Pregnancy is a time of discovery and
wonder; of all the new feelings and sensations, both wonderful and not so
wonderful. All in all it has left me with a great sense of awe about the
creation of life and my part in that creation.
Most women can tell you about the
not-so-fun things – the list goes from mundane to downright scary! Mine are not
so bad; rather just inconvenient. Getting up 3 times a night to go to the
bathroom for instance. Suddenly you find yourself on an intimate basis with the
bathrooms of all your friends and family members, and you know just where every
rest stop is on the way to work and your favourite malls. Lower back pain is
another. Standing, walking or sitting in one position for long periods of time
is out now. Unless of course you relish walking like a geriatric, grasping your
back with one hand and steadying yourself on your spouse or any available
railing/wall/cane with the other hand.
Then comes the Third Trimester – a “club”
that I’ve just joined barely a week ago. With it comes a whole new set of fun
bodily functions. You become an entertaining sight whenever you try to get up
from the couch or bed where you were reclining so blissfully. I find myself
having to roll into an upright position or rock my body into motion to build up
enough momentum to actually stand, because by this stage of pregnancy the
little “bean” (as my DH now calls the baby) is quite large and becomes an
immovable obstacle that makes bending at the waist practically impossible. Husbands everywhere, please note: laughing
at your spouse as she flounders like a
beached whale on the couch is not the right response here. Not if you wish to
live. At least my DH doesn’t laugh outright, but I do see the occasional grin –
which he unfortunately gets away with because he can start running before I’ve
actually gotten on my feet again.
The newest symptom on my “fun” list is an
unusual pain in the groin region while walking. Will the fun ever end, right?
Turns out this is sometimes caused by my old nemesis, the round ligament, after
a particularly taxing day. On other occasions, it may also be attributed to the
pelvic bone ligaments starting to move apart as my body produces relaxin to
prepare me for labour. FYI, this is also the wonderful hormone that relaxes the
hip ligaments and makes you walk like a duck during the Third Trimester. How
attractive!
If you have never been pregnant, but you
want children one day, don’t let me put you off though. I like to gripe a bit,
like any woman. It feels good to vent. But I wouldn’t trade this for anything.
The experience has offered me so much more positive things that negative, all
in all. The first time you get to feel the baby move, or better yet the first
time the baby kicks hard enough for your DH to feel him/her move. I wouldn’t
trade that moment for anything in the world! The look of absolute amazement on
his face will stay with me my whole life, I think.
And then, just around week 24, suddenly
baby can hear your voice and can recognize other people’s voices too. We
realise this little person is already developing a personality, even before
birth! My little bean is turning out to be quite suspicious of new voices – I
find that he/she won’t kick for people I’m not around regularly. But once she
hears my DH’s voice – oh boy! Get ready for some major karate moves. Baby also
loves music with drums and base – Church was an adventure this past Sunday, let
me tell you. You can’t help but giggle if baby starts jiving as soon as the
band starts up. And any movie with an explosion or two is enough to get his/her
attention – which actually makes it seem like we’re watching the movie
together, all three of us. But baby quiets down as soon as I speak or sing,
like he/she is straining to hear every word and take it all in.
Nothing will prepare you for this
experience. But I also don’t think there is much of anything in the world that
can surpass it. I can’t wait to meet this little person for the first time, and
see the face that will change our lives forever.
