Since pregnancy and giving birth is a once or twice a lifetime thing, I decided my suffering and stretch marks warranted a post. HAHA.
I didn’t have morning sickness, I had heartburn and stretch marks
TV dramas seem to stereotype pregnancy morning sickness to vomiting and refusing some food. I didn’t vomit throughout my whole pregnancy but I had the most awful heartburn, also called acid reflux. I had it 24/7. Awful is too simple a word to describe it.
- I felt that there was something stuck in my throat ALL the time
- I had difficulty breathing when I wear a bra
- I got breathless even when walking extremely slowly
- I had to sleep sitting up
The end result was, I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. And I was very listless and depressed so I mostly sat in bed reading, and doing other very sedentary things… like watching TV, crying. Oh and sleeping, because I was so tired all the time from just being pregnant and also the poor quality sleep at night I suppose. I really just felt sick all the time.
Stretch marks that horrified my mom and products for stretch marks
Perhaps the decrease in movement made me lose a lot of skin elasticity because I ended up with horrendous stretchmarks on my tummy. Or maybe it’s just an age-related thing? I read it is hereditary but it didn’t affect my mom. So seeing mine horrified her.
Here’s a quick review of each product I tried and how it worked or didn’t work for me.
I was using this Mustela Stretch Marks Prevention cream at the time. Mustela is a well-regarded brand but I didn’t like the smell. Apparently applying it only once a day wasn’t enough.
Mustela Stretch Marks Prevention – Buy on Amazon
The next cream I tried was the Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy cream. This looked like the good stuff with hyaluronic acid as the hydrating agent. The box says dermatologist recommended and clinically shown to produce noticeable improvement in just 4 weeks.
Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy – Buy on Amazon
Unfortunately in my third trimester my stretchmarks started itching terribly and non-stop. Mederma didn’t help with itch.
Stretch Marks Products Meant to Counter Itch
In my desperation I marched down to the store and bought two more products that claim to help with itch. One was Palmer’s Soothing Oil for Dry Itchy Skin. The oil helped to mitigate the itchiness somewhat but I was literally slathering it on not two but multiple times a day.
Palmer’s Soothing Oil for Dry Itchy Skin – Buy on Amazon
The other product was Buds Anti-Itch Vit-C Cream. Buds didn’t help with my itchiness but it did help to sooth the stinging sensation caused by my constant scratching. And it’s organic, if that matters to you.
Buds Anti-Itch Soothing Vit-C Belly Cream
I alternated using Palmer’s and Buds to sooth the sting and the itch to a small extent. The itchiness persisted but it was just bearable if I keep slathering the stuff on.
It was the day of my appointment with the gynaecologist, a few days before the expected due date of DS or Dear Son. I really needed help with this itch.
It was not very long after we entered the room that the gynaecologist exclaimed, “you are having contractions.”
Say whut???
Don’t you feel it?
… No. I just feel very itchy. VERY.
Silent Contractions. Who knew.
Over the last few weeks, the baby had been turning the right way down and the wrong way up again and again. And it so happened that particular moment, he was very much pointing the wrong way up. It would have to be an emergency c-section, the gynaecologist declared.
Lucky me.
It took some more hours of waiting for an emergency operating room to open up for me. Meanwhile they had a monitor strapped to my tummy to monitor the baby while I waited in bed.
Every so often they pointed out the contractions that came up on the graph on the screen.
Do you feel any pain?
No. I just felt increasingly itchy. *Scratch scratch scratch…* Can I just move this monitor away cos its making my tummy even more itchy. *Scratch scratch scratch…*
If you’re wondering, I was apparently having silent contractions. But the only thing I felt was unbearable itch as the skin on my tummy got tighter and tighter.
Emergency C-section or The Violent Birth of Dear Son
I never knew going into a C-section, how horribly violent such a procedure is.
Unlike my dog Donna, who gets anaesthesia and sleeps through her dental procedures. I was very much aware of how my C-section was progressing because they only give half-anesthesia for such surgery.
I remember when the gynae remarked the baby refused to come out, followed by what felt like endless tugging and shoving that I thought an entire rough and tumble football game must have taken place in the depths of my belly all the way up to my heart.
You would have thought I would have come out of the experience traumatised but strangely I wasn’t. Maybe because the oxygen mask and whatever other chemicals they pumped into me just rendered me in a state of mental numbness. It all registered, but emotionally I was dead. I observed, marveling at the violence occurring in me and wondering when it would all end.
Eventually the baby came out but he didn’t breathe for some time. And then they finally got him crying, and it felt like he was crying for a long time before they put his cheek to mine for a very brief moment of skin to skin. Then the baby was whipped to the high dependency ward.
I don’t remember when I pass out.
Little P at 3 days old.
Continuing itchy stretch marks thereafter
A friend gifted me this pink Bio-oil while I was recovering in hospital. It works just as well as Palmer’s but it has a nicer smell compared to Palmer’s. #personalopinion The pink colour is also pleasant looking. Haha.
Bio-Oil Skincare Oil – Buy on Amazon
So yes, after trying all the products listed above, I would recommend oils before creams for mitigating extreme itchiness. Be prepared for oily clothes though if you were to slather it on multiple times a day like me.
Used empty oil bottles – Palmer’s Soothing Oil for Dry Itchy Skin has a spray cap while Bio-Oil Skincare Oil has a regular screw cap.
The stretch marks do still remain though. For me at least.
Some people say treat the stretch marks as a badge of honour, not something to stress over. All I can say is, I’ve got a whole belly band of stretchmarks that can probably accommodate twenty of these badges depending on their size.
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She has been very patient through it all!