Pour Your Heart Out: I Did NOT Like Being Pregnant

“Don’t you miss being pregnant?!?!”

That question always drove me nuts.  My girls are almost 7 and 5 now, so I don’t really get asked that anymore, but when I did, I would just roll my eyes.

With my first daughter, my pregnancy wasn’t too bad.  I was nauseous the first 3 months but it was bearable.  I was just super sensitive to smells.  I couldn’t even feed the dogs as the smell of dog food made me gag.

I didn’t really gain any weight with her.  Believe it or not, I wasn’t all that hungry.  Despite the lack of weight gain, my stomach almost instantly was full of stretch marks, or “battle scars” as I like to call them.  I was barely even showing when that happened.  I was less than thrilled.

It was exciting feeling my daughter move inside me, but sometimes towards the end of my pregnancy, it just felt uncomfortable and a little bit like an alien was inside me.

As I approached my due date, I waited for that “nesting period” to kick in where all I wanted to do is clean and get things ready for the baby.  Yeah, that never seemed to happen to me.  I could have used the burst of energy to get things ready.

My doctor induced labor when I was about 38 weeks.  After being in labor all day but not really progressing, I ended up with a c-section.

Overall it wasn’t a bad experience and I was looking forward to doing it again some day in the future.

When my oldest daughter was about 9 months old, we got a little surprise.  I became pregnant with our second daughter.  At first, I was in denial.  I must have taken about 6 home pregnancy tests, questioning my husband over and over again if he really saw the “+” sign.  Between the slew of positive tests and my nauseousness, there was definitely no denying I was pregnant.

At about 6 weeks, I had to break out the maternity clothes.  In the pictures from my oldest daughter’s first birthday party, there I am, in my maternity clothes.  I was a little embarrassed, like people would think that my husband and I were a couple of horn dogs that couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.

This pregnancy, I felt nauseous pretty much any time my stomach got too empty.  I even had to keep a can of Sprite in my desk at work in case I felt sick.  Let’s just say that the constant eating did not help my size, but it was either gain weight and feel better or feel like I was going to yak all the time.

I swelled up like a balloon.  My daughter was due in August, so I was huge right in the dead heat of summer.  I got so poofy.  I had to take off my rings and I could no longer wear shoes.  People joked at work that I had Fred Flintstone feet.  All I could fit into were flip flops.

I also had terrible acid reflux for most of my pregnancy.  Thank goodness the doctor okayed me to take heartburn meds.  Most of the time I had trouble sleeping because of how bad it was.  Before this, I had never even had acid reflux once.

On top of all of this, I was so tired all the time and it was hard to keep up with my oldest who was just barely a toddler.  Being pregnant this time was so different than the first time.  I couldn’t come home at the end of the day and just sleep or veg on the couch.  I had another child to care for and she was too little to really understand what was going on.  It was exhausting.

I had high blood pressure and my doctor monitored it closely, especially towards the end of my pregnancy.  I had non-stress tests about twice a week.  After a test when I was about 37 weeks, he told me I had preeclampsia and had to deliver right then.  I was walked over to labor and delivery and my c-section was scheduled for that afternoon.

My daughter and I were fine, and despite the preeclampsia, her birth was uneventful.  She was a great baby too.

After her birth, I would talk about how happy I was that my husband and I were done having children.  People would say, “Oh, but don’t you miss being pregnant?” or “Aren’t you sad you will never be pregnant again?”

Honestly, not at all.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very very thankful that I was able to get pregnant and have two healthy babies.  I know that I was very blessed in that respect.  I wouldn’t give up my girls for anything in the world and it was all totally worth it.  I just did not enjoy the nauseous, acid reflux, and swollen feet.

I often joke that I would have a third baby if I didn’t have to be pregnant.  I seriously think that there’s something to be said for having a stork deliver babies.