How do women do this again and again?

[Amazinganatomy]

Currently 40 weeks +2.
I'll start by saying how happy and grateful I feel to be pregnant, and how excited I am for baby to arrive.

But how/why the living f**k do women do this more than once?
I understand every pregnancy is different, and it's only 9 months of your life versus the whole of your babies once they're born.
But still, how?
Between the sickness, bloating, sciatica, poor mental health (much better now thankfully) and my current constant companion, pelvic girdle pain, I really cannot imagine putting myself through all of this again some day.

I really really feel for people who live with pain everyday, it's bloody miserable 😔

I was fine before I became pregnant, now my body just feels broken.

Because you get a little baby at the end and you convince yourself it wasn't as bad as you think it was.

You really forget about it and start getting broody every time you pass the maternity unit (or is that just me 🤣).

It sounds like you've had a really tough time. Sorry to hear that. It's perfectly normal to get fed up around this time. Try and put your feet up and ask people to help look after you until the baby's born.

God knows but it's so worth it

The brain is really clever at putting on rose tinted glasses

Selective amnesia.
The reward is worth the pain

Some lucky people have really easy pregnancies and love being pregnant but for those who don't it must be really tough. Hope you have a trouble free labour .

I’m in exactly the same boat as you - dates, pain, sickness etc! This is my second baby. I had NONE of this last time. Well I had HG but was prepared for that to happen again.
this HG was worse, longer, had about 4 weeks respite from it before the PGP started.

i won’t be doing it again!
solidarity sister!

39+1 and with you on this.

To be fair a lot of women stop at one, at least partly because they hate being pregnant.

Oh sweetheart what a tough pregnancy, others are right about the amnesia, but also everyone's pregnancies are different. I adored being pregnant, would happily have kept going after having three (the inevitable bankruptcy and the fact I ended up with three sections stopped me!). In a karma inducing manner birth and breast feeding we're a complete nightmare for me !

I genuinely think we just forget it unless of course its a traumatic pregnancy. My sister was in hospital constantly for severe sickness but she did it again and the same happened.

As time passes you may start to think you would like a sibling for your child or you will see someone pregnant and quietly think you miss the feeling of your baby moving about in your tummy.

I wish you all the best and congratulations! Won't be long now probably doesn't feel like it I had to be induced as went the maximum amount of time to be pregnant she just didn't want to come out and was too comfortable 🙃

I'm 40+1 and totally with you. We struggled to get here (it's taken 4.5 years and 4 devastating losses) so I am extremely grateful to finally be at this stage but pregnancy is really tough and I'm not ashamed to say I haven't really enjoyed the last 9 months. I am just focusing on the end goal and hoping it is all going to be worth it. I would ideally like more children but the thought of doing this all over again really isn't very appealing right now! Best of luck with the birth

I dunno - I only did it once and am forever grateful for that. I think some women are conditioned to believe their life is lacking if they don't sacrifice their bodies to creating several offspring. Lots of people would be happier if they had fewer children but 🤷🏼‍♀️

I feel like no one really warns you about all of this either.
Everything is so focused on the labour, not really what you go through during pregnancy.
I'm actually looking forward to the pain of labour as at least that pain has a start and finish, my baby will be here and then (please please) my pgp will be over.
Or I can at least take something stronger than paracetamol!

I keep thinking about these women like Sue Radford, who have been pregnant many times and I just don't understand how they do it, they must have nice pregnancies because surely no one would sign up for this torture again and again 😳

You sort of forget, sort of don’t care? The pregnancy is short in comparison to the child you have your whole life.

My first baby the early bits weren’t that bad, but the PGP the last few months was horrendous, I was exhausted and in pain. It flared up my asthma like mad too (realised later I’d had covid right at the start, March 2020). But within 2 weeks of him coming out I felt absolutely fine, it was all in the past. Currently 24 weeks with no.2 and so far feel fine physically, but felt much worse the first few months this time. Who knows what will come the last few months, but it will still be temporary. The thing with pregnancy is you know it’s not forever and it’s a means to an end - the person who’s coming.

Agreed…. And the stress of am I allowed to eat this what can I eat, is the baby growing enough should I have more calcium and the what ifs…. Then all the information thrown at you during the scans stresses you out but you can’t get stressed not good for the baby!!!!! Argh

my baby is 9 weeks and between pregnancy and a newborn I am one and done!!!! Thank goodness the kid is cute

@CloseYourEyesAndSee or we just like and enjoy our children and want more of them?

Some pregnancies are much easier than others, but also you do forget. With DS2 my SPD was so bad I could barely walk by the end and I absolutely hated it and I remember wondering why I'd put myself through it. Now though - I'm not having any more because I don't want any more children but I do feel sad that I'll never be pregnant again.

You do kind of diminish it in your memory - over time I got to a point where I remembered the symptoms but not how all consuming they were. And then remembered it all properly when I was pregnant again and thought “oh god how did I forget this from last time!?”

But second time round you also have the lovely tiny baby memories to think back on and, in my case at least, the girdle pain and nausea stopped instantly post labour so I could focus on that too.

My first it was all worth it and I did it quickly again. Whilst my second was undoubtly worth it all, and I wouldn’t change my family for the world. I won’t be doing it again, I’d love a 3rd but physically I can’t bare it again.

I had really bad PGP with my second, coupled with not being able to rest as much as I did with my first, I’m not risking a 3rd 🤣.

In pregnancy 1 I startedo

A lot of people do limit how many children they have due to bad pregnancies to be fair.

Most people (those who don't have traumatic pregnancies) weigh up the love they feel ve the discomfort and decide they can do this again. A baby is more of a shock to the system usually - the lack of sleep, worry, stress, inability to put yourself first, crying. A lot of new parents find the adjustment really challenging and even then some choose to do it again.

Thank you for all the kind words and solidarity.

My partner is normally really understanding but after being woken up by me crying out in pain again tonight, I got a "there, there don't cry you'll give yourself a migraine" and he rolled over back to sleep.
I can't really blame him after months of this and to honest he's not wrong about the migraine, I probably would have gotten one if I'd stayed upset too long.

I came to the conclusion that I am bovine in nature. I had 2 awful pregnancies, all day morning sickness both times, lost weight with the first one etc, etc BUT I loved being pregnant, and I loved breastfeeding afterwards! I really can't explain it in words . I would have had more kids but as DH was happy with 2 kids we stopped, I think if I had married A.N Other who was happy to carry on, I would have done. The joy of having them in my arms was worth all of the bad stuff.