Journey to Parenthood: Janice's Story

Currently on maternity leave from the corporate World, small biz owner and first time Mum in 2022. I honestly never thought that all this would be happening at the ripe old age of 36. My Partner and I started trying to conceive for 2 years, no tracking, no visiting Doctors, it was just one of those if it happens it happens scenarios (after being together for 8 years) and things weren’t going as planned (for me anyway). After numerous chats and discussions, and changes to our family circumstances, we decided to go check my AMH levels which all came back “normal”. My GP was adamant to remind me though that the levels were only a small part of the whole pregnancy journey and further tests would be required should we not be able to conceive naturally. Before we went down any other tests or fertility route, we decided to properly track when I was ovulating as my parents were moving in with us for what was meant to be a short period of time, and you know, living in a small unit it probably wasn’t ideal to “try try try” all the time.

Fortunately for us, I fell pregnant 5 months later. The day I took the test, I was in disbelief and sent a photo to my girlfriend who then asked me to take a video of the second line appearing on the test as I was still not confident that this was happening. After I sent the video, her response in her words was “If you’re not pregnant, I will steal you a baby”. So I decided to book in to see my GP, on my own, to confirm the results. Low and behold, I was very much pregnant and it was a bitter sweet moment for me. You might be wondering why I went on my own instead of excitedly telling my Partner. Well the day I took the pregnancy test, was also the day my sister told us she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She lives in Singapore with 4 little ones and not being able to just fly over to hug her, help with the kids and just be there was excruciating for not only me but for the rest of the family also. It was at that point that all I wanted was for her to be ok first and foremost.

I did tell my Partner that afternoon and his reaction was the cutest. We went after work to visit our block (Yes, we are also building and my due date falls on key handover day!!) and was in one of the rooms and I said to him “What room do you think the baby’s room should be?”, I did ask this a lot so he just brushed it off, until he turned around and I had a little elephant holding a sign to say “I can’t wait to meet you Daddy!”, whilst I said “Well we better decide soon!”. We hugged, cried and then went to get food which describes us to a tee really.

Elephant illustration by @juliachapmanillustrations

Once my sister got through her surgery and onto recovery, we decided to tell everyone a week later and it has been so amazing since. Morning sickness was around until about 18 weeks then it was somewhat smooth sailing until about 28 weeks when I had my GTT to do. A couple of phonecalls later from my GP and OB, to tell me I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I didn’t really know what this was or what it entailed but I thought I had done something wrong. All these thoughts go through your head like “Have I been eating unhealthy?”, “Have I been drinking too many softdrinks/bubbletea?”, “Not exercising enough?”, and you blame it all on yourself and wish you could turn back time to do things all over again. After a session with a diabetes educator and a nutritionist, you soon find out that this is common in pregnancies (by no fault of your own) and if monitored and maintained, baby and you will be fine. So here I am 9 weeks after diagnosis, 252 finger prick blood tests later with more to go, eating as healthy as I can without rice and pastas (and pizzas) because once I start I can’t stop so would rather not portion them, with a little human growing quite nicely in my tummy. The first week after diagnosis was HARD to say the least and I was always hungry after every meal but it definitely gives you a new found respect for the kids and adults who do have diabetes and what they have to go through everyday for the rest of their lives. Your body is an amazing thing and thankfully I have only needed to be diet controlled since diagnosis. I really haven’t craved anything, until NOW. So my list for my hospital stay after birth is currently, oysters, lasagne, a bowl of spag bol, a chocolate milkshake and a bubble tea – of course not all in one day, or can I?

Things are very much brighter 9 months on, my sister is recovering well after her surgery and chemotherapy treatments and I am due in less than 3 weeks. My OiOi baby bag is packed, suitcase for me is half packed and I’m sitting here finishing writing this on my new Mumma rocking chair which I am in love with.

I have also loved taking a longer break from my 9 - 5 job before baby arrives to focus on growing my small business @quirkeecircusandco and will hopefully be in a position to launch our brand new giftboxes in March 2022. Not sure if this is me being an optimist or actually having no clue what life is going to be like when our little girl arrives?

Thanks for reading and your support and a massive THANK YOU to Isabella from the OiOi Team for providing a platform and opportunity for us to share our journeys.