why I loved being pregnant

18 weeks 

Today I want to talk about my feelings on being pregnant, what I loved about it, and what I really kinda super miss about it.

I want to start off by saying that the way people are looking at pregnancy and child birth has really started to change over the past few years, and I am so glad that I was living in pregnancy town during that time!  Before I ever thought about having babies (weird thing to say) I was one of those girls who viewed being pregnant as a means to an end.  You get big, spend the entire time uncomfortable, and are in constant panic over the upcoming birth that will surely scar you for life.  I always thought women just grin and bear pregnancy because it'll be "worth it" in the end.  Well my views sure did change when I was going through pregnancy and I have to say that being pregnant was one of the best times of my life.  I felt really in tune with my body,  I became super educated about what was happening and how to prepare myself for birth, and I just felt GOOD!  Let me tell you why I think I felt this way…

My environment.  Look…things started to change when I met the right people.  Starting with my good friend, Megan.  She took me under her wing and taught me all about the importance of women really educating themselves when it comes to their bodies and their pregnancies.  She had dealt with a lot of drama when her first son was born, and decided to learn about natural childbirth for her second.  Because of her  I would have never even considered how crazy messed up prenatal care is here in the U.S.  All of the medical procedures that have their place and are totally necessary in the right situation that are being used for all the wrong reasons.  Women are so scared about giving birth because society only shows how scary, dangerous, and painful it is.  When did women forget that their bodies are designed to have children!?  SRSLY.

Back to what I was saying about environment.  Megan suggested that I watch The Business of Being Born documentary which really empowered me and changed the way I looked at child birth.  I felt like I was given the opportunity to take control of my journey into motherhood.  I was given the freedom to think for myself and not just be bound by stereotypical assumptions on pregnant women, pregnancy, labor, and birth.

Then we up and moved to Madison, WI.  Thank goodness for that because the resources for natural parenting are endless up here.  Midwives, birth centers, doulas and more! So awesome. :D  We even have fantastic hospitals with doctors and nurses who are open to natural birth. I made the decision to be seen by a midwife at a birthing center.  I also got on board with having a doula!  I didn't stop there…I enrolled in a yoga class for pregnancy and attended monthly interactive meetings were women shared their birth stories.  I was surrounded by all the right people and that made me feel great.  That's not to say that there weren't some definite downsides to pregnancy that I had to deal with.  I was hormonally unstable at times, and near the end the feet swelling just freaked me out.  But some of notable ups about being large and in charge were:

• 1. I got super creative with what I had to wear. (I only owned a belly band and luckily didn't have to buy any maternity clothing)
• 2. Pregnancy gave me the gift of being able to eat all the ice cream, all of the time, erry day.
• 3. I slept all of the time and it didn't bother anyone.
• 4. People were suddenly super friendly to me….like…all of the time. 

But really I loved being pregnant because it gave me the chance to slow down and learn a little bit about myself.  I was able to contemplate my feelings on how we were going to raise our child.  It really made us crack down on our religious beliefs.  Whether or not we would choose to circumcise or not.  How we were going to financially support our child.  What really mattered to us as individuals and as parents!  Pregnancy brought me closer to my husband.  It was an eye opening experience and a transformation of sorts.  We were lucky to be immersed in such a beautiful community and I feel that is has really benefited my well being as a mother.  And of course…the thing I loved most about being pregnant was growing my baby.  Feeling Liam kick and finding that my love for him would continue to grow through all of the unknowns.  We had each other. That was the most special time of all.

Did you enjoy being pregnant? Pregnant right now and want to talk about it? Comment below! :D