by Anita S. Lane
If you’ve ever given birth to a child, you’ll probably identify with what I’m going to say. However you may be one of those pregnant ladies who loved every aspect of pregnancy and floated through with a glow on your face and pep in your wobbling step. But it was never like that for me. After discovering I was pregnant the very first time with our first child, the elation eventually wore off—yielding to the term I’ve dubbed the “perils of pregnancy.”
It’s probably sacrilegious to refer to anything related to the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth as “perilous,” but that’s just how I honestly feel sometimes.
By the time my eighth month rolls around, I find myself experiencing anew the challenges I’d experienced in each of my other pregnancies and saying—as though I’ve totally forgotten—“what’s going on with me?” Fortunately I have a very understanding husband. Now that I’m pregnant with our fourth child he reminds me of what I can expect. “Honey, you went through this the last time too. Just take it easy. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he says.
Maybe the first trip to the OBGYN should include a note from the physician that says, “Warning! Pregnancy may include the following side effects/risks, including but not limited to: headaches, nausea, exhaustion, changes in taste buds, leg cramps, unusual cravings, round ligament pain, clumsiness, lower backaches, an aversion to stairs and the inability to tie one’s shoe.”
These things may seem minor. However, as the months progress I find myself increasingly frustrated with the little things are no longer little anymore. Staying awake and alert all day is one. Attempting to accomplish my daily to-do list is almost futile. I find myself thinking about all the things I want to do more than actually doing them.
And how about a simple trip to the grocery store? Well, it’s not so simple anymore when I have to stop and spend 15 minutes in the bathroom with my five, three and 11 month-old as well as walk the long isles of the new vast grocery “malls” Americans are so enamored with. By the time I finish shopping I’m ready to soak my feet and head for bed. My legs are tired, my back is hurting and my uterus feels like it is going to just fall from under me. But it’s not over yet, I still have to get all those groceries in and out of the car and into the house and put away while the baby waddles behind me crying for me to pick him up. Make that my last trip to the store for a full set of groceries until after the new baby! “You just give me the list. I’ll go,” my husband said in response to my agony.
While I pity myself over the little things I find a little comfort in the fact that it’s not just the obscure stay-at-home-mom dealing with these challenges. I recently saw Oscar award-winning actress, Catherine Zeta Jones in an interview attesting to the same challenges. “I couldn’t even tie my own shoe,” she says. “Honey, can you roll me over?” She says to husband-actor Michael Douglas. “And all I could see were these big jugs,” she goes on to say. Not to mention she gained 50 pounds. But she looks great. My 50 are still with me.
Nevertheless, I realize that what I experience everyday during these last waning moments of pregnancy is universal to women everywhere. While I may not enjoy every aspect of the journey I find comfort in that the journey will come to completion with a beautiful precious bundle whom I will love and cherish forever. And soon I will have once again forgotten all about the little inconveniences I experienced as a pregnant woman and look with joy upon my God-given precious gift.
If you’ve ever given birth to a child, you’ll probably identify with what I’m going to say. However you may be one of those pregnant ladies who loved every aspect of pregnancy and floated through with a glow on your face and pep in your wobbling step. But it was never like that for me. After discovering I was pregnant the very first time with our first child, the elation eventually wore off—yielding to the term I’ve dubbed the “perils of pregnancy.”
It’s probably sacrilegious to refer to anything related to the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth as “perilous,” but that’s just how I honestly feel sometimes.
By the time my eighth month rolls around, I find myself experiencing anew the challenges I’d experienced in each of my other pregnancies and saying—as though I’ve totally forgotten—“what’s going on with me?” Fortunately I have a very understanding husband. Now that I’m pregnant with our fourth child he reminds me of what I can expect. “Honey, you went through this the last time too. Just take it easy. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he says.
Maybe the first trip to the OBGYN should include a note from the physician that says, “Warning! Pregnancy may include the following side effects/risks, including but not limited to: headaches, nausea, exhaustion, changes in taste buds, leg cramps, unusual cravings, round ligament pain, clumsiness, lower backaches, an aversion to stairs and the inability to tie one’s shoe.”
These things may seem minor. However, as the months progress I find myself increasingly frustrated with the little things are no longer little anymore. Staying awake and alert all day is one. Attempting to accomplish my daily to-do list is almost futile. I find myself thinking about all the things I want to do more than actually doing them.
And how about a simple trip to the grocery store? Well, it’s not so simple anymore when I have to stop and spend 15 minutes in the bathroom with my five, three and 11 month-old as well as walk the long isles of the new vast grocery “malls” Americans are so enamored with. By the time I finish shopping I’m ready to soak my feet and head for bed. My legs are tired, my back is hurting and my uterus feels like it is going to just fall from under me. But it’s not over yet, I still have to get all those groceries in and out of the car and into the house and put away while the baby waddles behind me crying for me to pick him up. Make that my last trip to the store for a full set of groceries until after the new baby! “You just give me the list. I’ll go,” my husband said in response to my agony.
While I pity myself over the little things I find a little comfort in the fact that it’s not just the obscure stay-at-home-mom dealing with these challenges. I recently saw Oscar award-winning actress, Catherine Zeta Jones in an interview attesting to the same challenges. “I couldn’t even tie my own shoe,” she says. “Honey, can you roll me over?” She says to husband-actor Michael Douglas. “And all I could see were these big jugs,” she goes on to say. Not to mention she gained 50 pounds. But she looks great. My 50 are still with me.
Nevertheless, I realize that what I experience everyday during these last waning moments of pregnancy is universal to women everywhere. While I may not enjoy every aspect of the journey I find comfort in that the journey will come to completion with a beautiful precious bundle whom I will love and cherish forever. And soon I will have once again forgotten all about the little inconveniences I experienced as a pregnant woman and look with joy upon my God-given precious gift.
Copyright ©2004 by Anita S. Lane
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