Got Glow?

Throughout my life, whenever I thought of pregnancy, I would think of this “glow” that everyone seems to love to refer to when discussing the many joys of pregnancy. So naturally, when I myself became pregnant, I waited with baited breath for this beautiful, ethereal glow that would bestow itself upon me, lighting up rooms with its presence and signaling to others that I came bearing child.

Hmmmm….Six and a half months and so far…no glow  Well, unless of course that glow has been a round of acne, the likes of which I haven’t witnessed since High School. Or the feeling of being unbearably warm in perfectly temperature controlled rooms causing my face to be shades of red darker than others in the same room. Perhaps this glow encompasses the fact that I have begun snoring like a trucker (well, according to my husband anyway) and have had to endure my share of wardrobe malfunctions and necessary adjustments to self image and every day movement. I am almost certain that this “glow” is not referring to the fact that my hair has dried out while my skin has become oily and I am increasingly not able to see over my belly (let alone actually bend over it) in order to efficiently handle personal grooming tasks that I once took for granted. (i.e. shaving my legs and painting my toenails). Some of these changes I did expect on some level but it took the experience of becoming completely out of breath and utterly exhausted one day while trying to complete the daunting task of swatting a loaded nail polish brush at my overgrown toenails for nearly a half hour only to end up with a pedicure that would make even the most seasoned nail salon technician gasp in horror to make me wonder- WHY DOES NO ONE EVER MENTION THIS STUFF? Followed quickly by my second question- AND JUST WHERE, EXACTLY, IS MY GLOW? Of course these are rhetorical questions given the fact that there is most likely no glow and that women that speak of such a glow either:

A) Have not been pregnant or

B) Have some level of delusion that causes them to look in the mirror and mistake acne, blotched skin and bad nail painting jobs for a beautiful glow.

Now granted, there are more than one or two beautiful things that DO come along with pregnancy. For example, feeling your baby kick for the first time, or seeing them move on an ultrasound screen, or just the sheer joy of being able to bond with your child for a full 9-10 months before they come into the world, these are just some of the beautiful things that women are blessed with during pregnancy. And as to why generations upon generations of women have decided to favor THOSE details rather than passing along the the shocking, embarrassing, sometimes downright foul stories that are also a part of being pregnant, well, that’s easy. Because if all those little inconvenient truths were disclosed right from the beginning, that most likely would have been the end of humanity, right then and there, nobody would have ever gotten pregnant again.

So, having resigned myself to the fact that this glow is not forthcoming but that my husband still thinks I’m beautiful and learning to favor the nice things about pregnancy rather than the not quite so nice. I simply keep on keeping on. Comforting myself with the fact that ages of strong, powerful women have gone before me and that our ability to withstand the awkwardness and uncomfortableness of it all for 9-10 months is what has sustained humanity. All the while, being mindful to hide my feet in the safety of closed-toed shoes.

Life, Love and Laughter,

-New Mommy in Town