On Being Pregnant

Things about pregnancy that are not so fun:

• Going to the bathroom 4 times by 9:45 in the morning.
• Grunting every time I need to bend over or get in or out of a seat. Actually the grunting is kind of fun and I do it with some panache, but the need to grunt is not exciting.
• Pregnancy induced carpal tunnel and serious leg cramps that make getting any exercise difficult.
• When baby decides that using my bladder as his squeeze toy or exploring my ribs sounds like good fun.

Things I completely relish about pregnancy:

• Feeling life inside me. This never gets old. Every movement, even if it's painful, reminds me that there is a baby growing and wiggling and getting ready to meet the world. The only problem with this seems to be that Wee Babe does not perform on demand and never seems to want to do much of anything when I excitedly place Matthew's hand on my tummy.
• Having an excuse to sleep whenever I want. I get home from seminary and take a nap, whether I need or not. I sleep in far beyond a normal sleep schedule on the days I don't have to wake up for seminary, just because I can. Just because, in a couple short months I will not have this luxury, so I might as well take advantage of it while it is still available to me.
• Blaming anything I want on being pregnant. Whether its erratic emotions, mental lapses, grunting, or any pain whatsoever, I find it extremely convenient to have a one-size fits all scape goat.
• The growing anticipation of entering that heretofore unattainable world of parenthood. Both Matthew and I have been enjoying scheming about all the semi-naughty things we'll do with our future offspring. I'll make cookies only to share them all with Wee Babe before Matthew gets home from work. It will be our little secret. Matthew, on the other hand, fully intends to indoctrinate his son on "good" rock music. The kind I would prefer him not listening to in the house. That will be their very own don't-tell-your-mother moment.
• Rubbing my tummy. I don't know why this is fun for me. Maybe it incorporates all of the above. At times, I look down and I think, this is so bizarre, and somehow unnatural for my body to look like this, and other times I look down and grin at my babe underneath all those layers of tub.
• And of course, who doesn't love having a built-in shelf on which to place all kinds of fun items, my mug of hot chocolate, for example, or my bowl of ice cream, my phone, or the remote control.  Matt too has found this extremely fun, maybe more so than me and takes to finding items at hand to place there.

So that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Just thought I would share.