On pregnancy

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was pretty ecstatic. Let's face it - I'm still pretty ecstatic. I didn't tell too many people at first as I have known far too many people who have had trouble early on. The last thing I wanted was to have to send out a new and unimproved message stating that something horrible had happened and it was all a false alarm. For both of my pregnancies, we decided that prior to an OB visit, we would tell immediate family and best friends. No cousins, no aunts, and certainly no friends of less than a decade. It's worked wonderfully thus far.

There are a few standard questions people ask you when you tell them you're pregnant - When are you due? When did you find out? How do you feel? Do you have a feeling about the gender? The first two don't really lead to much of a discussion. The last question is just sort of a "thing" people say. That third question? That's what bugs me. I'm not sure what people want to hear, but evidently, most of them want you to be miserable. While a few of my friends have smiled gleefully and nodded enthusiastically when I say, "I feel great!" some of them have less-than-desirable reactions. That list includes (but is not limited to), "Oh you've got plenty of time to feel like crap." "Ugh. I hate pregnant women like you." "You're the pregnant girl people love to hate." "Do you think maybe you have some sort of hormonal imbalance? It's not normal to feel so good during pregnancy."

What? Really? Do people really ask you how you're feeling because they want to hear your latest I-ran-for-the-bathroom-but-didn't-make-it-in-time-and-puked-in-my-hand-at-the-bank story? Because honestly? That's horrible. I know misery loves company, but unless you're in your first trimester and you just had that experience yesterday, NEWSFLASH - You're not miserable anymore! Don't wish that upon me!

I'm not sure what I'm getting at here, but I really do wish people could just be happy for me. I wish more people just said, "That's great! It's like God made you to make babies!" So far, I believe three people have said that to me. It's wonderful that you're happy I'm making a kid and that you care about my due date and my baby's gender, but don't be so crass when I tell you I feel good. Because that's just petty.

Whew. There. I got it off my chest.