YouTuber and author Melanie Murphy welcomed her second child, a baby girl, into the world on January 4 and has now opened up about her pregnancy experience.
Melanie took to Instagram to share her honest opinions on pregnancy, revealing she ’loathed’ being pregnant, and reassured other expectant mums that it’s okay to not enjoy pregnancy.
Alongside a video of Melanie while she was still pregnant transitioning to the present day of her holding her bundle of joy, text in the clip reads, “I hated being pregnant. But I adore being her mother”.
The 33-year-old captioned the post, “It’s OKAY to hate being pregnant. There can be so much about pregnancy TO hate… constantly worrying that it might not stick, feeling completely fatigued and uncomfortable and ILL and incapable and unsexy…".
She continuned, "The insomnia, the heartburn, the painful sh*tes, the cravings for things you can’t even eat (like firelighters ), the pelvic pain, the health anxiety, the fear about how your birth might go… I could go on, but I won’t”.
“Because as much as I loathed being pregnant while trying to look after a toddler and trying to work and trying to renovate a bloody house I was also SO grateful through every second of it because I knew what was waiting for me on the other side, if I was lucky enough to make it through the tunnel”.
“My last pregnancy was a breeze compared to this one but a challenging pregnancy has proven to me that how you feel about (and during) your pregnancy doesn’t impact your relationship with your child whatsoever! As soon as it’s done it’s DONE and you get to reap the rewards (newborn cuddles)”.
The mum-of-two went on to remind her fans that people often only share their ‘best bits’ on social media and told her followers not to compare themselves to others online.
“If the internet is making you feel bad about NOT enjoying pregnancy, please remember that people typically just share highlights… ESPECIALLY on their Instagram grids”.
“Even during my last pregnancy (which was pretty smooth sailing in that I didn’t experience any depression and I felt *overall* - great during it) there were of course harder times, which I went into on YouTube”.
The Glass Houses author closed off by adding, “But know that just because people don’t usually post photos of the hard parts of pregnancy… that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We’re not exactly inclined to take out our cameras when we’re vomiting our guts up, are we!?”.
Many followers of Melanie's that are mums too commented on the post to agree that pregnancy is hard and it should be spoken about more often that it's completely fine to not enjoy the whole experience.
Melanie and her husband, Thomas, have been a couple since 2017 after being friends for over a decade. The pair tied the knot in 2020 and went on to welcome their first child, a baby boy, in September of that same year.
