I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but here I am. Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing, it really is. It’s really amazing what the female body can do. The changes my body has already made to accommodate this growing life is mind blowing & I haven’t even experienced the best part. To be honest, that’s the only thing that really has me scared. You know, the part where I actually have to HAVE the baby. I don’t know how to prepare for that. What I do know is that my body was designed to do this and it will be a beautiful experience. I think it has a lot to do with mindset, but my mind isn’t feeling too good about it yet. I’ll see soon enough.
Let me tell you what I wasn’t prepared for. All the things people forget to mention; how is there not a book about that? It’s not that they are unmanageable, I just wasn’t aware! I’ve heard all about the blessings, the food, the glowing, the great hair & nails, the foot massages you bribe your partner for, but no one told me about the crazy. I didn’t know I wouldn’t sleep for most of my pregnancy. I thought I’d be so exhausted I’d fall straight asleep. HA! If I get three hours or even two, it’s considered a win. I wake up to pee probably every 30 minutes and eventually I’m awake for the day. It’s awful. What about the constipation? Why didn’t anyone talk about that? I will say, I never got morning sickness, so that’s a plus. What I did get was pure exhaustion from doing absolutely nothing. Why am I breathing so heavy after walking up one flight of stairs? Is that a random hair growing on my face? I heard there would be glowing? Where’s the glowing? My feet have started to hurt and swell. Getting shoes on my feet is funny and frustrating at the same time. The jokes are getting out of hand. I threw my socks in the garbage one day… at least that’s what I was told. I’m supposed to sleep on my right side? I keep waking up on the left side. I can smell things a mile away. Usually it’s a really good smell like food but the days where everything smells like dog shit are the worst. The kicks actually start to hurt at some point. Why do I cry watching tv when I never cared before? But the ultimate kick in the face is thing that blows my mind is how people love to share their horror stories with me. Are you trying to freak me out? Why!
Theres so much going on inside and out during these ten months. I am forever grateful that I was given another chance to carry a child but I think more women should be aware of the unknown. For example, if I would have known that pelvic pressure and not being able to catch a breath was a normal thing, I may have been less concerned every day.
So ladies, tell your pregnant friends about the ups AND downs of pregnancy. Prepare them for good and bad (but bearable) symptoms to keep them informed. Just keep the horror stories to yourself. It’s better to be aware of what to expect rather than to freak out over something thats 100% a normal part of pregnancy.