The best and worst things about being pregnant...

[jimper]

Apart from the delivery (worst) and the baby (best) what are the best and worst things about being pregnant for you?

Many of you already touched upon these, especially Highlandbird in her "Best"s:

Best - ALL of it, including the aches/pains, excessive peeing and sleeping, difficulty breathing...and especially feeling AND seeing the kicks and movements, the anticipation of meeting our babes, and being healthier than ever.

Worst - loud snoring keeping my hubby up and cranky (yes, HE's cranky though I feel like a smashed pretzel when sleeping), early fears about the health and well being of the baby (will I miscarry? does he have chromosomal deficiencies?...), being so far from family & friends during this exciting period.

BEST - losing weight with my girls as my appetite gets suppressed and I get gestational diabetes.
Feeling baby move.
Baby shopping
Pushing baby out and feeling brilliant
The first breastfeed

WORST - lack of sleep as can never get comfortable
Cramp which is worse then contractions
Backache

Best - feeling the baby getting stronger and more active and kicking away.
Giving my son a sibling
Just being happy (and a bit awestruck) that my body can do this again.

Worst - I am so sick of crying at nothing and being overly emotional.
Anxieties and worries feel all encompassing (have lost my usual logical sense of perspective)
Tiredness

BEST: Having a BABY! No periods for 9 months.
WORST: Road rage, exhaustion, insomnia, worry.

Best - getting dh to put his ear to my belly to try and listen to his heartbeat and ds kicked him in the head .
Sooo funny, plus scans and cuddling bump in the bath.

Worst - constipation and piles , really, really awful piles.

Hyperemisis and being hospitalized for it and SPD, o hardly left the house in 9 months as I felt so weak and sick

However, feeling the baby move and finding out that he was a boy made it all worth it

Best - Peeing on a stick, and subsequent adrenaline rush when its positive.

Worst - The next nine months. I loathe being pregnant.

[Although, am dying to get pg again, lol!]

Best- reading this thread and having such a rush of excitement about our little baby being with us in a month.

The awe when you hold your baby and realise your body did this- it's amazing.

Worst- the worry! Which admittedly doesn't ever really go away!

11+4 here

Worst: The utter anxiety of it all. IVF pregnancy and so far had several bleeds. The fear EVERY time I go to the loo that there will be red blood. The reading too much into any spotting/cramping.

Superficially I could do without the spots and the constipation!

Best: The fact I am in this position at all makes me utterly greatful. The worry just reconfirming how much we want this little bub and how much I love it already. Seeing it progress from a splodge to something that looks relatively baby shaped, wriggly and with a spine and everything

Best - the kindness of friends and strangers throughout
Worst - Morning sickness I literally lived on raisins for a bit and had to nibble them slowly

Worst - heartburn. I got through a pot of 60 Gaviscon tablets in the last 2 weeks!
Best - HAVING to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes, and getting offered a seat all the time (except on buses!)

Best - feeling the baby wriggling and kicking, people being lovely, DH's excitement

Worst - being an emotional wreck since day 1, the fear and anxiety about something going wrong, gradually losing mobility and agility...

Last time:

Worst- Depression. While pregnant and then good old PND kicking in within a fortnight after.

Best- lazing around for 3 blissful weeks of maternity leave before DD was born, sleeping when I wanted, eating what I wanted and watching loads of telly, guilt free.

This time:

Worst- Constantly getting ill with cold after cold and it lasting a week or more.

Best- The huge sigh of relief I let out when the midwife struggled to keep track of baby's heartbeat as he/she was moving around so much. (had fallen down the stairs and was sure baby was a gone)

Worst: sickness, I actually simultaneously puked and weed, then brushed my teeth and chucked up again - the first few months of my pregnancies were the worst few months of my life.
Best: Having two healthy babies and knowing I will never, ever have to go through it again. I was on a high for months after birth, just so made up that I wasn't pregnant any more. The delivery was a doddle in comparison to pregnancy, I'd give birth again tomorrow, but feeling that sick for that long? Never ever again

Yes to the being MIL's surrogate! That was definitely teeth-gritting time!

Best bits: Meeting my little pumpkin face to face. DH doing all housework when asked.

best - feeling the little baby inside you

worse - the waiting game

Best - loved having a bump and going to pregnancy yoga - lots of lying about on massive pillows.
Worst - the vulval varicose veins which REMAINED after giving birth to DC2.

Best - maternity leave! Sleeping til lunchtime (am 38+4 - I know this will change as soon as baby arrives!).

Worst - SPD ruining my sofa-lounging.

Best: BFP at the start, seeing baby at the scans, crying at other nice babies/young uns out of a sort of hormonal excitement. How utterly delighted our friends & family have been. Receiving many generous gifts & hand me downs saving us SO much cash.

Worst: crying a lot, irritable, ups & downs, insomnia, exhausted, feeling held back physically by being pregnant. General aches & pains making me feel like an old bag. Agonising dental pulpitis affecting 2 teeth with big fillings, but can't find an nhs dentist & can't afford my private one. Being off work for a number of reasons & surviving on sick pay, then recently finding put my DP is now out of a job - financial worries.

Best - Sorry ladies, but I enjoyed labour!! [masochist emoticon] It was certainly an interesting experience!!

Worst - feeling like shit for 40+3 beforehand. Morning sickness from before BFP up til about 20 weeks that started again at about 37 and went away after labour, fainting, sciatica, pre natal depression, tiredness so bad that I physically couldnt get up.

Worst; everything, although its worth it in the end.

Am I the only person who hates feeling the baby move? I just find it painful, especially now I'm 37 weeks. Of course I panic if it doesn't move! (Never happy emoticon).

Best: being huge (i loved my big belly). feeling him move around, feeling like i had a special bond with him already

Worst: trying to get people to stand up on the tube for me when very heavily pg; being unable to sleep on my tummy

Now post birth best: him of course (and sleeping on my tummy)
worst: the realisation that my big pg belly doesn't magically shrink to pre-pg dimensions

Worst: Getting dumped by DD's father four months into my pregnancy.

Best: Everything else. I felt gorgeous, I ate really well and was probably the fittest I've ever been in my life. And then the midwife put the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen into my arms and told me to say hello to my daughter. Best cure ever for a broken heart.

Best: people are so much nicer to you!

Worst: toss up between the ten week minimum period of utter, relentless nausea, and aginising, debilitating SPD.

Best: Embracing my shape, I love my pregnant body, not having to hold my stomach in anymore! Milking it with DH. Maternity clothes, I find them v flattering.

Worst: No wine (!), people commenting on size of bump, stretch mark potential!