It's the most wonderful time...of our lives?

When you're pregnant, everyone has something to say to you. Sometimes it's well-meaning advice, sometimes it's the kind of stuff you fake a smile for ("You're in for trouble!" Ha ha. Thanks, jerk.), and sometimes the stranger next to you at the laundromat is suddenly making up a song about you having a baby and singing it out loud. I've had all three happen to me.

When women notice me and talk to me, I almost always end up hearing stories about their births, pregnancies, children, breastfeeding experiences, etc. In particular, when people hear that I've had two natural home births, they almost always feel compelled to offer me a lengthy explanation justifying their hospital births, medicated or not. It doesn't matter to me one way or another, since healthy babies are born in all kinds of ways every day. I'm not actually trying to convert anyone to natural home birth.

That's actually beside the point. I don't mind it when people talk to me about their kids or pregnancies- I think it's interesting. There are so many different experiences. But one thing I've heard a LOT of, particularly from older women, is that pregnancy was the "best time of their lives."

Really?

Does that really happen? Are there people out there who truly enjoy pregnancy and everything that comes with it?

I don't know what to say to these women, because that's completely not my experience. I dislike being pregnant. (I don't know if any of you could tell.) I don't like that my body isn't my own. I've maintained a certain weight range most of my life, and I hate the weight gain that comes with pregnancy. I've never seen some of those numbers all together on the scale before! I don't like that I can't move like I used to. My hips hurt and my back hurts and I have to squat to get anything on the floor or if there are multiple things, just crawl around on my hands and knees. There are random pains in areas I can't describe here. And at the end of it all is the promise of labor and childbirth, complete with possible tearing, stitches, and any number of unforeseen complications.

And did I mention the moodiness? I feel much healthier in this pregnancy than with Liam, but my moods (mostly my bad moods) have been off the charts. Sometimes I forget about all the problems, and while I was trying to decide if we would regret limiting the size of our family, I asked my husband wistfully one evening, "Should this be our last baby?" His response, without pausing to think (clearly), was, "I know this should be the last pregnancy." Yeah. It's been like that. You can ask anyone, even my family, and they'll say I've been a lot of things, but I'm not an angry person. Well, during the early part of this pregnancy, I was an ANGRY PERSON. I hated it. Now I've got a handle on it, I'm just becoming more withdrawn and curmudgeonly.

Also, who decided that wearing a baby around your waist for ten months was a great idea?? It's so awkward and throws everything off! Braxton and Hicks are JERKS. Your blood sugar goes everywhere. You're kicked and pushed against from the inside. And then that eight pound, watermelon-sized baby has to fit through WHERE? You know who's got it good? Marsupials. After a few weeks of pregnancy, they give birth to an itty bitty baby who just finishes developing in a pouch that it can eventually leave. Even animals who lay eggs can at least leave them for a little while (or sleep normally next to them) before coming back to sit on them.

So is it possible that there are really that many women for whom bearing children was the "best time of their lives?" Do other people just take these things in stride WAY better than I do? (Which is entirely likely.) Since I mostly hear it from older women, is it possible they've forgotten all the painful and annoying parts of pregnancy, or has more time simply allowed them to see the relatively short period of pregnancy from a different perspective?

I feel compelled to add that while I dislike a lot of things about pregnancy, I don't hate it. There are a lot of things I'm thankful for. I'm thankful that my husband and I can conceive at all. What a precious gift! I know many couples who are struggling with the heartache of infertility. I'm thankful that I'm healthy and my pregnancies have (so far) been healthy and I've had two healthy babies. I'm thankful that I live in part of the world with access to proper nutrition and education and many comforts that pregnant mothers in other places lack. I'm thankful I have the support of a wonderful husband and family, many of whom live very close. I'm thankful that I know a community of other mothers to talk to. There are things I could complain about (for days. Have I mentioned my moodiness?), but it's never lonely. Now that I can feel my baby moving, I get to start developing a relationship with them. I can feel when and why and where they kick and punch. I can tell when they twist around and what they like and dislike. Later on with my other kids, I was even able to tell when they were sucking their thumb or when they got the hiccups. And even if it throws off my balance, at least they're safe inside me. I don't have to worry about the temperature or germs or SIDS or whether they're eating enough or why they're crying.

All that is to say that there are some beautiful things about pregnancy for me, but I wouldn't describe it as the best time of my life. I hit a sweet spot with my kids around 6-12 months. That's when things start getting really fun. I'm not sure what to say when people tell me they just loved being pregnant. I guess I want to ask them why, but that seems rude somehow. I even had one woman describe the painful hernias she had (only when she was pregnant, though) and then go on to say "but it was just the best time of my life!" I wonder what part she was remembering fondly?

Are there any other mothers who feel that pregnancy was the best time of your life? Why? If not pregnancy, was there another part of  having and raising children that you enjoyed more?