[glow or grow?]

Someone commented that I should be having a pregnancy glow now that I'm in the 5th month.

Frankly speaking, I don't see any pregnancy glow but instead just pregnancy grow. Growing swollen ankles, growing tummy, growing number of stretch marks so soon..gah.

Feels like I'm having one of the most unglamorous pregnancies actually.  Hopefully the anecdote "it gets better" will be true for subsequent pregnancies.

I have rashes on my shoulders, and the weirdest part is that they're concentrated solely on where the sleeves of my tops are (is that supposed to be a comfort?).  I have stretch marks so soon. My tummy is expanding so fast I feel like a walrus who will soon be promoted to a whale.  I have swollen ankles which have become so big I only have one pair of shoes I can fit into, and they're wearing out fast.  I have facial acne outbreaks more often and some on my back too, which unfortunately some people like to point out and make me feel even worse.  I have a sour taste in my mouth quite often which I don't know how to eliminate and makes eating somewhat unappealing.  I have some hyperpigmented creases at my neck and the linea nigra down my belly.  My fainting episode has apparently been attributed to low-ish iron levels so I hope the iron pills do a better job otherwise I've been warned that I might need iron infusions in month 7 onwards.  As if these pleasures of pregnancy were not bad enough, yesterday came the epitomy of all embarrassments, I had blood in my stool.  I shall not go into details the embarrassing part but thank goodness no one checked me when I was at the ER, just some tests and lots of questions to rule out anything more serious. Diagnosis: hemorrhoids.  Seems it's common during pregnancy because of the pressure on the blood vessels in the you-know-where, go figure, I would've never associated the two at all.  I feel like if there were a checklist of the side effects of pregnancy, most of them would be ticked by now.

Some people's theories are that since it's a boy, my body is reacting to the extra testosterone.  Others comfort me that when it's a girl, I will feel the glow. Let's hope.

Whatever it is, I'm grateful to have hubby's support. Yeah he tries to annoy me sometimes (and succeeds) by going "Eeee, look at the rashes on your shoulders", but most times, he comforts me by saying I'm still the most beautiful woman to him, if not more.  One time I was feeling so insecure, he reassured me by saying that even though I felt I had a hideous tummy, when he sees it, he doesn't think of me as a walrus, but instead that it's our boy growing inside of me. I'm tearing just thinking of his sweet words =)

I know this is all going to go away when baby comes. Right now I just have to convince myself that walrus or not, whatever I'm going through is worth it.