What I Learned From the Trial of Pregnancy

I am no longer pregnant, nor do I ever intend to be again. However, I want to reminisce a little about my life over the past 10 years. I can’t ignore my 3.87 years of pregnancy even though I’d like to forget about them sometimes. Being pregnant is really hard! Anyone who says differently is either superwoman or has a bad memory. Still, tough things can be great learning experiences once they’re over. (I’m not sure how much I learn during the process because I’m too busy whining. Oops.)

Things I appreciate now that I took for granted before pregnancy:

1. I can eat without getting heartburn or feeling sick afterward.
2. I have the energy to do whatever I want. No longer do I have to drag myself out of bed in the morning (usually), and I never need naps. I hated taking naps because of how groggy I felt afterward. It didn’t help when people told me that being able to take naps “must be nice”.
3. I am not ruled by cravings. Yes, I crave chocolate sometimes, but I don’t have really strange cravings for things not found in my house such as cream of mushroom soup, cornbread, cheese dip, or gummy bears.
4. I can move without hurting. Sciatic nerve pain got worse with each pregnancy, and it was excruciating sometimes. Exercise was difficult too, so I didn’t really do it for most of the pregnancies.
5. I have a pretty good immune system. I normally get sick 1-2 times a year, and it’s mild. Pregnancy made sure that I got sick every time I was near any sick person. It made life just that much more difficult.
6. I fall asleep easily at night. It was really miserable to deal with heartburn, restless legs, and being too hot all the time unless it was winter. I felt so tired but couldn’t fall asleep easily. When I did, I either had terrible dreams, woke up to go to the bathroom, or woke myself up from my own snoring. (True story.)
7. I like being around people. During pregnancy, I felt grouchy most of the time and just didn’t like anyone, especially not myself. Things people said got on my nerves much more easily. I’m glad to be back to my normal, not easily offended state. 😉
8. My health is much more predictable. During pregnancy, I had different weight gains, cravings, births, and recoveries. I wanted to know what to expect, but I could never be sure. That was a huge source of anxiety for me.

My non-pregnant state of health is nothing to complain about! I am grateful every day for my 5 children, but building their little bodies from scratch was ridiculously hard and took what seemed like forever. I had no idea how good my health was until it was taken away.