quotations about pregnancy
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: not enjoying every minute of pregnancy doesn't make you a bad mom, or a bad person, or an unappreciative human. You can be grateful and excited about the ability to have a baby, and well-prepared to raise a baby and super devoted to and already in love with your upcoming baby, and still hate the day-to-day reality of being pregnant.
SABRINA JOY STEVENS
"10 Necessary Mantras For Women Who Hate Pregnancy", Romper, September 21, 2016
When I was pregnant with my first child, if I wasn't at work I was doing one of three things: sitting on my couch half asleep, eating on my couch half asleep, or sleeping (probably on my couch). That was one chill-ass pregnancy, folks. Sure, I had nausea, sciatica, shortness of breath, but no one symptom lasted a terribly long time and life was OK. My second pregnancy I was chasing a two-year-old all over the place, commuting over an hour to my job, vomiting for 24 weeks, and I never rested. Still, somehow, my second pregnancy was way easier than my first.
JAMIE KENNEY
"10 Reasons Your Second Pregnancy Is Way Easier Than Your First", Romper, October 13, 2016
Pregnancy can be a magical, wonderful time, when you may experience a dramatic improvement in your general health, and feel unusually happy, harmonious and healthy, a pattern which may continue in subsequent pregnancies.
MIRANDA CASTRO
Homeopathy for Pregnancy, Birth, and Your Baby's First Year
Envy the kangaroo. That pouch setup is extraordinary; the baby crawls out of the womb when it is about two inches long, gets into the pouch, and proceeds to mature. I'd have a baby if it would develop in my handbag.
RITA RUDNER
Naked Beneath My Clothes
As I watched my belly grow, on one hand, I was self-conscious. Being pregnant felt dangerously similar to being fat. It sent me back to shame and regret, feeling like I was out of control, like I was in a car accident and was skidding slowly toward something I had already hit over and over again.
SHAUNA NIEQUIST
Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life
If you have a chronic health condition, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, or even multiple sclerosis, you may find your symptoms are less severe, or even disappear, in pregnancy. Experts aren't sure why this happens, but it's thought to be the big changes happening to your hormones and your immune system. Sadly, once those hormones settle down after the birth, conditions tend to re-appear. But at least you get a break!
JOHN MUTURI
"11 ways pregnancy is good for you", Eve: Woman's World, April 30, 2016
The world was full of dangers now that she was pregnant: mercury in tuna, hot tubs, beer, secondhand smoke, over-the-counter medicine. Not to mention crazy baby-abducting fairy kings.
JENNIFER MCMAHON
Don't Breathe a Word
Once pregnancy is confirmed, women find themselves under surveillance. They are expected to attain (and are measured against) standards and targets which they cannot hope to achieve unless they successfully fulfil criteria relating to health appointments, screening, diet and lifestyle. Thus, 'choices' about what to eat and drink, and how best to cope with the work involved in managing pregnancy, are rarely left to the discretion of the pregnant woman herself.
CAROLINE GATRELL
Embodying Women's Work
Pregnancy is a disease from which you recover in 18 years and 9 months.
CARRIE LATET
attributed, Oh Baby, I'm Having a Baby!
Yes, pregnancy is wonderful and beautiful and all of those great, magical things, but it's also scary and kind of gross and, well, like every horror movie I have ever seen.
JENNIFER GERMANO
"12 Moments When You Realize Pregnancy Is Exactly Like A Horror Movie", Romper, September 28, 2016
Some women prefer not to think too hard on the choices they make during pregnancy, which can lead to its own set of problems, and some women treat the whole thing rather like a homework assignment. They count all calories and steps. They avoid all deli meat like the plague. They overcook their steaks and use a thermometer on their vegetables. They judge the other pregnant lady (me) who may steal a sip of her husband's beer. They weigh themselves daily and worry, worry, worry about how fast they're gaining weight.... If you take the job of growing a human too seriously, you'll burn yourself out before the baby comes out and the really hard part begins: parenthood.
GEORGI BOORMAN
"8 Ways To De-Stress Your Pregnancy", The Federalist, October 3, 2016
That first pregnancy is a long sea journey to a country where you don't know the language, where land is in sight for such a long time that after a while it's just the horizon -- and then one day birds wheel over that dark shape and it's suddenly close, and all you can do is hope like hell that you've had the right shots.
EMILY PERKINS
Novel About My Wife
The only time a woman wishes she was a year older is when she's expecting a baby.
MARY MARSH
attributed, Oh Baby, I'm Having a Baby!
During my first pregnancy, the people I was around told me how great I looked, asked me how I was feeling, saved the comfiest chairs for me, and stocked the office with decaf tea. This time around, the person I spend the most time with -- although she seems to think I'm swell -- insists on eating my food and waking me up early every morning.
EMILY FISK
"5 Ways My Second Pregnancy Is Different Than My First", Huffington Post, April 25, 2016
The pregnancy, I wouldn't really wish that upon anyone. Anyone. It's all worth it in the end, so I would definitely suffer through that, but pregnancy was not a good experience for me.
KIM KARDASHIAN
"13 Brutally Honest Celebrity Quotes About Pregnancy", Marie Claire, March 30, 2016
In the pregnancy process I have come to realize how much of the burden is on the female partner. She's got a construction zone going on in her belly.
AL ROKER
attributed, Oh Baby, I'm Having a Baby!
In my experience, when women are pregnant they're very proud of their bodies, but the moment the baby's born, they're not. I don't think it's important women return to the shape they were before. I think if your body grew a baby, that's an amazing thing and you should be proud of that. But it's hard for women to feel that way.
PHILIPPA KAYE
"Instagram-filtered images of celebrities put pregnant women's health at risk", The Observer, October 15, 2016
Nah ... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?
DIABLO CODY
Juno
Pregnancy demonstrates the deterministic character of woman's sexuality. Every pregnant woman has body and self taken over by a chthonian force beyond her control. In the welcome pregnancy, this is a happy sacrifice. But in the unwanted one, initiated by rape or misadventure, it is a horror. Such unfortunate women look directly into nature's heart of darkness. For a fetus is a benign tumor, a vampire who steals in order to live. The so-called miracle of birth is nature getting her own way.
CAMILLE PAGLIA
Sexual Personae
With all of my pregnancies, I lived a minimum of 45 minutes from the hospital, so roadside delivery was a very real possibility. I always kept towels in the car just in case. Too bad I couldn't fit a midwife in the glove compartment, too!
KRISTI PAHR
"10 Moments During Labor And Delivery That Are Just Plain Terrifying For Anyone", Romper, October 19, 2016