Hey, Would Be Moms, It’s Okay!

A mother reminisces her pregnancy days and urges every expectant mother to know that there is no such thing as a perfect pregnancy.

Throw back to May 2017 when this journey started:

This journey has been amazing. From staring at the faint pink line, while sitting on the toilet seat to being breathtakingly happy, to reminding myself not to skip the steps, to my office colleagues scolding me for running from one room to the other, to forgetting that I am pregnant and getting stuck in a narrow space, to borrowing my mom’s clothes, to eating like a dinosaur, to the pelvic pain, to craving chocolates so bad that my friend and his wife had to courier some from Mumbai (because my husband ate the ones he bought for me), to not being able to tie my shoe laces, to my mother sitting awake at nights to soothe my back ache, to my husband washing my feet, to thinking the pain was not because of labor but because I ate too much, its all been fun!

Each pregnancy, each experience, each woman’s reaction to pregnancy is different and unique. What worked for me, how I coped, might be something completely opposite to what worked for my friends.

It’s okay to have new experiences, to freak out after reading horror stories on Google, after not being able to locate your own child. It’s okay to be temperamental, its okay to be so angry for no reason that you want to plot a murder of a random person, it’s okay to feel like a whale in the heat and its totally okay to not fit in any of your favourite clothes. Its okay to increase 1.5 kg per week in the last month, it’s okay to get almost kicked out of the sonography  for asking the gender of the kid, It’s okay to pee every 5 minutes and scream suddenly, when you are in the middle of a conversation with someone, when your kid decides to kick you right in your bladder! Trust me-It is all okay!

For me, what worked was being active, going out, working and as much as possible, leading my life normally and being curiously happy about the whole thing.

Having a good gynaecologist is also very important. One who is patient enough to listen to your stupid questions which she probably hears 100 times a day and still is patient enough to ans your queries. Thankfully, I got a gynaecologist who was a chilled out confident woman. My visits to her helped me a lot. She was very observant, took no risks but was always as cool as a cucumber.

Keeping calm, enjoying and being damn positive does wonders. Also, keeping your humour intact makes the journey so much easier and fun! I mean, I even enjoyed the part where I was so off my balance that I was almost walking like a penguin and couldn’t walk on a straight line and was pooping green (because of iron supplements!)

I am a tall, skinny and lean person. I have always been so and the idea of getting a bump thrilled me. For the first time in my life, I was looking forward to having a big round belly. It came a bit late and good grace when it did come, it grew exponentially. Within no time I had a bump the size of a basketball and I flaunted it at every step. I never wore oversized baggy sad clothes or try to hide my bump with a scarf during my pregnancy and always dressed up smart and well. Being a jeans and t shirt kind of a person, I can literally live in them, which I continued to do even during my pregnancy and it was amazingly refreshing and totally me. It’s equally important not to lose your own identity and self. The happiness that comes from being your own self is precious and important.

And finally, it’s important to remember there is no such thing as a perfect pregnancy. Its okay if everything goes according to what we have planned and it’s also okay if it doesn’t. It’s okay to plan a normal delivery and end up in a c section as in my case ( my kid took the jaat genes rather seriously and was too adamant to come in the birthing position ).The base line is, everything is okay!

PS: It is also okay to not choose this journey altogether. It’s okay to not being able to embark on this journey for whatever reasons. It’s okay to make a choice to give a home to a child that does not have one, it’s okay to choose your own happiness.

Image Source: Pixabay