I {gasp} Like Being Pregnant!

I like being pregnant!

I know, this may seem odd in light of the extreme nausea I seem destined to endure every waking moment for the first trimester. I get sick if I don't eat. After I eat, I feel sick. When I wake up at night, I feel sick. In the morning, I am sick. When my husband turns over in the night and shakes the bed, I feel horribly sick. In the evening...well, you get the point.

And yet, while I was taking a shower last night, I stood under the hot water and in the middle of my slow, deep, anti-throw-up breaths the realization struck me; I like being pregnant!

Why? Because my body is doing exactly what it is intended to do. What it was intricately designed for, and what a man's body is NOT made to do, at all. Somewhere in the middle of making an Adam Clone from a spare rib, God thought it would be neat to veer from His original Blueprint for a Human and create a few extra organs. A uterus. Two ovaries with fallopian tubes. Miniscule eggs that amazingly are present when a girl is born and that contain the makings of more human, a sort of storage facility for yet more Blueprints for Humans. He invented the idea of Aunt Flo (yeah, maybe not exactly our favorite feature!) and set it all into motion.

The man is supposed to work with his hands and support his family. I'm sure that men feel great satisfaction from forming or creating something utilizing their brain and brawn; I know my husband feels immense pride when he can lay the paperwork aside, grab his power tools, and build a piece of furniture.

And on the flip side, the woman does her greatest work with her own body! With little brain or brawn required, her body is designed to naturally create the greatest masterpiece of all....another human. It's amazing to me that our female bodies; these emotional packages of monthly cycles and hormones, can actually function as a factory and build another human being in a small pear-shaped organ nestled beneath our stomachs (and uncomfortably close to our bladders).

So yeah...my back will ache. I'll spend time tossing and turning in bed between seven pillows that threaten to push my husband off his side. I'll wear a path in the carpet between wherever I am and the closest toilet. I'll eat like a horse but deposit more than a few meals into the closest receptacle when the nausea strikes. I'll cry over sentimental Hallmark commercials or when I read a headline about a missing child. The stretch marks will appear as a fleshy roadmap on my skin and the clothes will come in bigger sizes. My ankles will disappear from sight and shaving becomes an optional luxury or an attempt at strange yoga poses.

And afterwards, when the labor has been endured, stitches received, and my body has emptied itself of its burden, I'll stand in front of a mirror to survey the damage that includes a saggy tummy. Dark circles under the eyes. Soreness everywhere. I will survey the damage and say; "It is good!" I'll be proud of my body for doing its job successfully. I'll applaud it with a standing ovation and make a promise to it that I will not be embarrassed by its appearance because that would be like criticizing my husband when he comes home sweaty and tired after a long days work.

I will nestle my new baby's soft neck and thank God for His amazing creation; a woman's body and its unfathomable ability to reproduce.

9 Months Pregnant; August 2006

After Samuel Elton Gray joined us on August 19, 2006, after 2 hours of back labor then 8 hours of easy labor.

9 Months pregnant; October 2008

Going through 6 hours of easy labor; for some odd reason it made me feel better to scratch the back of Elton's neck during the contractions!

With my midwife and Elton, happy that Olivia Sunshine Gray joined us on October 17, 2008.