#pregnancysecrets

Pregnancy secrets part 2

The second pregnancy secret that almost nobody will tell you is that most pregnant women have doubts about their capacity to be a good mother. The reason this pregnancy secret is not out in the open is that it is pretty much taboo for a pregnant woman to admit that she is uncertain of her capabilities as a mother. Unfortunately, keeping such a huge pregnancy secret guarded has the vicious cycle effect of isolating pregnant women more thus making them afraid to ask for guidance in their new role. In the past, when a woman got pregnant the entire family and village would chip in to support and educate the mother to be. Now that society is more individualist and pregnant women do not live with their parents, they lack the confidence and do not access to the extended family wisdom on maternity.

I am going to reveal a secret...something that pregnant women have probably known for centuries but have kept to themselves.  I am going to tell this secret because I don't think anyone really reads this blog, and I also can't think of anything else to write about today!  

Here goes - when you are pregnant, you get away with a lot, I mean a LOT of things.  Things that I normally wouldn't consider doing, and things that I am perfectly capable of doing.  But it seems like when you are pregnant, no one expects much out of you. So for the past 2 months or so, I've been taking full advantage of this!  The words, "Oh that's OK, you're pregnant!" have become music to my ears.  I will explain:

Ever since it became obvious to the general public that I was pregnant (this happened around 6 months or so), people started assuming that I am a fragile mother-to-be who is in danger of getting hurt if I do anything besides taking it easy.  Although I feel fine and I'm pretty sure I can handle most tasks....do I let people know this?  Not usually!  And I don't really feel bad about getting out of stuff either....does that make me evil? I just figure that because the beginning of my pregnancy sucked pretty bad, it's ok that I'm skipping out on doing some crappy tasks.  Here are some things pregnant ladies can get away with:

No one ever expects me to lift anything that weighs more than 2 pounds.  I'm pretty sure I can lift some heavy objects, but no one needs to know that!

I can skip out on pretty much anything I want, for the sole reason that I am pregnant. I try not to do this too often, but if I can't come up with a good excuse for missing something, people just automatically assume it's because I'm pregnant...so I'll let them think that!

I forget to do a lot of things, and I've screwed up a couple of things, but the "pregnancy brain" excuse works like a charm ;)  (Maybe it is a real thing....I am just forgetful anyway so I can't really tell the difference!)

I pig out with no abandon, and whenever this happens somebody will say "that's ok, you're eating for two!"  That isn't technically true since I'm only supposed to eat 300 more calories per day, but whatever!

Basically, being pregnant is just a 9-month period of time where I can do something stupid and everyone will say, "Oh that's OK, you're pregnant!"

A lot of women view pregnancy as a "magical time" to enjoy the miracle of life and the fact that they're bringing a new baby into the world.  For me, this is the time to avoid doing crappy things without feeling guilty!  (Note: this makes me sound selfish, I know.  And I am really excited about welcoming our new family member to the world.  But being pregnant isn't  super fun the majority of the time, so I'm making the most out of it...don't judge!)