Opinion

Blogs

Something in the water ...

PREGNANCY scares the hell out of me.

It might sound naive and some people might think I'm too young to even be thinking about it yet, but the topic seems to keep popping up in daily conversations.

A few weeks ago one of my colleagues and his wife had a little boy called Bede, a baby brother for their first son Caleb.

Earlier this week one of our photographers and his partner had a beautiful little girl called Ellie and Member for Ballarat Catherine King also had her first son Ryan David Gladstone Karlovic.

I think there must be something in the water.

It could come off sounding somewhat selfish, but I'm terrified of the pain and all of the negatives aspects of getting pregnant.

There's the obvious ones that every woman wants to avoid - weight gain, stretch marks, bloating, mood swings.

Actually I could probably handle the mood swings.

My mother would agree that I'm rather melodramatic, so I'm already used to those.

I think the one thing that could possibly tempt me to reproduce would be the cravings.

They seem like the perfect excuse to eat whatever you choose to indulge in and just say:

"Oh it's ok, I can eat what I want! I am eating for two after all!''.

I remember when I was younger - much younger - I was one of those creepy, clown-faced, orange-legged pre-pubescent girls who flood the streets of Ballarat each year for the Royal South Street calisthenics competitions.

One thing that should be noted is that while I am now six feet tall, I have always been somewhat of a stretched bean, I have the grace of a baby giraffe and couldn't swing a black and white striped club to save myself.

My calisthenics teacher ruled our class with - literally - a metal rod.

She horrified me.

I would stand hidden away in the back row of all our routines, with my head a foot above the rest of the girls as she demonstrated time and time again the best way to flex, and smile, and point our toes, all the time maintaining

"happy feet''.

However, a few years in to my calisthenics foray - which I maintain I only did because all my friends did and my mum got some masochistic pleasure sewing millions of sequins onto lycra leotards - my teacher fell pregnant.

She already had a little girl who was top of the class in the tiny-tots calisthenics team and I'm sure she was hoping for another girl so that they could do duos together and share hand-me-down costumes.

It fascinated me that as she grew larger and larger, my teacher would do everything she used to do - showing us where to move, how to hold our head, where to put our arms - all the time with a strawberry Big M in her right hand.

I'll admit, I probably was jealous.

I love my food and staring at that strawberry flavoured carton of goodness class after class left me salivating at the back of the room.

Now, I see that she was indulging in one of the best things about pregnancy - the cravings!

It doesn't make me want to have my own little babies just yet though.

I'm only 21 and somewhere at the back of my mind I'm hoping science can develop some sort of amniotic fluid-filled sack that I can carry around with me and love it and water it and grow a little baby in there.

I promise I'll love it just as much as if I had to actually grow it myself, but it sure would make things a lot easier.

I think it's the birth in particular that puts me off.

All the pain and the blood and the hours and hours that labour can stretch out to.

How come you always hear the horror stories of birth?

No one ever says:

"Oh yeah, I felt a little cramp in my stomach so I went to the hospital and 'pop' one hour later here's my baby.''

No thanks.

I'll keep waiting for science to create my magic baby-growing bag.

Plus, it will help me and my future-hubby find babysitters early, because they can practice with the bag and then when the real thing comes along I'll know if they're trustworthy enough.

At least I still have at least six or seven more years before I even begin thinking seriously about starting a family.

Anyway... even if there is something in the water, I only drink the bottled stuff.

Page:

single page

Posted By: Meg Rayner on 26/06/2008 3:12:53 PM | Comments (10)

Comments

Date: Newest first | Oldest first

What is the pregnancy boom in the bottled water????

Posted by joanne26 on 26/06/2008 4:27:06 PM

"How come you always hear the horror stories of birth?" Because it's worth it! New mothers are always overwhelmed as to how much horrid pain it actually is! Plus when i fell pregnant with my first, my mum kept telling me about the pain to scare me... kinda pointless as i was already pregnant! I am only 20 and have 2 young duaghters. i couldn't imagine being anything else. The thing about parenting is you have to become self sacrificing, my problem is most people my age are self-serving and superficial, ignorant of such responsibilities, but that's normal... No one understands fully what it's like to look down at your newborn child for the first time and they look back at you. It is honestly beautiful! Most young girls say "how can you do that? what about the stretch marks?" I say "how can you not?". Body image takes a back seat with mothers because they live for someone else!

Posted by SJ on 27/06/2008 10:55:47 AM

meg you might feel differently if you were told that it may not be that easy to have a baby. many people have to endure countless IVF,and years of heart ache watching everyone around them getting pregnant, so the pregnancy & birth is the easy part. i thank god every day for all my stretchmarks & baby weight.

Posted by bubonboard on 28/06/2008 11:06:12 AM

Meg, your article on 'Something in the water' put the biggest smile on my face. As a mother of three children, I can certainly understand why the 'horror' stories have put you into delayed mode. But that is the reality of pregnacy and birth. Although I don't mind your version of how it should be...Thanks for putting me in a good mood first thing in the morning.

Posted by susie on 28/06/2008 11:26:59 AM

What trash, are you really paid to write this trivial rubbish? Absolute garbage.

Posted by Roger Kelly on 30/06/2008 5:00:30 PM

Meg, you just keep these posts coming, and take no notice of all the "naysayers" who love to whine about anything and everything! I've just read both your blogs and I think they're great..esp this second one about pregnancy..reminds me of when I had my kids, when my wise old mum told me that as soon as the baby "popped" out, I would forget the pain...and she was right! The sheer joy of looking at your newborn's beautiful face, and all the memories of pain and suffering just fly out the window...truly!

Posted by anna on 1/07/2008 2:18:29 PM

From all the women I spoke to and am friends with, the biggest fear about having a baby is that there vaginas will become to loose and don't want the risk of stretch marks, and would rather hold off and have a cesearian, and be able to afford cosmetic surgery afterwards to get their bodies back to their original state.

Posted by wonder on 2/07/2008 10:33:22 AM

I have two beautiful babies, my first pregnancy was a breeze and a beautiful experience. My second pregnancy resulted in being "high risk" and I had my baby taken into intensive care at The Royal Children's Hospital for the first five weeks of her life which were filled with surgeries, stress and confusion. I love my kids so much and I must say it definitely hasn't put me off having a third baby. If and when you are ready that fear will change into different emotions - but there is definitely always a certain amount of hesitation with any pregnancy.

Narn

Posted by Narn on 3/07/2008 11:58:49 AM

I've got three great kids. As a dad my advice is simple: "stay with the mum at her head end"

Posted by chrisa on 3/07/2008 5:01:03 PM

I totally agree with the melodramatic mood swings and eating anything part of this blog. Yet another great read Meggesus, you've done me proud!!

Posted by flanneke on 10/07/2008 5:22:16 PM