Baby Factory - Prologue
I've decided to start writing about this crazy experience, so here's the first installment...(more to come)
Prologue
The first thing that most women do when they get pregnant is to start reading obsessively. This is the craziest thing that has ever happened in your entire life and you want to know things all of the sudden. Fact is, I don’t usually read for fun. Once upon a time, I was a literature major and later a middle school and high school English teacher. This reading for work pretty much killed any impulse I had leftover from my elementary school bookworm days to ever want to read for fun. However, the first thing that I did when I found out that I was pregnant was to start picking up books.
I have a book that talks about every aspect of pregnancy, a book that talks about my pregnancy month-by-month, week-by-week, even day-by-day. I read magazines. I read the pamphlets at my doctor’s office. They all tell me interesting, sometimes valuable, sometimes contradictory information about my baby, my body, my nutrition, etc. But very few of them seem to truly be talking about what I am going through.
What has really happened is that I have turned into a giant, walking baby factory. Everything that I’ve ever know about my body is false. Everything that I’ve ever thought about the amount of pain and irritation that my body can sustain in a single day (or night) is false. Everything I’ve ever thought about how much sleep I need is false. Yet, anything weird that happens with my body is apparently entirely normal. I am no longer a regular person.
Being pregnant is like suddenly being on a whole different planet, where you don’t know the laws and you don’t speak the language. The inhabitants of this planet have a completely different set of social rules. The food on this planet tastes completely different. There is not a thing that happens on this planet that really makes any sense. After traveling through this world for approximately six months, I feel like I am just starting to get the lay of the land… just a little bit, so I thought I’d write a travel journal.
So, welcome to the baby factory.
Prologue
The first thing that most women do when they get pregnant is to start reading obsessively. This is the craziest thing that has ever happened in your entire life and you want to know things all of the sudden. Fact is, I don’t usually read for fun. Once upon a time, I was a literature major and later a middle school and high school English teacher. This reading for work pretty much killed any impulse I had leftover from my elementary school bookworm days to ever want to read for fun. However, the first thing that I did when I found out that I was pregnant was to start picking up books.
I have a book that talks about every aspect of pregnancy, a book that talks about my pregnancy month-by-month, week-by-week, even day-by-day. I read magazines. I read the pamphlets at my doctor’s office. They all tell me interesting, sometimes valuable, sometimes contradictory information about my baby, my body, my nutrition, etc. But very few of them seem to truly be talking about what I am going through.
What has really happened is that I have turned into a giant, walking baby factory. Everything that I’ve ever know about my body is false. Everything that I’ve ever thought about the amount of pain and irritation that my body can sustain in a single day (or night) is false. Everything I’ve ever thought about how much sleep I need is false. Yet, anything weird that happens with my body is apparently entirely normal. I am no longer a regular person.
Being pregnant is like suddenly being on a whole different planet, where you don’t know the laws and you don’t speak the language. The inhabitants of this planet have a completely different set of social rules. The food on this planet tastes completely different. There is not a thing that happens on this planet that really makes any sense. After traveling through this world for approximately six months, I feel like I am just starting to get the lay of the land… just a little bit, so I thought I’d write a travel journal.
So, welcome to the baby factory.