I have often tried really hard not to be that girl. You know, the one who is always talking about her boyfriend or her wedding or her husband or her baby? And my husband and I are naturally wired not to be that couple. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones who can’t go one minute without touching each other or batting their eyes at each other or passing some sort of whisper back and forth. People know that we love each other, we don’t need to prove it to them.
And so with this new pregnancy adventure, I have really wanted to avoid being that pregnant girl. The one who only ever talks about pregnancy and babies. But you know what I’ve discovered in the past 16 weeks? It’s really hard not to be that girl.
You know why?
I think one part of it is the pure excitement of the known and the unknown. How can I possibly think and daydream about anything else at a time like this? Nothing else in my day is remotely as exciting right now, even if it usually would be.
I think the second part of it has to do with the time crunch. Fourty weeks may sound like a lot of time, but I’m starting to think that it really isn’t, especially when you’re in grad school full time and are doing a 23-hour-a-week internship and are married and are living in community. It also isn’t really that long if you wait 2-3 months to start telling people the good news like we did.
And I think the third part of it has to do with the sheer amount of information that I feel obligated to consume before the baby comes…and then even more once it begins to grow and develop. I’m talking gobs of information related to pregnancy, childbirth, hospitals, insurance, bank accounts, anti-stretch mark lotion, safe and unsafe foods, maternity clothes, 4-in-1 cribs, anit-colic bottles, breast pumps, bottle warmers, diaper bags, rash cream, strollers…aaaaa! How can you learn it all in 40 weeks without turning into that girl?
I don’t know if you can.
So I’m sorry if I seem that have become that girl. But know that the old me is still here — working on school projects, obsessing over the goodness of kettle corn, and staying caught up with Grey’s Anatomy. She’s just a little preoccupied at the moment.
Jenna
/ February 20, 2011Annie
/ February 20, 2011You’re hysterical! I of course know what you’re talking about. Soak it up! It’s the first time only once. And learn to have a love/hate with the books. I read like seven or eight with El and it’s all well and good when baby’s tucked in utero – but when they’re out, they’re one of a kind! I battled between reading every book under the sun and learning to use my mother gut. Turns out she’s pretty acurate. I still use both (books and my gut) as I learn about toddlers and discipline and potty training and and and… People I loved and trusted were (are) my favorite source of info too. I love that you’re totally into being pregnant. Enjoy every exhausting, hormonal second of it!