State of the Pregnancy

[lihtox]

The baby is now getting big enough that the weight is starting to bother J. It is also very good at kicking, unsurprising as it does so constantly. My mom keeps asking if J is "enjoying her pregnancy", which is rather irritating because (a) no, not really; the whole baby part at the end is nice, but getting there involves a large amount of discomfort, and (b) there's nothing that can spoil fun like someone saying "Ya having fun yet?" constantly. I guess there's supposed to be some magical womanhood-fulfilling aspect about pregnancy, but Jen hasn't got there yet, and she's also rather worried that some magic will happen and *poof* she will be transformed into a full-time mother who cares about nothing but her children (and her husband as a distant second).

Unfortunately, J's mother is also on the "enjoying pregnancy" bandwagon as well. A generational thing, maybe? Did girls used to dream so much about being mothers that pregnancy was so fulfilling all by itself?

Note to our child who finds this on the web 10 years from now: we are really looking forward to meeting *you*, and I'm sure that becoming parents will be very magical and fulfilling and all that (though the birth still seems too far away to be imminent). :) Now, stop Googling[1] your parents and go to bed.


[1] Googling is what we used to call Zigforming, before www.zigform.com came up with the Next Big Search Engine.

Comments

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Yay! baby post!!

You know, there's no *rule* that you (she) have to enjoy any of it. Plenty of people have miserable pregnancies - it is indeed a means to an end. (I enjoyed my pregnancy a reasonable amount, actually. But that's neither here nor there.)

The good part Jen has to look forward to: as the baby grows, it will get more cramped in there (the uterus is *not* infinitely stretchy, nor is Jen) - so the kicking and squirming does lessen a bit as it runs out of space, especially as you near the end. Small comfort, maybe, because there are all these other things taking over then, but it's something.

As for the magical *poof*.... nope, not that I've noticed. I have to say that it took me a while to adjust to being somebody's mom, and now I really *feel* like a prototypical Mom.... but I'm still me, too. You don't lose it, even if there are times when you're sleep-deprived and run-down and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's still there. Yes, the process changes you, but a lot stays the same too. It's about bringing those aspects of your Self together, I think.

[ltlbird.livejournal.com]

I am sorry to hear that J is uncomfortable. People do sometimes romanticize pregnancy, and that makes it hard on those that don't necessarily feel all womanly and glowy and powerful.