Why Do This

When Lester and I were engaged, we talked about future things, like how many kids we wanted to have. Both of us agreed that we wanted at least a few. However, since being pregnant I have rethought that haha. So a few weeks ago, I posed a question to some of my good friends who have recently had kids. We do it in forum style, and in reading some of their questions and feedback on other subjects, I knew they were the right people to ask. I felt like I could trust them to answer me without judging haha! Here is what I said:


"I have a question..as you are all well aware, pregnancy is ROUGH. Between the lethargy, nausea and vomiting, migraines and all around achy-ness, my self esteem is SHOT haha! My question is, how in the WORLD do people talk themselves into doing it more then once? Do you just forget how awful it is and block it out? Because at this point this growing baby is going to be an only child haha.."


Of course, when I wrote this, I was feeling pretty down. But as they always seem to do, these amazing women all had excellent things to say that were honest, and encouraged me and reminded me why I'm doing this. I hope they don't mind that I quote some of the things they said here, because I think they should be shared.


Their responses were extremely honest, which made me feel better:


"So far I'm not talking myself into it. IF we have another, I'll let you know how I convinced myself. That's going to take A LOT of convincing. LOL"


"I definitely think there is a certain amount of amnesia that you experience after you have your baby. I knew my first pregnancy was pretty rough, but I think I really did forget until I got pregnant with this one. Then suddenly it was like "Was I really this sick before? Was I really this tired before? How did I DO this before?!"


They were also extremely heartfelt and encouraging:


"You'll probably think all this yuckiness was worth it for this little one, and then when you get pregnant again you'll probably wonder it all again until you have your next little one in your arms. The 9 months might be rough, but I think you'll think it's all worth it once the little one has arrived! :)"


"Once you have that little one in your arms, the feeling is indescribable. It's funny, because almost as soon as they put *my daughter* up on my chest, I seriously didn't feel any pains anymore. No wonder we choose to have more babies!"


Of course, all of the responses were thoughtful, and full of great advice:


"Pregnancy/motherhood is NEVER without its challenges, but I think that's what makes us as moms fight so hard for the well being of our babies, as well as what makes us grateful for the good times. I struggled while being pregnant with my loss of independence (we moved two times and I could hardly do anything to help), but I would always come back to the fact that it was worth it for the end result....in short- being pregnant might not be fun, but you get something good from it that will keep you learning, growing, and depending on the Lord until you're old and gray and don't care about your physique any more! "


"Just don't be afraid to ask for help on anything and don't get down on yourself, your body is working so hard to create that beautiful baby. "


They all ended with words of excitement for Lester and I on this journey, and I could feel their love and support of me and I do this. Someday, I hope to make a book out of this blog, and these are things that I hope to look back on when a need a reminder of the reasons Im 
doing this. 


PS: The font is being funny, sorry about that!