Impending motherhood

There aren't too many things more distracting or chaotic as impending motherhood. It doesn't just start at pregnancy either. It starts long before that, when you decide that you are ready to change your life with a new one. There are plenty of things to keep you distracted from the beauty of that new life's arrival.


For starters, everyone tells you pregnancy is 9 months long. Don't believe them. 40 weeks=10 months. Being that I am 8 months pregnant now, people have been commenting that I'm almost done. Not exactly. I still have roughly 7 weeks left to go. The previous 32 weeks haven't been sunshine and roses either. There's morning sickness (which in my case started at 2AM). Then the all encompassing pregnancy fatigue that makes you wish the sun set at 6:30 so it wouldn't be so bad to go to bed that early. Next came heartburn. The day I realized I could not longer start my day with coffee OR peanut butter was a sad one. Aversions, cravings? Had those too. Perhaps the worst "symptom" of the beauty of pregnancy for me was migraines. Once I got them all the woman I knew started coming forward saying "Oh, I had that too."

And even before all that starts you have to actually GET pregnant. Again, no one tells you getting pregnant is hard work. I assumed the husband and I would have some good, clean, unprotected sex and the Voila!, egg meet sperm. Alas, this is not the truth. That fairy tale happens for the lucky few (most of whom I seem to know personally). For us, the getting pregnant process included thermometers and charts, tears, and on more than one occasion-forced sex. I still consider myself lucky that all the rigmarole only took 6 months, and even that seemed like an eternity.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. The chaos of pregnancy and being a new mommy have mangaged to keep me so distracted that it is now November when I finish writing something I started writing in June. My 3 month old daughter is listening to the tap tap of the keys from her mat on the floor. I can hardly remember being pregnant. (Who am I kidding? I remember it vividly. Especially every time I look down at my extra 20 pounds.) Even so, I'd do it all over again if it meant I get to spend the day with my girl.