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THEY all say that having a child is truly one of
life’s greatest blessings. When you’re at my age—a few years
before being labeled as 40 and fabulous, each visit to my Ob-Gyn is
an expected admonition about why I had to wait for so long to plan
for another child. It’s honestly embarrassing to be scolded by my
Ob-gyn, who has always reminded me that I’m not getting any
younger.
Well, to my surprise—and
despite all the denials—I suddenly find myself pregnant with my
third baby. I hadn’t realized, however, that waiting for so long
and spacing pregnancies too much apart could leave me clueless about
how it feels to have a growing bump in my belly. Besides, I guess
you can never be sure about how ready you are for pregnancy.
Over the years, my husband and I
have been quite happy with just a son and a daughter. Now, as luck
would have it, we’ve been blessed with the coming of a third
child.
As it is, I now find myself
housebound for some weeks with the television and the water closet
as my dearest companions. It’s interesting how your whole life can
change and your career put on hold by pregnancy, and how you can
suddenly turn into an addict. Besides the daily bouts of nausea, I
have lost all enthusiasm to go to work lately.
My family tells me that this is
the long-needed vacation I have always wished for. But believe me, I
would have enjoyed a long-needed rest without the hourly visits to
the bathroom. I guess that there are really just some things that
even the best What-to-Expect-About-Pregnancy guidebooks do not tell
you.
If it’s any consolation, my
mother reminded me that she gave birth to me when she was at this
age. My mom had nine pregnancies in all with only six delivered full
term. In her time, mothers were expected to bear children endlessly
and miscarriages were but a part of life. I simply cannot imagine
how she had managed to run a household, hold a full-time career and
be successful at it, and raise a rowdy bunch of six rowdy kids.
Amazing isn’t it, when you think about how many couples these days
cannot even consider having even one child? As younger couples feel
less inclined to have a lot of kids these days, it makes me wonder
if we’re losing out on what our parents had.
I know that some women think
pregnancy is a cup of tea. It may not be for always, and not quite
as easy for me now! Yet, in spite of all the nausea and IV drips,
labor room runs and progesterone pills, pregnancy still promises no
greater joy than to having a baby seven months from today!
(You may e-mail Just That at
aliceorosa@yahoo.com for your feedback!)
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