Well, 2010 is officially here. Y2KX is what they are calling it, apparently. What did 2009 bring for me, you ask? A new job for my husband, the end of working outside our home for me (for awhile at least), a new home and most significantly, a baby! Wow. As much as life changes when you get married, move away, start a new job, buy a home, stop working…etc…nothing can prepare you for the changes that having a little one brings.
Pregnancy prepares you for some changes. During the first 20 weeks, you feel “huge”. Oh no, *gasp* my skinny jeans don’t fit. And then by the end of pregnancy, you’re just hoping you can find a pant/shirt combination that actually covers your entire midsection, or at least comes close enough so you don’t end up in one of those Wal-Mart emails. Then there are those women (shouldn’t women know better?) that ask if you are having “multiples” (c’mon ladies, at least say twins! Do I really look as big as Octomom?). I mean, really…I feel about as attractive as roadkill….don’t make it worse. And then there’s morning sickness (or night/all day sickness as I would have it) and the smells or words that can make you sick by just thinking about them. I couldn’t set foot in the main floor of our townhouse during my first trimester due to a mystery smell (that Tim still insists doesn’t exist…sidenote to husbands—do not tell your prego wife that something doesn’t smell…we are like bloodhounds while pregnant…and hormonal—just agree and at least give the appearance of trying to find the horrible smell!) and I still feel a little sick when I think about hamburger helper, but then again, maybe that’s normal. I also got the added bonus of wearing prescription pregnancy pantyhose during the last 3-4 months of pregnancy. Wow, that was fun. In addition to adding a half hour to my morning routine (have you ever tried to put these things on?..think overstuffed sausage), my body was operating at about 110 degrees pre-pantyhose, so it was around 150 with those lovelies on. Thankfully, they come in a fashionable nude shade, which virtually goes with everything! And all of this happens before the labor even begins.
The interesting thing for my labor and delivery was how much preparation went into getting ready to head to the hospital. Tim and I looked like we could have been going on a month-long vacation when we showed up at the hospital complete with massage lotions, pillows, scented candles and some sweets. Almost sounds like a Valentines weekend getaway, doesn’t it? We were obviously first-timers. We also took the childbirth classes and learned all sorts of pain management techniques (which is why we brought along above noted items). When I was actually in labor, however, my nurse Virginia (who usually works in the OR and whose son was a Navy SEAL—she obviously had little sympathy for any amount of pain I was experiencing evidenced by the fact that she never asked me how I was feeling the entire day) told me that none of those techniques work anyways, and to just lay there and watch TV, which I did. The epidural proved to be the only pain management technique that I used. Could have saved myself 2 days worth of class and about $60 had I known that.
Then there is the week following delivery….no one prepares you for that. Ouch. No one tells you that your biggest fear post-partum will be using the restroom. And nothing prepares you for the first 6 weeks of breastfeeding while sleep deprived. Ouchie (how can this little person with no teeth feel like a staple gun?).
Now, I realize, for the record, that my pregnancy experience is very typical and that things could be way, way, way worse…I know there are people that cannot have children or that have miscarriages or have lots of medical problems or that have awful pregnancies the entire time. I know that I am very blessed to have a healthy baby and no complications.
All of this to say, that the one thing people tell you but you don’t expect is that it is ALL worth it. You truly feel that way---100%. You think, up until you have that baby (or maybe about 2 months into parenthood) that parents are gluttons for punishment—people do this more than once on purpose?!?!. I mean fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me! The moment you see that little face that you (with the help of your husband and a miracle from God) made, you would wear those stupid pregnancy pantyhose, barf a few times a week for months, and walk around resembling a watermelon again (maybe not soon, but sometime). Somehow love really does conquer all in the case of a baby. Even during those sleepless nights and late night feedings, you know that this is a special, fleeting time in life and try hard to enjoy even the hard times when truest meaning of love has to be revealed so you can get up…again…to feed, change, burp, soothe…that miracle in the crib.
