Anyone who has been pregnant can tell you, pregnancy is a 9-month marathon. Your body becomes foreign to you while it grows, stretches, moves, and changes, all on its own. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I got so exhausted that I nearly fell asleep doing yoga. When I was pregnant with my son, I got so sick that I swore I had some type of stomach virus (nope, just morning sickness AKA all day sickness).
And then, after your baby is born and you start to feel like yourself again, many women start to contend with the more permanent changes: stretch marks, soft stomachs, even back pain. But I’m not here to talk about that. This is about the things my pregnancies STOLE from me, and never gave back.
*Cue a tiny violin*
My love of seafood
Seafood consumption naturally declined in both of my pregnancies, because sushi is forbidden, along with a long list of other fish. Honestly, I couldn’t keep track. So for the most part, I stayed away.
BUT, when I was pregnant with my son, before I found out, I ate the most delicious lobster burrito. The next day, I became so sick that I thought I had fallen victim to hardcore food poisoning. The only thing was, it never ended! Days later I took a pregnancy test, and found out I was expecting. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. Throughout my whole pregnancy, even the smell of seafood would make me gag.
After giving birth, the gagging went away, but my previous love of seafood never returned. I eat it every now and then, but it’s just not the same.
Ability to wear mascara
During my third trimester of my first pregnancy, my eyes started to swell up and itch every day. It got to the point that my eyelashes would get lost under the puffiness of my eyelids, making it impossible to wear mascara. I thought it was just a weird pregnancy thing, so I happily gave up wearing mascara for the next few months.
Once my maternity leave ended and I was back at work, I quickly discovered that I was still having an allergic reaction to mascara. I tried all the brands I could get my hands on – high-end and drugstore. Nothing worked. And I am someone who has been wearing mascara since high school to bring some umph to my short, stubby lashes. And all of a sudden, I was attending important work meetings and big events with naked lashes.
I’ve since found one brand that my eyes seem to tolerate, but I still can’t wear it every day.
Consumption of news
Ever since taking some engrossing political sciences courses in college, I have been a big consumer of the news. Especially during elections. However, when I was pregnant with my son, I would get so stressed out watching every news story that I eventually had to stop myself from consuming ANY news.
This meant giving up my daily reads of CNN, the New York Times, and others. It also meant never checking the network or local news broadcasts, and the hardest one of all, giving up NPR.
Even after my pregnancy was over, I never truly got back on the wagon. The political news especially is so frustrating that I’ve found I’m gaining nothing from reading story after story about the same conflicts every day. However, my desire to donate when necessary and be an advocate means I can’t totally ignore it. I just limit my consumption and don’t click on headlines that are more sensation than substance.
My attention span
What was I talking about?