Pregnancy is 'Beautiful'

As a recently pregnant woman, I'm here to tell you the ten truths about being pregnant. Because once you've made that big announcement to friends and family, they will all tell you how great it all is. Well, I'm here to tell you a few truths about being pregnant.

1. As soon as you tell everyone you are pregnant, you will immediately feel overwhelmed by how real the whole situation just become for you. You waited until that 8-12 weeks mark hit, and you were so excited to surprise family with the reveal, or call them up and tell them the good news, and now you have your whole family giving you so many different thoughts and comments that it makes you want to pull your hair out... Not that it isn't falling out already due to all those hormones. The best thing to do in that situation is to listen and pretend like you're taking all this information in.
2. You WILL NOT read "What to expect when you're expecting" book. You know the one everyone mentions to you, and tells you to read? Sure you'll probably buy it, read a few pages of it, but then it gets boring and will end up in the floor by your bed to collect dust. Oh! And all those other books that people buy you like, "What to expect the first year," "How to raise a baby," and "Tips and Advice on having a baby." Yeah, you'll never read any of it.
3. The second trimester is no better than the first. You hear everyone tell you that you'll have all your energy back, you'll feel like yourself again, morning sickness will disappear, and you skin will start to glow. It's all lies. The second trimester will come along and just when you think you're over your morning sickness... BAM! You're throwing up again. Once I started my second trimester, I started getting extreme rib pain, because my body was making room for baby to grow. I started to swell, sweat, and cry more. So many hormones come in during the second trimester, it's unreal. On the bright side of the second trimester though, you get to learn the gender of your baby, and more than likely start feeling pretty big moves going on in your stomach.
4. You will hate all your favorite foods. And play the guessing game on what foods you can and cannot eat. And by that I mean your "can eat" list will be very short, and your "cannot eat" list will just keep growing. And there will be a point of a mental breakdown where you just want to ask your baby why you can't eat anything.
5. You can forget about feeling beautiful or pretty. There is no such thing while you're pregnant. You can look up all those beautiful pregnancy pictures on Pinterest and imagine yourself looking as flawless as those women. But in real life all you want is to live in your sweats, and take tons of naps. There wasn't one moment during my pregnancy when I felt beautiful. The only thing beautiful I felt about myself, was the fact that my baby was growing inside me, otherwise I felt gross, tired, and fat 100 percent of the time.
6. Your partner or significant other will not understand anything you tell him about what's going on or happening with your body. You can download all the pregnancy apps, and read him off the everyday summary about what's going on with baby, how big he/she is, and what's suppose to be going on with your body. But truth be told he probably won't care. And it's not that he doesn't care, it's that he doesn't get to share or experience any the things your body is going through, so it's hard for him to sympathize with you and connect with you. And yes, this will make you upset when you figure it out.
7. There will come a time when you will have to say goodbye to your lady parts. Through the first and second trimesters you've been doing so great at keeping her happy and shaved. And you've got it in the back of your head that you can totally keep this up throughout the rest of your pregnancy. Think again... and say hello to the third trimester. You shaved your lady parts two nights ago, and now you look down and can't even see her anymore. And bending over has became a chore. Hell, shaving your legs is no piece of cake either, and eventually you will give up on it all. Forget painting your toes too, they will just have to be ugly for awhile, unless you go to get a pedicure.
8. Sex. In the first and second trimester sex is fun, and still the same. There is a small bump on your belly, but you still have plenty of energy to keep your sex life going. But once you reach the third trimester, you can kiss fun and sexy sex goodbye. You will still have sex, but it will become more of a workout than it is passionate for you with your partner. Your big belly is all up in the way, and it's heavy. So the only real comfortable position for you to be in is on your back, and not moving. Your partner has to do all the work. And by the end of your pregnancy, it's just not worth it anymore, because things are so uncomfortable.
9. Inducing labor. Once you get about 38 weeks pregnant your doctor, friends, and family will start to give you advice on how to speed up your labor progress in order to make baby position faster, therefore putting yourself in labor faster. Well, I'm here to tell you... None of it will work. Because truth is, unless baby is ready to come out, there is nothing you can do to make he/she to come out any earlier. Believe me, I tried all of it. Your doctor will tell you to have sex, eat spice foods, bounce on a yoga ball, take plenty of walks, drink pineapple juice, and take a bumpy car ride. I tried it all, and nothing. I was at the gym on my due date trying to help my baby move along, and when I went back to the doctor...nothing. By all means, try it if you want, and if it works..hats off to you.
10. And finally number 10. You're in your third trimester, and you're counting down the last few days until your little one is expected to arrive. And in these last few days, you will notice some changes in your body that can be both weird and gross. Within the last two weeks before delivery you will experience a lot more vaginal discharge that is very gross. Because you will start to loose what they call "The Mucus Plug." And if you're like me, you might lose it several times, and in pieces. They look exactly like giant boogers. That is perfecting normal. You will also check your panties more than ten times a day, because it will start to constantly feel like you have wet yourself. So just slap you on a panty liner and keep going.

So to sum up this post, pregnancy is a very messy, emotional, and exhausting thing. And the only thing beautiful about it, is that amazing little human that you get to hold in your arms at the end of it all. And once you have your little one, it all disappears. I'm not joking. But it's all worth it. And after it's all over with, and you're home with your baby, you will start to forget what it was even like being pregnant.