 months into it. I still exercise every day, swim, ride my bike and do gym workouts.

Check out Britta’s home gym from the link below!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMuwRQFgIuJ/

I can’t do my regular hikes anymore, but have found alternatives. I am pretty big by now and can’t move around as freely anymore, but the most important thing is, that I am happier and a lot more settled.

I have been so worried about the last three months, but, I am actually coping a lot better than I thought I would. I wish I wouldn’t have listened to other people and worried as much at the start. The last 4 weeks, which apparently are very challenging, are still ahead of me.  But I will try to trust in my body, that I will find ways to exercise and be able to cope with it without going insane.

My body has been so amazing in the last 8 months, and I think it is incredible what mother nature is able to do. So hopefully whatever it throws at me in the last month, I am sure there is a reason for it and I will be able to manage. Listen to your body and just be confident that it knows what it is doing.

My next tip is, don’t listen to other peoples’ opinion either. I am pretty sure that most expecting mother’s priority number one is the baby’s health. They wouldn’t do anything to put them in danger or do any harm. Every pregnant woman is in a unique situation and has got reasons to do different things, which might not be understandable from the outside. I am sure there are people out there, who would judge or criticise me for still keeping up my exercising. But looking at my past and what my body is used to, it would be wrong for me and the baby’s health to stop.

Happy, healthy mum = happy and healthy baby, right?

And now my last tip is to try to do what I wasn’t fully able to do, and that is, enjoy the process and just relax and go with the flow. In the end it will all be fine and you will hopefully become parents to a beautiful and more importantly healthy baby. Once the baby is here, I’m sure there will be very challenging and tough times, but a whole new life will start and me and my partner Rob can’t wait to welcome our little one to the world.

Written by Britta Martin