Things You Need to Know

Things you need to know: Pregnancy Edition
AKA: Things I wish people had told me before I had a baby
Brought to you by Meg :)


1.)  When you become pregnant & tell people, you hear everything from everyone.  You will hear about the good, the bad, the beautiful, & the ugly.  People tend to assume that whatever kind of pregnancy they had is also what you will experience.  This is not the case.  Try to take everything you hear with a small (or large, depending on the source!) grain of salt.  It is not all roses and it is not all thorns.  There are good moments and there are hard moments.  The only thing you really need to know is: you are unique and your emotions are not wrong!  If you are worried about your mental state, then talk to your doctor or seek out a counselor.  I am a mega big fan of Christ-based counseling! 


2.) Pregnancy is messy.  It's a wonderful miracle, yes, but it's messy.   I won't go into details, but just be prepared to have your body do some funky things.  If you haven't had a baby and you wonder what on earth on I'm talking about, feel free to email me :)


3.) Your recovery may be worse than the actualy pregnancy/labor.  With my first baby, recovery was so much harder and challenging and painful than any other part of the process.  This is not the case for everyone, but dont assume once that baby comes out, your body is going to feel good.  Mine was a wreck.   It did heal eventually, of course, but the pain after labor was something no one warned me about and it sucked.  Obviously, since I'm happily pregnant again, it was worth it though!


4.)  Someone will always comment on how you are carrying your baby.  Big or small or high or low.  It means nothing.  Don't take it to heart.  Just listen to your doctor and tell everyone else to shut it.  Or you can be like me, smile politely, and then completely ignore their comments, ha!  I carry small.  I don't look like I'm ready to pop so some people worry, but that's just how my body carries babies.  My friend carries large and even though she is 5 weeks behind me, she looks more pregnant than me so people worry.  But again, that's just how her body carries babies.  If your doctor isn't worried, you shouldn't be!


5.) A LOT of things people tell you will be old wives tales.  Be nice to people, but don't believe them!  Check with a medical professional about anything you want.  One time I was seeing a "spot" in my vision & thought I was crazy.  I felt really stupid asking about it, but some pregnant women see black spots in their peripheral vision.  Did you know that?  I didn't!  And if I had gone to my friends and family, only the Lord knows what kinds of advice/opinions I would have heard.


6.)  It is not true you will never take a hot shower or read a book again.  Simply not true. 


7.)  For a lot of people, pregnancy is hard.  Even if they reeealllyy want to be pregnant, it's hard.  Not for everyone, but for more people than admit it I think!  People think that if they admit to not loving their pregnancy, then it makes them a bad person or a bad parent.  I'm here to tell you that I am a very good mom to my daughter (& will be to my son) and love her more than words can express, but really didn't like being pregnant with her (or now either!).  At all.  It does not make me less of a person or less of a parent or less of a woman.  God hand crafted my personality when he knit me in my mother's womb & He doesn't make mistakes.  And someone may love being pregnant & be a crappy parent.  Okay?  So know that you may love being pregnant, but you may not.  And it's ok to be honest about your feelings to people you trust.  My mom loved every second of being pregnant, but she doesn't hold it against me that I don't.  How you feel about your pregnancy is not indicative to how you will feel about your baby!! Trust me!