My Pregnancy Story, Part 1: Not What I Expected

The most important thing I learned during my pregnancy was: EXPECTATIONS SUCK. Just don’t have any. After testing positive twice on June 14, I saw myself exercising, doing yoga, hanging out in the parks and vineyards, reading a lot of fun books, buying cute baby stuff… and gaining a lot of weight, because I knew how much I loved to eat. However, many things ended up being very different.

Weight and Food Cravings

Only when the 8th month was coming to an end, people started to notice my bump. I was taking buses in Tbilisi, literally boiling with disappointment, because the frequency of hearing the phrase “Oh, you’re pregnant, please take a seat!!” was lower than when I simply gained a lot of weight at endless supras with my guests!

Me teaching a wine class on week 29, almost no bump in sight

My cat Dio and I, week 39

I was eating quite well and healthy, with the occasional raiding of the Asian fast-food restaurants for generous portions of tom yum. Not that I had weird cravings like herring and chocolate together, but I definitely rediscovered the Ukrainian food and was eating a lot of Borschtsch and that beetroot salad we call Vinaigrette/Vinegret. Also, a mint toothpaste, mint mouthwash and Orbit Winterfresh became my friends: I was compulsively brushing my teeth and buying all Orbits in the kiosks and pharmacies nearby.

That was it. I gained around 12 kilograms that became noticeable when the pregnancy was almost over, and lost them faster than any insta fitness guru can advertise. How to lose 8 kilograms in two days? Get pregnant, gain ‘em, give birth, lose ‘em. A wonderful recipe, isn’t it?

Issues You Never Want To Encounter

A sunny day in Imereti, a trip from a winery to a winery is going on. Week 12. Pregnancy is not a sickness, toxicosis is not that bad, and work is work! Was it a long time on the road or 40 degrees Celsius? Who knows. Once we arrived for dinner to AgroHouse Korena, one of my most favourite places to eat in Imereti, I went to the bathroom and saw blood on my underwear.

First thought: my husband is in New York. If it’s a miscarriage, how do I tell him?

Second thought: I never wanted to become the mother of THIS child so badly.

Long story short: thanks to my colleague Tina who knew everyone in Kutaisi, I’ve got an appointment at the hospital without prior booking at 5 PM, and was informed that my newly grown placenta has attached itself to the back wall near the cervix and not to the upper parts of the uterus wall as it normally is.

Of course, there were another 27 weeks to go, and things could change, but from that moment on, I had to be especially careful. No extensive traveling, no bumpy roads (hence no wineries and no tours), no exposure to heat (no city tours in summer)... Basically, I spent my summer under AC, hugging my cat Dio and reading. At least reading and TV series, as I hoped!

Prenatal Yoga and Kegel

None of those. Because the placenta was making itself comfortable on my cervix. Alright, as long as it did its job for the baby, it was alright. Out of all the activity options available for a pregnant woman, I only went to the studio of Anna Deviata (Yoga Studio 9) for breathing exercises and walked a lot. No stretches, no Kegel, nothing. You can imagine how strong my frustration was!

Nesting

Week 17. When I came home with a refractometer (a thing that measures sugar level in grapes), a corking tool and the paid invoice for a stainless steel vat and bottles, Zviad, my husband, carefully said that he imagined the nesting of a pregnant woman differently.

A couple of weeks after I bought some primitive lab tools to measure sugar levels in the fermenting grape must. On week 20, we were harvesting Chinuri grapes and making wine at Zviad’s uncle’s place. I wanted to make wine for the first year of the baby more than to buy a crib and cute clothes, and nothing could stop me.

Harvesting Chinuri

As you see, major expectations were completely busted - some sabotaged by my body and a sad coincidence, and some by my hormones that confused nappy shopping with grape harvesting. But the biggest surprise was yet to come…