The Awesome Side of Pregnancy

There are plenty of places to find scary, gross, weird, or unusual pregnancy side effects. But how often do we talk about the awesome parts?! Like, never. Maybe because they can feel few and far between; but since there are some pretty cool perks to being pregnant, why not celebrate?

Before bed snacking is not only allowed, it’s even encouraged! Okay, so we probably shouldn’t binge on Ben and Jerry’s every night, because if we spend our money on that we won’t be able to afford any more super cute baby clothes! But, seriously, I just ate a hot dog, and a bag of chips at 9:30 — just 3 hours after I ate supper! I don’t feel the least bit guilty…actually, I still feel hungry. Anyone have a slice of pizza?

You just might luck into 9 months of significantly less shaving! Who wouldn’t love that?! I didn’t get so lucky this third time around, but with the first two kiddos, I could go a week without shaving my legs. Whoohoo! Especially by about week 30 when bending over is a full blown aerobic exercise!

People are always saying you look cute! Come on, admit it, compliments are great. And even if most people mean “it’s so cute that you are wearing a beach ball instead of me;” they still say it as “awe, look at her belly — So cute!” They compliment outfits that show the bump, and later they love that your shirt disguises the bump. If you can wear heels, folks just eat that up! It’s great!

You get to be a little bit whiny on Facebook. We all tend to whine occasionally anyway, but as long as you can disguise your preggo whining under some good sarcasm; it goes over a lot better than just complaining that the mail ran late.

Eating. Wait, I already mentioned that, huh? Never mind, I’ll just eat another hot dog and hush on that one.

Sonograms are also really cool. I don’t know, maybe they weird some people out, but I just love seeing baby wiggle and watching the heart beat. Such neat technology!

People tend to baby the pregnant women a little, too. I’m a very independent person, so this one can get annoying, but hey, if some one offers to do work for me so that I can rest…I’m pretty much already asleep.

Speaking of sleep, pregnancy means nap time! The first few weeks naps are pretty hard to avoid. Your body is just gonna take that nap whether you are ready or not. Driving down the interstate? Body don’t care. Better phone a friend. Watching the kids? Naw…I’m asleep on the floor. Snuggling the hubby ZZZZZZ (it’s not our fault men are so warm and cozy!) But even a few months in, when you really could stay awake all day, every day, people don’t blame you for napping. After all, growing a baby is hard work.

Pregnancy is so cool! I don’t know why women only tell the bad parts. I mean, duh, morning sickness is the pits. And of course, labor hurts and there are strangers in the room. Yea, there are some pretty weird side effects to pregnancy, but it’s just so cool. In fact, as much as I may whine on the bad days, I’m secretly a little sad that my baby carrying days are numbered. We don’t plan to be the next 19 Kids and Counting family, so there will be a last baby. There will be a last breath catching, giggling moment of excitement when that little line turns pink. Some day I will feel a baby kicking inside for the last time. I’ll nurse one last night before all my babies are weaned. It’s kind of sad to think about it. (Lucky for me, we don’t plan to stop at 3, so I should get at least one more turn to eat hot dogs at 9:30 at night.)

Don’t believe the negative hype. Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing.