What pregnant women won't tell you ever!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I know that pregnancies aren't all walks in the park and I was VERY blessed with Liebling's.

BUT... the amount of people these articles "scare off having children" or the like (see the comments!) - I'm sick of people running down pregnancy. Then going back to have another child. Couldn't have been that bad then.

Other thing - it doesn't stop here. The women who think this is "so funny" and the like... they whinge their child's life away. "Oh, he doesn't sleep." "He's too active." How about - I get loads of cuddles 24-hours a day and all the exercise has helped me with any remaining baby weight. Yes, I know I would like more sleep than I get sometimes... but if getting a full night's sleep every night meant no Liebling... let me have 2 hours sleep a night every now and then! Even three years on, I'd rather no sleep than no child.

[Curly]

My pet peeves are scaremongering about labour and what your body will be like post-baby...and that nobody EVER talks about the love you have for your child and how wonderful and life-changing that is, and how that is what gets you through the bad times.

It's a fine line though - you have to balance between being honest about pregnancy or coming full circle to the point of the article in the first place - what people don't tell you about being pregnant.

This is far and away the "worst" pregnancy I have had out of all 3 of them but I find that I am still editing what I tell people. Partly TMI factor, especially for those who haven't been pregnant yet (I am anti-scaremongering, and I know from experience that my experience with pregnancy this time around is not a given, my pregnancy with DS was beautiful)...and partly because I can still appreciate the miracle of growing a child inside of me.

I've told DH a bit more about my discomfort because he is obviously a big part of the decision to stop at 3 children but even he doesn't know it all because I don't want to whinge. I want to bond with my new little baby and appreciate that despite a nasty fright she is healthy and thriving inside me and do my best not to think about the effect this is having on my body - I don't want to resent her at all.

But yes...for me, this pregnancy is "that bad" that I won't be coming back for more, despite our original plans. And no, I will never ever tell her that. It's not her fault.

[Inertia]

Personally, I loved it...

But that is exactly what this is about. This stuff is not spoken about because we arent allowed to be anything but perfectly happy because we are growing a life. Yes, I know that. I loved that I was making a lovely little baby and would go through hell and back to have and for that baby - I went back 5 times... but I had HG. All day, Every Day, for 9 months sickness... and it sucked!

And I am not going to pretend for anyone that it was magical to be hung over the toilet with my ribs caning while I am trying to throw up absolutely nothing every morning because I made a baby.


When someone is at university and their work load is crippling, they are never getting any sleep and are losing their mind because they havent had the time to study for x test because they have been studying for Y test - no one ever says to them "Well, you wanted to become a doctor" or "Look on the bright side, when its all over you will have a bouncing new doctors degree".

Just because the destination is worth the trip, doesn't mean the journey didn't suck.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

I think some of you are reading too much into this article. Its not saying any of what they said is terrible its just saying what most of us won't be told but in a humerous way, a way that we all can relate to.

Even though for the most part i couldnt stop throwing up, the thought of food made me throw up for 20 mins straight. I was like a sloth slept most of the day and was so lethargic when i was awake. I loved every moment of it, because i knew why i felt crappy and i knew at the end of it all i would have a beautiful baby to cuddle.

[BlackRose]

Oops! Sorry guys, this was just supposed to be a funny article... apologies if I offended anyone by posting it up.

Erica xo

[AliB]

Heh heh, it's funny that nobody took offensive to the 'bloody gaping...' bit!

Ahh it just goes to show what a minefield pregnancy, birth and babies is. Keep posting fearlessly Erica despite the reaction!

[Inertia]

I didn't take any offence Erica. The reason it is so funny is because it is so true.

Personally I don't think you can scare a person off having a baby any more than you can scare them off getting a tattoo or a naval piercing. Childbirth is far worse than pregnancy and everyone knows that hurts. If they are scared off by a kick to the cervix or the idea that their favourite dinner will have their head din a toilet bowl for an hour later then they were never serious about it in the first place.

I don't think anyone should be ashamed about saying how hard it was. Seriously, how many on their first baby could say that their partner did not fully comprehend just how tired you were, or how badly your back hurt? They had it in their heads that somehow you can be 7 months pregnant and clean the whole house, wash, hang, fold and put away all the dirty washing they left laying on the bedroom floor and bathroom, manicure the lawn and have dinner waiting on the table for them when they get home after a day at work yourself without so much as batting an eyelid? Even worse, you should be happy to do it because they "let you" have their baby.

We talk about how childbirth is not magical, and how newborns are not easy. I don't see there being any drama about talking about how pregnancy can be a drag.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

When someone is at university and their work load is crippling, they are never getting any sleep and are losing their mind because they havent had the time to study for x test because they have been studying for Y test - no one ever says to them "Well, you wanted to become a doctor" or "Look on the bright side, when its all over you will have a bouncing new doctors degree".

Just because the destination is worth the trip, doesn't mean the journey didn't suck.

Really? You must have better support people around you than I did then. Because I still get "It's too hard for you" and "I can't believe you were able to finish your first degree". When I complained that I was over studying, I haad nothing but "drop out then, it's obviously too much" or "you don't mean it, just think of the outcome".

You learn to not complain and look at the positives. Now I look back at... seven years of hell, if you include A-levels too. Pregnancy isn't so bad!