Tuesday 29 October 2013

Blemish after blemish...

I know that many women out there have suffered the dreaded morning sickness, weeks feeling dizzy with no appetite or bent over the loo retching feeling like utter generally crap. One friend of mine suffered such bad morning sickness that she was hospitalised after losing two stones in the first three months of pregnancy, at 6 months pregnant she can still barely hold anything down. I really feel for all these women and can only imagine (as someone who suffers from relatively bad car sickness, not quite the same I am fully aware!) how awful it must feel.



I cannot however relate, I didn't (and still haven't) suffer any morning sickness whatsoever (starting to fear I'm tempting fate). I don't mean to brag, I'm merely stating fact. Given that I am someone who picks up every bug going around (she says whilst sniffing) I found this quite surprising. I didn't jump for joy, it actually got me worrying a little, whilst I know how dreadful morning sickness is, at least it's a sign that things are happening inside... I (being neurotic) may or may not (may) have been on the phone to my Doc complaining about not having it, asking what was wrong!

After coming to terms with not suffering morning sickness (as a now rational minded person I am fully aware of how ludicrous this sounds) I did face my own early sign of pregnancy...

No sooner had I discovered the joyous news had my skin broken out in a way that only 15 year old boys can relate to. I was covered in vulgar pussy, red gigantic spots. Now I know this sounds self indulgent, vein, stupid etc etc etc... I couldn't help how much this bothered me in those early weeks. One particularly melodramatic morning saw me in tears whilst dressing for a friends wedding, by the time we were in the car on our way I was caked in make-up looking more like a (spotty) drag queen than a black tie wedding guest. The Hubs reassured me, telling me I looked great, but I knew the truth...

Every day I'd spend ages on pregnancy forums looking for remedies (quite a good way to make those spare minutes go a little faster), it was comforting to find that so many women were facing the same thing and many many were offering up their own advice...

After much research, I discovered that the most popular recommended products were:

1/ Grease Lightning Spot Treatment: Lush - kinda made my face tight (perhaps due to overuse) - didn't work for me

2/ E45: Boots - cost effective (you may even have a tube of this in your bathroom cupboard already) - didn't work for me

3/ Murad age diffusing serum: Harvey Nichols - very pricey, didn't work for me

In the end, a combination of leaving my skin the hell alone and dabbing on a tiny bit of diprobase (cheap and kinda worked) seemed to help a little. In truth it is hormonal so there really nothing you can do. As my Doc explained, 'it is a sign that things are working', ' your body is going through a great deal of change and it effects everyone differently', I know that isn't helpful, but it is what it is. 

I am 23 weeks today and whilst my skin has calmed down, it is still not quite right and I am regularly greeted by a new friend right in the middle of my forehead or at the end of my nose. 

Now that I am over the biggest hurdle (12 week scan) and Baby J is kicking away, these blemishes have become quite irrelevant, they even make me laugh at times. 

I just can't quite believe how much it upset me at the time (it really was all consuming), needless to say, everything is blown way out of proportion when your pregnant and even the tiniest things can trigger a mammoth reaction (as the Hubs can most certainly confirm!!!)

2 comments:

  1. My skin was all over the place at the start of my pregnancy, but has now mellowed out to be pretty damn amazing. I'll be gutted when it goes back to normal after I've popped!
    I've been using simple face wash in the morning and st ives apricot scrub in the evenings. I tone both times with simple toner and then moisturise (currently estee lauder antioxidant oil free cream, but when that runs out will change to simple light to be cost effective). Seems to have worked for me. It might work for you, but pregnancy skin is just difficult.

    TheLondonMum
    www.thelondonmum.me

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  2. Thanks so much for your comment, my skin has finally (and thankfully) started to calm down now! I will share your advice with friends going through the same thing! Wishing you well for the rest of your pregnancy x

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