Growing Pains

Before becoming pregnant I had a glorified view of pregnancy. I was overjoyed that for 9 months I wouldn't have to deal with all of the hassles of having a period. Plus, if you breastfeed you can stretch that out to a year and a half or so! When I first became pregnant I was, of course, overjoyed about the little bundle of joy growing inside of me (and at that point, baby was only a mass of undifferentiated cells, so baby was a REALLY little bundle). But following close on the heels of that thought was the happy recognition of being period free.

Well, it is true that you don't have a period (unless you are among a small minority of women who still have periods...that just doesn't seem fair). In fact, when I was at the grocery store yesterday I felt a little twinge of joy when I didn't have to stop in the tampon aisle. However, one of the most annoying, awful parts of having a period DOES stick around throughout all of pregnancy. This is the period cramp. Doctors try to sugarcoat this uncomfortable, often painful, phenomenon by renaming it "growing pains." They think that if I can associate this with my child growing inside of my womb that the pain won't be so bad and that I won't care one lick when the pain starts. But every woman who has been pregnant and experienced these pains knows that they are just glorified period cramps.

All that being said, the pain is worth it. And, if nothing else, it may in some very small, microscopic way be preparing me for what is going to happen in 27 weeks.