Inside the mind of a pregnant woman

 

The journey of parenthood is without a doubt the most exciting and yet scary adventure I have ever chosen to pursue. Madalyn and this baby were both conceived the old fashioned fun way. Fast forward a few weeks and a couple pee sticks later and the reality hit me. A baby is coming! Even though I have been pregnant before and should know what to expect, I must have chosen to forget some minor details. Now that I really think about it, I do remember days that my hips were sore, my left arm tingled and I wanted to go to bed at 7:00pm. I guess the forgetfulness that many women (including myself) experience during pregnancy is actually a blessing in disguise. Either way, I wanted to put in writing my thoughts for today so they don’t get lost amidst my pregnant brain and chasing after a toddler. Now that I am 24 weeks, I am noticeably "with child" and almost everywhere I go someone wants to talk about it. This is no problem for me because I love to talk. But, I must say some of the questions and conversations are quite amusing. Recently, a lady said "so, I see you are expecting?" I was dying to respond with I don’t know what you are talking about, but I resisted. Then came the usual: when are you due? What are you having? Have you decided on a name? How are you feeling? blah blah blah. I must say, my answer to the how are you feeling varies greatly day to day. Some days I think, this is amazing and I could do this five more times. Other days I conclude I will not have any more biological children after this one and that’s that. I find it ironic that during pregnancy you are more achy and have more headaches but don’t want to take any pain relievers. Not to mention, I am more tired than ever before and I am supposed to limit my caffeine. The stress of all this "should and should not crap" makes me want a glass of red wine which I cannot actually enjoy because it may cause fetal alcohol syndrome. So maybe I will take a relaxing bath. Oh wait, it has to be luke warm so I don’t get over heated. Sheesh. I am pretty sure all the worrying is exponentially worse than a glass of wine, a hot bath and a sushi dinner combined. On that note, as a mom I would do it all again without hesitation for Madalyn so I know I will feel the same way once I meet this baby. Feeling her kick, even if it’s in the middle of the night which tends to be the case quickly makes me forget all the petty symptoms of pregnancy. After all, what an opportunity to get to grow another human being from something microscopic into a baby. Yeah, it’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it:)