When Miss OCD meets Mr. OverAnalyser this means there’s no room for intercourse during pregnancy. Even though we were reassured by my gynecologist, pregnancy books, internet searching and my mother that sex is safe as long as the pregnancy is proceeding normally, we opted for sex fasting for the whole 9 months period. We wanted zero interference with the baby’s development and so we decided its nest should stay intact from any exterior and unnecessary (= non-medical) intrusion. Nevertheless, fasting on chocolate doesn’t mean you can’t have caramel! Happily, this worked for us the first time so we instinctively went with this decision in pregnancy #2.

Long story short, it’s my second bebe-bearing, I’ve been there before and since the steps are proceeding in pretty much the same way as my first pregnancy, I thought I’m pretty well acquainted with the modus operandi. I’m talking more specifically here about the annoying side effects and the drama that comes along with the pregnancy. Much to my surprise, a new, scary, weird manifestation hit me the other day, as safe caramel time got me into some trouble thanks to those maleficent hormones that just can’t leave me alone!

This is when I first learned about “cold/hot flashes”. Lovey-dovey session was instantly followed by a horrible cold flash that left me severely paralyzed, painfully shivering, unable to make the slightest movement in any part of my body for at least a couple of minutes accompanied with heart palpitation and nausea. This was then suddenly followed by a brusque increase in my body temperature and an abrupt heat flash, and so on…cold, hot, cold, hot, cold…Gradually things calmed down throughout the night but in the meantime and for at least a couple of hours, I just couldn’t sleep. I kept alternating between covering every inch of my body with a whole lot of covers to then give away one layer, two layers, to uncover myself, to get attacked with a cold flash again, to throw the duvet on me, to wrap myself, to then stick one feet out, half a leg, an entire leg…I just couldn’t find a normal temperature condition that would allow me to sleep. This was an exhausting exercise!

Of course in the meantime we went into panic mode and my husband started looking online for an explanation hoping that I’m not having a heart attack or that this didn’t affect the baby in any shape or form. In fact, after a thorough research, it seemed more like a menopause syndrome (wait! Meno-what?) that could as well occur during gestation due to hormone fluctuations. When hormone levels fluctuate, so does the body temperature and hot/cold flashes result. I’m not sure if the lovey-dovey session contributed to the hormone fluctuation (I’ll be discussing this with my gyno on my next visit) but for now we’ll just hug and cuddle!