The feeling of carrying a new life made me feel very special no matter what any temporary physical difficulty might happen. Five pregnancies, five healthy 8lb babies. A feeling of being very different than those around me.

pregnancy takes up a lot of mental space. Worrying if the baby is healthy, moving enough, if your diet and lifestyle is the best for the baby, coming up with a name, imagining what the child's personality will be, imagining how being parent will be, etc. etc. Not to mention wondering what labor will be like!

But I loved every minute of my three pregnancies. All healthy, thank God.

Myself included, is how self-centered we become. I felt like it was all about me. Perhaps it's an unconscious survival tactic. I mean, I never talked like it was all about me, but I sure did feel that way. The other thing, while pregnant I wanted to be with other pregnant people.

The nausea in the first couple of months is unlike any nausea I ever experience before that time or after; it comes from your very soul. Plus, it was common to be nauseated and starving at the same time. Very strange.

i was 38. Easy pregnancy, one single bout of morning sickness.
Over 20 hours to deliver though, no meds. I was happy then too, just exhausted.

Healthy, beautiful, peaceful baby.
I had great circumstances. No money worries, a caring partner. No health problems.

I suggest reading Mother Mysteries to learn a lot about the feelings and inner life women experience. It is psychologically accurate in many ways. It is like being in a roiling ocean far from shore, forces beyond your control, no certainty of where or if you will land on the other side.
We are just like you, but luckier.
As long as we aren’t living in a country full of dicks who think their role is to oppress and rule, rather than share, care, and be brave.

Then my blood pressure started rising. Had to go on bed rest. For a fairly active person it was torture. We had moved around the time I went on bed rest, so it was lonely--especially when my husband was at work. Of course it was worth it, but difficult. My son arrived healthy and well--two weeks early! Had easy labor, and recovered quickly. Would have done it again, but didn't get the chance. Good luck with your book.

made me worry a lot through the first half of my next pregnancy. However during this pregnancy, I was teaching and the children were really wonderful sharing jn my happiness at expecting. I had a craving for oranges and they picked up on that and started bringing me oranges. Sometimes I had a dozen or more lined up on my desk. These were the days before routine ultrasound so you didn’t know the sex beforehand. The kids made a graph of their predictions. I can’t exactly put into proper words the exhilaration when I felt the first signs of life. It is a fluttering like a little butterfly inside you, and you gasp knowing exactly what it is. Feeling the turns and kicks as the months progress is pure joy. I found myself just automatically rubbing and patting my stomach as you would a baby. I guess I was practicing. I had morning sickness for awhile but miraculously saltine crackers often held it at bay if I could get a few down first thing. Natural childbirth classes really helped ease worries and fears. When you are obviously pregnant with your belly sticking way out in front, random people would ask when was I due and surprisingly even touch my stomach, which surprisingly didn’t really bother me. I enjoyed talking about how excited I was. I did hear a lot of involved labor stories from others which raised some anxiety for sure. When I first found out I was pregnant, I quit smoking and never went back to it. Best of luck with your book!😊

a good man? i had 5 kids, and spent a lot of time wondering just how much i was gonna regret the whole thing.

Thank you.

appetite and in those days women were supposed to think hard about gaining weight they couldn't take off after delivery and that would displease their husbands! and those maternity clothes! You looked like you had a maternity tent dropped over you! If your story happens in the 1960s then my description fits.

Easy labor and delivery too. I was worried I would have morning sickness because my mom had after every meal sickness. As far as labor and delivery went I think it helped that I had a kidney stone 2 years before my daughter was born.

Thoughts: that I was 36 and I would probably not have another baby; that I was at a higher risk for a Down's Syndrome baby; that I was really anticipating breast feeding the baby; that I was having a girl both because it is what I wanted and because I kept dreaming I had a daughter;

Both my sisters and I were pregnant at the same time, so our mom got 3 new grandchildren within 5 months. One of my sisters had a daughter who was 8 years older than the other 3. It was really neat, all 3 of us having babies together.

Three of our cousins had babies that same year, one born the same day as my daughter. The great grandmothers were ecstatic.