Surprised By How Much Pregnancy Has Affected Me

I grew up around a "be tough, don't let anything slow you down" kind of mentality, which has, in a lot of ways served me well. Reflective of this mindset, I assumed that were I to get pregnant, it wouldn't affect me at all and I'd just go about my daily life like nothing was happening.

"Didn't you read anything about pregnancy?" my husband asked me yesterday, when I was telling him how surprised I was that this wasn't the case.

"Not until I got pregnant," I replied. "And besides, even if I had, I would have assumed it didn't apply to me."

But of course it has. Exhaustion. Nausea. Weirdness with food. And I've had to alter my lifestyle a lot. My free time generally involves outdoor activities. Normally this time of year, I'd be snowboarding like crazy...it's weird not to be able to do that. Pregnancy has slowed me down, no question. And it's not something I'm entirely comfortable with.

"Do me a favor," my husband said with a laugh. "Get some baby books BEFORE we actually have the baby. So you aren't taken totally off-guard again by what's coming. A new baby/ies is going to be hard. Wonderful, but hard.

"Oh, and I'm planning on reading the books, too," he said. Which makes me love him more than ever.