Getting pregnant is an understatement.
Seriously. If you bumped into someone who is pregnant, the best thing to say after "Congratulations!" is, "How are you doing?" And if you do ask, expect to hear either a short generic reply or an intro to an hour-long's worth of ranting. Don't get impatient if you end up getting the latter because, really, you don't know how big a favor you're doing for her.
I deliberately refrained from writing during the days I was stuck in I-don't-know-what-circle of hell. Because you'll just absorb all the negative energy I unintentionally was spreading.
If you don't believe yet how bad the first trimester is, ask my entire family. For sure, they'll chuckle and shake their heads. And ask even someone from my office. Discomfort is a pregnant woman's evil twin. And raging hormones? Ah--evil hormonified. (No, there's no such word.)
Just an incomplete list of what ails a pregnant woman in her first trime:
1. MAJOR INDIGESTION - Due to having a totally slowed-down digestive system. It's normal.
2. VOMITING - Due to raging hormones and eating too much.
3. EATING TOO LITTLE - Again, due to a slow digestive system. A pregnant woman can only eat 5 to 6 small (like 1/3 of her regular meal) meals a day instead of 3 regular, full meals. If she eats about half a regular meal, that's eating too much and it will lead to vomiting (at least that's only true for me).
4. NAUSEA - I just can't explain it. It's a 24/7 thing for me. Not a morning thing. When I want to move around, I have to be in bed. If I want to be in bed, I have to move around a bit to make the food go down. And what's worse, I can't do anything AT ALL. No TV, no books, no Internet. Because if I do any of those activities, I just get really dizzy and stressed. (Whut? Yeah... I know.)
5. BEING UTTERLY, COMPLETELY USELESS ALL DAY LONG! - For hours I just stare into space waiting to relieve the next hunger pang (which happens every 1 or 2 hours), vomiting urge, or frustrated urge to defecate.
6. EATING TOO MUCH - From rice, to dried mangoes, to Skyflakes, to bananas, to Cheese Burgers, to pancit Malabon, to Milo, to water, to ice, to boiled eggs, to spaghetti, to potatoes, to Twin Popsies to.... There's should be something to chow every hour.
7. FINDING EVERYTHING STINKY - Trust me. The most subtle smells can make a preggy cringe. I could break down the smells of an anti-mosquito oil. I barfed over Safeguard. I get a tummy ache over Adobong Pusit. And I couldn't stand my husband whose smell I really really loved before I got pregnant.
And finally, naturally...
8. BEING MISUNDERSTOOD BY HUSBAND AND FOLKS WHO NEVER GOT PREGNANT - You can't really blame them. Pregnancy really changes your attitude, especially if it's your very very first time. You can only sincerely explain to everyone that it's the hormones talking when you're being a brat. They'll get tired of the reason, but really, it is the only one.
So, husbands/boyfriends/partners... check out my next entry. It will be about surviving life with a preggy in her first trimester.
The good thing about being stuck at home for weeks is I got to relive the artistic side of me. My older sister who paints sits all day at her table and encouraged me to paint/do art too. And well, that was the only productive thing I could do, so I attempted my first coffee painting.
Now, look. I. AM. A. COPYWRITER. Pardon my Picasso please.
Here is a frustrated abstract. I just did this to let my untouched 10-year old colored pencils actually feel paper.
And now, an attempt to make the image look like my husband.
Finally, I had to go back to what I did well in high school.
See, I only produced a few doodles compared to the number of days I was actually just staring into space or expelling my meals. And I thought, how could any woman suffer so much during her pregnancy when during the next 20 or so years of her life, she will have to deal with brats or rebels in her home? You know? As if raising kids isn't already hard enough.
But on March 5, 2011, I saw my baby for the first time. Not anymore like a 1 centimeter bean. But a 5 centimeter real human being. The baby even thumb sucked for a brief moment before punching its left arm twice.
Let me introduce to you, my squirmy little 50-percent-sure baby boy.
No, he didn't change the way I thought about pregnancy. But I just knew all the crap I went through was all worth it! :')
