Pregnancy Downs and Ups

If you’ve never been pregnant before (or you are on your first pregnancy), you might NOT want to read this post.  Mostly because it’s a bit… honest.

Pregnancy, albeit wondrous and magical in so many ways, can also really bite.  For me, starting in week six, nausea kicks into high gear.  Alongside it’s famous brother “indigestion”.  I wake up feeling sick needing food most mornings around 4 A.M. I spend much of the day with a dull haze of nausea around me.  Then, from about 5 P.M. until 8 P.M., I start feeling like I’m on a boat at sea.  Finally, for kicks, a nice little throbbing headache comes to join the party for a couple of hours (at least with this baby it does).

I eat to stave off the pukiness and I graze to keep my body from going into a “low blood sugar” shake.  I snack when I feel pressure in my innards and I try sipping on juice to keep from getting dizzy.  Basically, for a solid month, I’m eating constantly.  And nothing tastes good (did I mention that?)  It. Is. Awesome.

That said I gain about 1/3 of my weight in the first 12 weeks alone.  ½ if you are the type of women who only gains about 20-25 pounds per pregnancy.  (Which I have yet to be).  Body issues rear their ugly head, as I look more “chubby” than pregnant.   I struggle to not feel like a morphing whale and concentrate on the fact that this is a baby, and in nine months I’ll have control over my body again (for the most part).

Is it worth it?  Absolutely!  Is it the greatest part of motherhood?  Uh… not even close.

It’s hard to see your body grow and feel like a stranger that you have no real control over.  It’s hard to remind yourself (again in my case) that you CAN and will fit back into your wardrobe someday.  And you will have abs again.  And reasonably sized bosoms.  But, that all feels a million miles away as you sit and feel sorry for your very unpredictably sick self.

However… this too shall pass.   And you have a life to live in the meantime.  And kids to take care of.  And a husband who might want SOME sort of attention.

Therefore, the whining must stop at some point.  You must pick up your ego and your closet full of cute dresses and put them aside for now.  You are growing a human LIFE after all.  And, let’s face it, that’s pretty freaking unbelievable.  And your life will never be the same.

And someday, when you watch your baby graduate from high school you won’t be thinking of your morning sickness or your morphing body or your weight gain.  You’ll just be so happy you have a kid so great.  And you’ll be cheering loudly from the bleachers with tears in your eyes. In your fabulous dress and rockin’ mama body.