Since I’ve been pregnant, the two questions I get asked most often are “how are you feeling,” and “have you had any symptoms,” to which I have mostly answered “I feel the same as I always have” and “no, none at all.” This makes me feel somewhat bad (or maybe just somewhat boring) because there’s not really any place to take the conversation from there. When most people think of early pregnancy, they think of morning sickness, endless trips to the bathroom, food aversions, a superhuman sense of smell, and who knows what else. What they don’t usually think of is only really knowing that your pregnant because the doctor has confirmed it several times over.
Don’t get me wrong….I couldn’t be happier that I haven’t had to deal with any of those crazy symptoms. When I was anticipating the possibility of morning sickness, I very seriously made myself mentally (and slightly physically) ill over it. For one thing, I couldn’t imagine being one of those people who can be flying down the highway on the way to work in the morning and casually throwing up into a shopping bag. Or worse, spending all of my time feeling decidedly nauseous with no release at all. Ever. I don’t know how I would get through life. I have a tendency to get carsick on windy, hilly roads, and once I start feeling that way, it’s basically all over. I can’t function. Don’t even ask me to try. I spent many hours wondering how I would get myself through the weeks like that, and I decided to face it prepared. I read up on all of the home remedies that people have used to battle morning sickness, and I went out and bought most of them. I decided that since everything I read told me that it might be difficult to get up in the morning without first getting something in my stomach, that I wouldn’t budge until Philip brought me a piece of bread and some ginger ale. We called it my “process” and it sometimes took as long as 30 minutes to get up and get going in the morning. When I did finally get out of bed, I was constantly monitoring every part of my body for issues (and probably making up bad feelings as I went through my mental checklist). It was kind of ridiculous. And when I finally realized that I wasn’t ACTUALLY sick, it was quite a relief.
On the other hand, the idea that you can get through your first trimester without any morning sickness leads some people to think that maybe there’s something wrong with your pregnancy. I’m fully convinced that people tell each other that morning sickness is a sign of a healthy pregnancy just to make each other feel better. It gives them a reason to focus on for why they have to put up with that crap, and it gets them through the day. I’m not knocking it. I’m sure if I was feeling miserable every day it would help to think there’s a good reason for it (maybe). But I don’t think it’s really fair to worry people who don’t have typical symptoms. Isn’t there enough worrying going on during pregnancy without adding on worries related to NOT being sick?
So, I guess my point is, I’m sorry I don’t have a lot to say about being pregnant. I don’t mean to be so boring!
