Perception vs Reality 3.0
Pregnancy did not live up to my expectations.
What I Expected
1. The Bump.
I was hoping for a cute ‘swallowed a basketball’ look. A nice round bump to cradle as I waddled down the street. Instead my baby grew in my face, hands, feet, butt and bra. But mostly in my bra. My pregnancy bosom was so spectacular it dwarfed my stomach. At 8 month people were still commenting that I had put on a lot of weight, not realizing I was pregnant. At 9 months I was induced for fear of my baby being too small. My vagina can assure you that at 9 pounds, too small he was not .
2. The Glow.
Horses sweat, men perspire and women glow, apparently. I call bull****. There was no glow, only three types of sweat- night sweats, daily sweat and post-puking sweat.
3. Luxurious Hair.
My normally lank, sad looking hair became thick and gorgeous almost overnight. It was awesome! So much so, in fact, that the rest of my body grew jealous and decided to join in. Hello hairy tummy, face and nipples! I quickly reached the point where I no longer had access to my legs or nether regions while wielding a razor so they also joined the party.
4. The Odor.
I knew I’d have to pee a lot during pregnancy and I’d heard rumors of constipation. No one talks about the flatulence. Every.Single.Time.I.Moved, Sometimes loud, always deadly. I lost count of the number of times a sneaky one slipped out while I was teaching and I callously blamed the nearest child.
‘Callum! Tut tut tut. Please go to the bathroom!’
5.The End.
Everyone knows birth is painful. No one mentions that a combination of strong narcotics, sleep deprivation, hours of pain, an empty stomach, exhaustion, injury and hormones will leave you more animal than person. Plus no one warned me or my partner not to look down south during the big event. These eyes have seen things which cannot be unseen!
What I Experienced
Did you get any nasty shocks during pregnancy?
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[…] You can read more in the Perception Vs Reality series here, here and here. […]
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I love your drawings. I’m having a mixed experience – I love being pregnant and love my body pregnant, but I don’t sleep and I’m nauseous. Maybe in the third tri I’ll have to revise that though!
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Thank you! Boo to nausea. I was horribly green for the 1st tri then that was replaced by the need to shove as much cake as humanly possible down my gullet. Much preferable! The sleep thing is sucky too. Then you’ll get a bunch of dodos telling you ‘sleep all you can now, you wont get any when the baby comes!’ as if you can store sleep credits in some internal bank…
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Yeah or they tell me to “get used to” not sleeping. People are always trying to make you realize stuff when you’re pregnant!
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It doesn’t stop there!
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This was hilarious!! My body actually loves being pregnant, so I had the opposite experience. Gorgeous skin, fantastic singing voice, I actually *look good* pregnant (better than when I’m not) and I have super fast labours. Too bad my head is a complete and total DISASTER, haha. Anyway, awesome post 🙂
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Thank you. This was almost a “sorry, we can’t be friends” comment 🙂 . You lucky thing! Ever consider a career in surrogacy?
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Ha! No WAY. See, the body liked it, but I went into hardcore anxiety and depression, so the trade off is totally not worth it 😉
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Ok, phew, we can stay friends.
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😉
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I could have written most of this myself! I remember so many people telling me that pregnancy sucks and I would laugh it off thinking of the adorable baby bump and the glow. Now that my deodorant is failing me and my EVERYTHING is puffy & hairy, I am wishing I’d listened!
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Haha, this hairiness too shall pass 🙂
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Your number 5 makes me consider trying to get a scheduled c-section should I become pregnant. 0.o
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Haha, sorry Decaf. Mine was a slightly extreme birth experience but I would advise a deep, steadying breath before you or your missus have a gander down there.
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