I’m the third of three kids in my family. Years ago my mom admitted to me that she enjoyed being pregnant. She told me that when she was pregnant with me she mentioned that enjoyment to an acquaintance, who then assumed that this was my mom’s first pregnancy, and was quite surprised to discover that it was my mom’s third.
I’m curious about specifics, but don’t really want to open that line of questioning with my mom. So I put it to the women of the dope:
Do you/did you enjoy being pregnant? If so, what is/was the nature of your enjoyment?
Only in the second trimester. That’s when you’re “cute pregnant” but before, at least for me, my pelvis fell apart, the heartburn started bothering me, it got very hard to sleep, etc.
Pepper Mill will have to answer herself, but I do know that she certainly didn’t enjoy it at the end.
She read all those articles and books by superwomen who get pregnant but still work out and such, and she envied them.
Herself, she was painfully bloated and swollen, with the swelling threatening to dislocate joints in her fingers and toes. She had, as she put it, “Fred Flintstone feet”. When the doctor said he wanted to induce labor, she was behind it all the way.
Being larger, having to pee all the time, that was inconvenient, but it was nothing compared to losing feeling and mobility in your extremities.
The bright spot was the day that MilliCal, still inside, kicked up and managed to dislodge Maggie, our cat. Maggie jumped, came back and investigated, then lay back down on Pepper Milll – just not on her stomach. Afterwards, when MiliCal was born, Maggie was her Guardian Angel.
Very much so. I had some of the inconveniences (heartburn was awful), but no morning sickness with either. With my second, I was horribly exhausted, having a job that required driving and home visits all day.
But I just emotionally felt fantastic. It’s like being part of this awesome club. And even though reproducing is such a non-event biologically, in that it takes no special talents or skills or strengths, it’s like holy shit! I am growing another human inside me! Plus there was the whole “looking forward to meeting this new addition to the family” aspect.
I am for sure romanticizing and forgetting the hormonal outbursts, the worry, the sleepless nights. But overall it was fantastic and I really wanted to do it a third time, but that wasn’t in the cards.
No.
While I was glad I was pregnant and looking forward to the baby I had two very medically complicated pregnancies for both me and baby. I was worried about all of our health through the whole thing was very glad when I delivered each healthy baby and remained healthy myself.
Happy to be having a baby? yes. Enjoying the process? not at all.
It was pretty much 7 months of constant discomfort and pain, including the final 6 weeks on bed rest. Emergency c-section under general anesthesia lead to more weeks of pain and discomfort afterward.
I have a friend who loves being pregnant so much that not only has she had four of her own children, she just gave birth to twins as surrogate for a gay couple. I’m happy for her, but man, my experience was so different that I think she’s nuts.
I’ve enjoyed all my pregnancies. Being a mother is awesome, in the most non-hyperbolic sense of the word. I was thrilled to soon have a child each time and since I had only minor discomfort for the most part, I enjoyed the whole experience. The last time I was an ahem older mother and I tired much more easily, plus I had a whopper of a baby. Delivery is no picnic, but at least it ends eventually and you get a baby out of the deal.
Heavens no. I was miserable carrying both my girls. I was young and healthy when I started each pregnancy (normal weight, no medical conditions, 23 with the first kid, 27 with the second). Wound up with 2 medically-complicated, life-threatening-to-me-and-them pregnancies culminating in 2 premature infants (one significantly so at 32 weeks) who both required NICU stays. The doctors never had any idea why things went so wrong and still don’t.
I love my girls and am glad I had them, but I will absolutely not have any more children.
I’m happy for ladies who have these wonderful, empowering pregnancies and feel great then pop out the kid with a normal labor and take it straight home, but I can’t relate to that at all. My pregnancies were like trips to the war zone with bullets flying for the kid and me both. I’m just glad we all got out alive.
My wife would agree with Zsofia. Somewhere between the morning sickness and constant worrying of the first trimester and kick-boxing bowling ball jumping on her bladder in the third trimester, there were a few weeks where she was actually enjoying herself.
There are a lot of awesome things about being pregnant. I mostly liked it. With the second kid, once I got to 7 months I couldn’t walk without discomfort/some pain, so that was kind of a bummer. It wasn’t a huge deal or anything, but I am really good at growing giant babies. Getting them out, not so much.
Overall I loved being pregnant. I had an easy pregnancy and I wasn’t uncomfortably large until the last two weeks. And the resulting kid is my only kid, so while pregnant I had the luxury of sleeping in on the weekends and eating whatever I wanted, and basically lazing around whenever I felt the need.
Also, the hormones made my skin and hair look AMAZING. It was the best I’ve ever looked, hands down.
No. Other than the baby at the end I can only think of one good thing about being pregnant, and that was that I did not have to clean hair out of my hairbrush for a good 7 months. (It all falls out when the baby is about four months old, though.)
And I had pretty easy pregnancies by almost any standard. I could still enumerate dozens of things I hated about it.
Oh, wait–no periods for the duration, that was okay. Once again, made up for at the end, so ultimately not worth it except for the baby.
Second trimester and at least half of third trimester I have enjoyed / am enjoying. It’s not too rough on me physically (especially this last one), everyone is congratulatory and nice to you when you’re pregnant, and it’s neat to be able to feel a little live person inside of me (it helps that he doesn’t kick particularly hard). I also really like the not having periods and the increased sex drive.
Ask me again in a month and I may have a different answer.
No. I had a flawless pregnancy and I pretty much hated every minute. Queasy for the first half, trapped in my body for the second half. In the last couple of months I was pretty much depressed. If I had an “off” switch I could have flicked until after the baby was born, I would have flicked it.
All those people opening the door for you now? When you’re perfectly capable of getting it yourself? The second you’re hauling a diaper bag and cat seat with an increasingly heavy baby in it they’ll let that bad boy slam right in your face.
I hated it. I hated the fear that things could go wrong at any time. Every milestone felt a bit closer to safety, but I never felt safe until I had a healthy baby in my arms.
And I hated the food restrictions. I was pretty careful, as I couldn’t stand the idea of something going wrong and it being my fault. It was a long nine months of second guessing sandwiches and wondering if I accident ate some unpasteurized cheese.
I very much enjoyed being pregnant. Easy pregnancy, no morning sickness, mercifully fast delivery… it felt like something my body was engineered to do well. I was glowy and happy, although the impatience at the end as I watched the due date come and go was a bit maddening, still awesome.
