Yesterday I had some time on my hands so I was catching up on my Facebook newsfeed. I have to say is it me or is Facebook getting a bit boring now? I find people either broadcast everything about their lives which isn’t actually that exciting nor interesting, love a moan OR just keep requesting you to play games. NO THANK YOU! However, there is one thing I enjoy on Facebook and that is reading news stories people post (which I may miss) or some YouTube clips. Yesterday my cousin from Hong Kong posted a very heart warming video of a baby who was able to see her mum for the first time with the aid of glasses! The article is in Chinese but I am sure there will be an English version somewhere. If you are able to read Chinese then here is the article. The very short YouTube clip at the bottom of the article basically shows a baby called Louise who suffer from Albinism who has never been able to see her own mum since birth. She can only recognise her voice and it was SO heart warming when her mum put glasses on her and she was able to see her own mum for the first time. The little smile on her face was priceless.
As I am now in my final trimester of my pregnancy (meaning the last 3 months) seeing a video like that makes me think about my own baby more and more. I think every parent in the world wants to have a healthy baby with no medical problems but of course that is not always the case. Like with Albinism the condition means the patient has pale skin, hair and eyes. However numerous of eye conditions are always associated with Albinism and even glasses cannot correct it completely. I am not sure about other mums out there but even now, at 28 weeks pregnant and I know my baby is growing like normal and all are good but in the back of my mind I still worry what if there is something wrong but they did not pick it up during scans and other tests? Until I actually meet this little baby and have it in my arms knowing everything is fine I think the worry “stress head mum” side of my brain will always be worried.
Albinism in Infants
A lot of my friends ask me if I enjoy being pregnant and I never really know how to answer them because I think there is a lot going on when you are pregnant. This is how I have to answer such question… I definitely did not enjoy the first 14 weeks, it was pretty hellish with feeling sick ALL THE TIME then suddenly I had all these new eating rules to follow. Things such as not being able to eat runny eggs (god I miss a poached egg), not being able to enjoy a good medium rare steak and more importantly seafood which is my love! Also, you do not get your first scan until 12 weeks so you are pretty much spending the first 3 months of your pregnancy wondering if your baby is ok because they are too small for you to feel their movements.To sum it up the first trimester I did not enjoy. The second trimester which is 15 weeks to 27 weeks that was so much better, I didn’t feel sick anymore and I was still very small and very able to do everything. In fact half the time I forgot I was actually pregnant then you can also look forward to the 20 weeks scan where you can find out the sex (baby clothes shopping commences at that point) and at around that time I felt it kick for the first time too. Magical moment!
The second trimester was a winner, I enjoyed it and now I am at the beginning of my 3rd trimester. I have no idea what to expect but I am still pretty small and I don’t look 28 weeks at all but people keep telling me I will balloon! Sleeping is becoming a problem, my hips hurt when I try to walk too fast and just generally a lot of aches and pains as the baby is growing and so there is more weight I have to carry. Eating is also a bit of an issue, if I eat too much or too fast I get indigestion so just a lot of general discomfort. To sum it up- do I enjoy being pregnant? Yes and no, I don’t enjoy all sickness, aches and pains but I enjoy feeling this little life kicking inside me, feeling and seeing it grow and I am so excited to meet this baby in April even though it will be rather painful. lol! I find it is a real mix of emotions but everyone women will experience this differently. Watch that YouTube video below… it is truly heart warming and guarantee to put a smile on your face.