If you’re lying awake at 3am reading this on your phone, with swollen ankles and back ache, fighting the urge to get up for your fifteenth pee of the night, you can be forgiven for thinking pregnancy sucks.
It’s not always easy, but it will be worth it.
One day soon, you’ll be lying awake at 3am holding your beautiful but nocturnal baby in your arms, and you’ll know with certainty that all of those early morning bathroom breaks were worth it.
Until then, however, you can simply focus on the fact that now is a good time to be pregnant.
Why It’s A Good To Be Pregnant
Throughout history, whether because of superstition, or bizarre medical practices, women have been given weird and wonderful advice during pregnancy. So, yeah, pregnancy might suck today, but not as much as it did in the past.
After all, there are at least 5 things that people haven’t done:
#1: Warned You About Your Moods
These days, it’s totally accepted that pregnant women will be out of their minds with hormones. You can laugh one minute, sob the next, and later throw your cupcake at the window in a fit of rage and nobody will bat an eyelid. If you’d been around in Victorian times, things might have been completely different. Back then, it was generally accepted that a child’s temperament was heavily influenced by his mother’s moods during pregnancy. So if you were to have a short temper during pregnancy, you could end up being blamed for your child’s tantrums in the future. Luckily for you, that won’t happen in 2016 so you’re free to be as grumpy as you like.
#2: Told You Not To Have Sex
You might have found that your libido has sky rocketed, thanks to the pregnancy, and you’re now having more sex than when you were trying to conceive. Alternatively, you might have noticed a drastic decrease in libido and you’re unable to imagine anything worse than getting it on right now. However you feel, at least it’s a decision you can make for yourself. Dr John Kellogg, the guy who invented Corn Flakes as a way of reducing masturbation, also had some pretty strong views on sex during pregnancy. He believed that it caused your unborn baby to become a pervert. As a prominent public figure, his views were widely accepted, so it’s safe to assume those nine months felt even longer back in those days.
#3: Offered You A Cigarette
It’s not often you see pregnant women smoking these days. For those who are struggling to quit, there is plenty of support available to help mamas-to-be to give up smoking. This wasn’t always the case. In fact, in days gone by, you’d be much more likely to find yourself offered cigarettes than encouraged to give them up. In the 1950s, even the medical professional advised pregnant women to continue smoking. Back then, many believed that the benefits of cigarettes outweighed the risks. Scientists disagreed, of course; they knew that smoking caused cancer, but advertising is a powerful weapon in the war against truth, and it took many years before the public caught on.
#4: Treated You Like A 1970s Housewife
Your partner is likely to be present at the birth. He’s also likely to play a huge role in caring for you and the baby afterwards. He’ll bond with his newborn baby, make sure you have a healthy diet, and play the part of the proud dad like a pro. And nothing will make you love him more. If you were pregnant in the 1970s, things might have been very different. Back then, women were expected to continue caring for their husbands the whole time. In preparation for your stay in hospital, you would have been expected to make sure he had enough clean shirts, and even stock the pantry with food. After all, while you’re busy pushing a baby out and learning to breastfeed, it’s hardly fair to expect your husband to make his own dinner or master the washing machine now, is it?
#5: Sent You Home
If you’re the first of your friends to have a baby, pregnancy can make you feel pretty isolated at times. All your friends are still going out partying while you’re on a teetotal diet. You might worry that your friends are bored by all the baby talk. And you might just generally feel left out. Luckily for you, there are things you can do to keep up your social life. You can invite friends over, meet early, or attend cocktail nights and opt for a mocktail. You don’t have to be stuck at home alone just because you’re pregnant. In the 1950s, pregnant women were advised to skip the social life and stay home instead. Excitement and late nights were not considered suitable activities during pregnancy, and pregnant women were advised instead to take up more appropriate hobbies, such as handicrafts and listening to the radio.
