4.) Describe your first pregnancy…piece of cake or terrible experience?
One of my newly pregnant friends recently mentioned how awful her first trimester sickness has been. I was all, “ugh! You poor thing! That’s the worst!” quickly followed by, “I mean I never actually had morning sickness, but it just sounds awful!”
And then I talked about how even though I was never actually sick I WAS really tired. Really really tired. Fatigue sounds more serious, I was seriously fatigued.
Any woman who has ever experienced morning sickness typically wants to slap me when I talk about how some mornings I just wanted to cry because I felt too tired to work.
Luckily for me my job as a school teacher ended when summer started and I was able to stay home and rest up.
And this is where I’m actually miffed at the life I led back then. I had no other kids so I just incubated my baby and dreamed of our future life together.
I distinctly remember talking to Pat about how I hit the wall everyday during Oprah. Oprah was my girl and I just could NOT make it through an episode without falling asleep.
And if I was sitting down to watch Oprah you can bet I didn’t miss Dr. Phil the hour before that. And if I’m being perfectly honest…I definitely watched Days of Our Lives and Passions before that.
Did I actually watch four consecutive hours of TV everyday? In the middle of the afternoon? I know I was on the computer a bit trying to figure out how to start a home business. Did we have dial up? Certainly I spent some time reading. I have a memory of a scrapbook. I think I quilted a blanket. I definitely did not clean the house.
What’s more is that if you had asked me back then, I FELT busy. I would get annoyed by people who asked what I did all day now that school was over, “PLENTY…I do plenty!”
And by “plenty” I meant, “nothing…literally nothing.”
Sadly it wasn’t until I had the baby, built the daycare and added new additions to the family that I realized how good I had it back then! Granted, we were depleting our savings every month I spent on the couch watching Oprah…but still, my goal in life is to one day become the lady of leisure I was meant to be.
Tiffany says
When I was pregnant with Olivia, I used to come home every day from school and fall asleep…during Oprah!!! :) I was just reminiscing about that yesterday when I was thinking I would pay someone $100 to let me take a nap after school.
Mama Kat says
Oprah should release some kind of talking lullaby cd…we’d fall asleep in NO time every night!
MJ says
My friends and I joke now that we could have saved the world with all the free time we used to have, before kids. We just didn’t appreciate it at the time because we felt SO busy then.
Mama Kat says
I know, that’s exactly it. I really did feel busy! But for the life of me I can’t figure out what I thought I was so busy doing. Didn’t know how good I had it!
Teresa says
I don’t even remember the part before the labor of my first pregnancy. Seriously. Why is that?
Mama Kat says
Because we were in heaven!
Natalie says
Before I had kids, my sisters used to ask me what I did with all my free time. I didn’t think I had much free time then! How wrong I was ;)
Mama Kat says
I wish instead of getting offended I would have responded with, “Nothing! And it’s aweeesome!!!” because Lord knows it didn’t last long!
Andrea says
That sounds about right. Add whole cans of Chicken Corn Chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches EVERY DAY, and that was my life back then, too.
Mama Kat says
My husband would pick up food and I would be all, “go ahead and get me this entree and then maybe a little extra…” Get in my bellllly!!
Julia says
I keep saying that my 4 weeks of maternity leave were the best of my life. I napped in the middle of the day, watched daytime TV, took a leisurely stoll, it was wonderful.
Mama Kat says
That was the life!!
Miriam Gomberg says
Kat, I never had morning sickness either. I don’t remember being tired all the time but it was almost 23 years ago (geez! I’m getting old). What I had was a serious case of the munchies. I ate and ate and ate some more while pregnant with Avery. It took me three years to finally take off the extra baby weight too.
Mama Kat says
I only remember being tired with #1…after that I really didn’t have time for fatigue. ;) Eating was the best part of being pregnant…feeling the baby move was a close second.
Naila Moon says
I can relate to Miriam’s munchies…except for me it was Taco Bell, KFC, and baked potatoes with sour cream….OMG, yummy!
Anyway, no sickness for first part but I did come down with a weird strain of strep. I was not sick per se, I just look like someone had beat my legs with a baseball bat. It was totally weird.
Mama Kat says
Beat your legs with a baseball bat!?! I think I would have preferred the standard morning sickness!
Megan says
Oh to be a lady of leisure! I’m a teacher too and was SO hoping to line up my first pregnancy with summer vacation so I could spend all year with my students AND still have my time with my new baby… She came at her own time and my students survived their time without me.
Mama Kat says
It’s such a difficult thing to plan perfectly because we really can’t predict when we’ll actually get pregnant. Sounds like it worked out for you though!
Gigi says
It’s funny how different all of our pregnancies were – mine was a breeze up until the last month or so and then it was just uncomfortable while a friend of mine experienced horrendous all day sickness throughout the whole nine months. But what we can all agree on is that we used to have a whole lot of free time that we didn’t realize was free time…until we had children.
Mama Kat says
I have a friend who lost weight during her first trimester because she was throwing up so much. I’m really glad I never had to experience that! Sounds awful!
Angelina Costenaro says
My mom says she had no morning sickness either. If I ever get pregnant, I’m hoping to have the same experience!
Mama Kat says
Well they do say our pregnancies are supposed to be similar to our mothers! Keep the faith!
Lisa @ The Meaning of Me says
Can’t say I had much morning sickness, either. But I do remember a period of about 3-4 months during which Kidzilla would not permit me to consume anything but Kraft Easy Mac. Or steak.
Mama Kat says
Kidzilla had quite the palate!
Abby says
Before I had kids, I used to wonder what stay-at-home-moms did all day. After I had kids, I wondered what I used to do all day!
My pregnancies were pretty easy except for the tiredness too. I just wanted to sleep ALL the time. “Wake me after the baby’s born”.
Mama Kat says
Yes I think that phrase is pretty much what I lived by!
@PamelaMKramer - A Renaissance Woman says
I don’t what happened Kat. I ran into errors linking up and now it has me twice? Sorry about that.
Love your post! Yes, Oprah was everyone’s girl right? Dr. Phil was great too. lol – Sorry that she is gone now. Well off to her OWN network. Who knew?
Mama Kat says
Sadly we don’t get OWN so I’ve been missing Oprah for some time now. Dr. Phil was great, but he seems to have kind of gone in the direction of the less classy talk show hosts. Not that I really watch anymore.
And no worries about the linky. I can remove it easily when I’m not being lazy about it. ;)
territerri says
I was running a home daycare when I was pregnant with kids number two and three. I lived for naptime. All the kids would fall asleep and I would fall onto the couch for one blissful hour a day.
Mama Kat says
Nap time is the peaceful time of the day for sure! It’s like time just stops for a couple of hours. Love it!
Tonya says
You were one of the lucky ones too! Nice.
And oh, my the free time we had before kids?! I wish there was a way to bottle it up.
Mama Kat says
I know, why can’t things just be distributed evenly in our lifetime? ;)
kelley says
If only we could all be the ladies of leisure we were meant to be. I love your sweet picture with your sweet baby. Thanks for stopping by today.
Mama Kat says
For all we do for our families, we really do deserve a life of leisure and luxury. Someone get on that already!
Laura says
Omg… I absolutely watched all FOUR of those shows in a row, despite the horrible acting in Passions! Life was good…
Mama Kat says
Hahaha! The acting was awful! I do believe Tabitha and Timmy had the worst possible storyline, but I will forever thank them for coining the term “Martimmys”. I’ll never look at a martini the same again. RIP Timmy.
Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect says
Oh my goodness, isn’t this the truth?! I am pregnant with my second right now (six years after having my first), and I DON’T KNOW HOW I MADE IT. This time around, thankfully, I work from home so naps are possible. Thank the Lord. :)
Mama Kat says
There is nothing better than working from home. As difficult as life gets I can always wear pajamas. How bad can it be!?! ;)