We are now officially in our 31st week of pregnancy, and I would say time is neither flying by nor moving at a snail's pace.
As I get closer to my due date, people often ask me if I am tired of being pregnant yet? My first reaction to that question is no, not really. I never had the terrible morning sickness, fatigue was offset by the fact that my extremely great husband allows me to stay home and not work, and I haven't gotten a huge pregnancy stomach...yet. Things are running fairly smoothly so far. However, if I think about that question a little bit more, I would say that there are several things that I am tired about when it comes to pregnancy.
These things have nothing to do with the actual baby that I am carrying. The baby does very little to harass me during waking or sleeping hours in fact. Instead I will be happy not to be harassed by the endless questions and the heaps of advice that I receive from others. Sounds kind of terrible, but I think a lot of women might agree.
Here are a few of the things that I indeed will be happy to say good bye to:
1. "How do you feel?" Every person on greeting me asks this question inevitably. Indeed I feel just the same as I did before pregnancy, so PLEASE STOP asking!! I have no idea how to answer this question. I feel fine...or should I make up a list of dramatic symptoms so we can have something to talk about?
2. "Are you able to do that?" Yes, yes I can. Now, there are certain things that I can't do like lift heavy weights at the gym, hop into a sauna (or do anything else that overheats me), or drink alcohol (not that I do anyway). However, almost everything else...yes...I can do it. Walking will in fact not kill me. I am capable of going to crowded places. I do not in fact need to be a hermit. Now as time goes on and I get more tired, I may choose not to go out for long periods of time....but this is my choice.
3. "Can you eat/drink that?" I ordered tea at lunch one day, and a friend about had a heart attack! Yes it had a tiny amount of caffeine in it, but well within the allowable limit. It shall be okay. I can indeed eat almost anything except for uncooked meats and unwashed vegetables and some cheeses. But I can eat 99.9% of normal foods!
4. "Are you craving that?" Every time I say I want to eat ABC or XYZ, I am immediately asked..."oh is that a craving?" Umm, no! I'm hungry and that is what I feel like! It isn't pregnancy related. This is no different when you answer what you want to eat for dinner.
5. "How was your last doctor's appointment?" Ok, this one may be a bit cruel to be annoyed about....but it still does get under my skin. It went fine as far as you are concerned. If something really went wrong...would you actually want to know? Would you know how to react? I'm sure if there was something to tell...I would. Though I completely understand why people ask...it drives me nuts.
6. Your baby will look more Japanese/white. You have no idea, and neither do I. However, I definitely don't appreciate a discussion on our baby's race! Who cares which it looks like!! It will be a perfect blend of the two. I know Ten and I don't care "which she looks more like," so why do you? If I hear one more time about how our baby will have black hair/blue or dark eyes/pale skin, I will scream.
7. You need to buy this/that now! You are just in denial that you are having a baby. What? Trust me there is no denial when you are kicked in the stomach so many times a day that you feel a bit of motion sickness. We are just really wise shoppers. We always have been. So, it shouldn't surprise you that we do a lot of research on things before purchasing them.
8. Parenting Advice with the comment "You'll see." I do not care that you believe in spanking your child. I do not care that you think breastfeeding for an extended amount of time is strange or plain inconvenient. You think that babies should learn self soothing by crying a bit in the night? Great for you. When you ask about what we believe....we don't need the response "you'll see!" No, you will see that we have different beliefs and will try to do things differently. Your way is not the right way!
9. Labor/Birth Advice. Simply put...it is none of your business. I don't care if you highly recommend an epidural or wish that you had had one. You are not me! I think it is even worse when people speak negatively to you about the decisions that are you making. Why be a source of discouragement? Shouldn't we try to uplift people in their choices if they aren't doing anything wrong or hurting anyone. Also, I will punch you in the face if you talk about how I have no idea how painful labor is...and I just have no idea. Yes, indeed it is painful.....but your experience will not be mine. We can't even really predict what each person's labor will be like, but we definitely shouldn't try to undermine their ideas or scare them!
I better stop here. The list may go on forever...I didn't even think I had this many...hahaha
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