I had a love-hate relationship with being pregnant; it was honestly a combination of the wonderful and the uncomfortable.
From the onsets of puberty, I experienced severe back acne, however, once I went on the Pill at 16, it cleared and, without much thought, I put it down to puberty, feeling that stage of my life was behind me.
When I found out I was pregnant, I was ecstatic and so thrilled at the thought of becoming a parent.
Throughout this short discovery period, the last thing that I thought would affect me was acne. I was very wrong.
After my first trimester, I noticed that my shoulders and lowerback started to develop small pimples and blackheads. These quickly turned into large clusters of pimples that were painful and sore to touch.
As my weight began to increase and my body retained more and more fluid, my acne became worse, spreading to my bum and upperarms. The size of the pimples also increased, and at times it was painful to lay in bed on my back or side due to the irritation of my skin.
Regardless of the amount of love and compliments that were given by my partner and family, I had begun to feel unattractive, sore and shy. I did not want to wear a bikini, singlet, or to show my back in any way.
Over the next five months, my confidence slowly diminished, and I resorted to wearing long tops and shawls to cover my back and arms. This continued throughout what felt like the hottest summer of my life.
I tried many different body exfoliation treatments, natural remedies including a magnesium salt spray, salt baths, oils, vinegar, daily sun…. you name it, I tried it. Nothing worked.
I eventually gave up on the treatments as my due date grew closer and my focus became more and more about the birth itself and meeting my son.
When he arrived, the last thing on my mind were my pimples, and as I held my healthy little boy, I knew that the last nine months were worth it.
After the birth, my body continued to change quite dramatically over the next three months, and as my body started to feel like my old self again so did my skin.
As the rush of pregnancy and breast feeding hormones settled, my skin settled and within that first three months the acne and sores that had covered my entire back were close to gone.
It was like my body just reset itself.
*Name changed for anonymity.
