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Don't Rain on My Parade
Feeling Fabulous During Pregnancy
By Shannon McKelden
Having a fantastic, positive pregnancy is hard to do sometimes – like when your feet are swollen or your neighbor shares how horrible her labor was and warns you yours will be the same. But with a good attitude, a bit of luck and some of the tips from the experts, a fabulous pregnancy is possible!
While there can be a lot of negativity surrounding pregnancy – "My labor lasted 48 hours!" or "You'll be big as a whale, just wait!" – most women who share their pregnancy experiences in a not-so-positive way don't really mean anything by it.
"Often those 'horror stories' are just a way for women to let off steam or keep a sense of humor about what they are going through," say Ceridwen Morris and Rebecca Odes, co-authors of From the Hips: A Comprehensive, Open-Minded, Uncensored, Totally Honest Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and Becoming a Parent (Three Rivers Press, 2007). "For most women pregnancy is a mixed bag; like other huge life changes, it includes physical and emotional challenges as well as incredible happiness and excitement."
One thing to remember is that just because you have – or want to have – a fabulous pregnancy, doesn't mean you'll be free from the aches and pains that go along with it.
"I loved being pregnant, even with the morning sickness and having to pee every 10 minutes!" says Andrea McMann, a mother of two from Norfolk, Neb. "I remember when I was pregnant with my first baby. He was very active in utero, and I can remember standing there marveling that I could be so hopelessly in love with someone I had never seen."
Morris and Odes share that for every complainer there's someone out there telling you to "enjoy every minute of it." "In our experience, you can usually cobble together a balance of influences," they say. "The friend who loves to warn you about how horrible labor is and the one who promises it'll be ecstatic. The reality will probably be somewhere in between, or a combo of both."
