Moana Hope’s wife Isabella Carlstrom says her pregnancy is ‘another level of exhaustion’

Isabella Carlstrom has spoken candidly about her pregnancy as she prepares to welcome her first child with retired AFLW star Moana Hope.

The pregnant model, who is due to give birth in November, revealed on Thursday  she was starting to feel better after a difficult first trimester.

‘I honestly felt like I was dying in that first trimester. It is another level of exhaustion that I’ve never experienced before,’ she said in an Instagram Q&A.

‘The other thing that I really suffered from badly was migraines. I just got hammered with them. I got three in a week and it was just so bad,’ she added. 

Isabella explained that her body had gone through many changes in recent months.

She said: ‘As soon as I got pregnant, my breasts started getting bigger and I wasn’t really up for working.

‘And also due to COVID-19, it wasn’t really safe for me to be in contact with people so I’ve really just been at home which has been nice for how I’ve been feeling, but I have so much respect for women who work through it.’

Isabella announced on Wednesday she was expecting a child with wife Moana.

She shared a photo of the couple to Instagram and wrote: ‘It’s time to be mummas! We feel so incredibly grateful to be able to share this news. I am pregnant and Mo and I are expecting our little one in November.

‘It’s been a beautiful journey and I can’t believe we’re finally at this point. It wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing team at Monash IVF, so a huge thank you to them. I’m so excited to raise our child with you, beautiful.’ 

The former Collingwood and North Melbourne AFLW player also shared the exciting news on her own Instagram account. 

‘I don’t yet have the words to fully explain how happy we are. It’s a dream come true for us and in November we get to meet our little person,’ Moana told her followers. 

‘You have helped make this dream a reality. Holding this in for 13 weeks has been so bloody hard. My heart is exploding.’

The couple married in Melbourne last August, 10 months after Isabella proposed.

In March this year, Moana revealed that their first ‘couple of’ rounds of IVF had not been successful.

‘It is completely normal. We reset after every time we give it a go and then we try again,’ she said at the time.

‘I think that if you let what is going on [with COVID-19] get to you I think mentally you are already putting yourself in a bad, negative place. We are staying positive.’