We vegans are well used to the (usually well meaning) advice from family and so-called ‘experts’ on the subject of veganism. However, throw vegan pregnancy into the mix, and suddenly it becomes about moral choices. Veganism is ok it seems when it’s our own choice, but can be questioned when we’re dealing with an unborn child.
Are you constantly tired? Excited and exhausted at the same time? Avoiding the mirror like the plague? Craving both cupcakes and your old jeans back? Every mum goes through a different emotional rollercoaster, but for the most part of the journey, the focus is on the little bundle of joy that you bring to this world. That, however, doesn’t mean that mums don’t need to go through a period of adaptation, in order to bond with the baby, embrace their changed physical appearance and find their inner femme fatale again.
I go to the desk and am told that no one can help me tonight as they have staff off sick, so I go back to my room. I start to panic as I struggle to get my head around feeding both babies by myself. I feel so alone with such a huge responsibility, overwhelmed and struggling to come to terms with what has happened over the last few days.
I’d wanted to have a baby for quite a while and we were incredibly lucky that we got pregnant within three months of starting trying. The first few weeks were pretty easy in that i did’t really have any pregnancy symptoms. It was from around 8 weeks pregnant when I started to suffer with nausea. It was constant, 24 hours a day for probably the next 8 weeks solid, although I never threw up once. As long as I kept eating little and often I could manage to control it. I remember being at work and secretly eating ginger biscuits at my desk to try to combat it. I also remember having to get up in the middle of the night to sit on the sofa and eat a flapjack because I just felt so sick and hungry at the same time!