In stitches

The most memorable gift I received for Christmas was from the grandmother of a friend of mine here in Newfoundland. Her family is from PEI and was visiting her for Christmas and her grammy had given each family member a homemade pair of knit mittens. I had gotten to know her family quite well by spending Christmas day with them. A few weeks after they had gone home a package came in the mail to my friend from her Grammy which included a pair of mittens for me! Not only were they beautiful I couldn’t believe that someone who is not even my own family had taken the time to make me such a nice gift. She knew that I was a beginner knitter and sent the pattern along with the mittens. Although that was over one year ago I have finally finished my first "grammy joyce" Mitten!!!!! 

Oh the Joys of pregnancy!

 I am thrilled to be starting our family! Being pregnant although accompanied by a whole bunch of terrible symptoms and sickness is so much fun.  I am not afraid of nausea, heart burn, back ache, fatigue or the stretching and ripping that is going on in my belly. Quite frankly, it isn’t really as bad as it sounds and I’ve had most of those symptom’s on a fairly intense level. It really isn’t anything unmanageable or anything to fear. I am, however, as most first time mothers to be are, afraid of labor and delivery. I have no idea what to expect. I suppose the fact that is most comforting is that millions of people, women, have done this for thousands of years and many women have many children. If the pain wasn’t manageable why would they keep doing it ( Especially today, when birth control is so readily available!?) So I let that fact bring some comfort to my fears…

It really confuses and upsets me that so many mothers out there enjoy sharing horrifying birth jokes with first time expectant mothers. So many people make comments to me comparing birth to a basketball coming out of a straw or some other sort of foolishness. Personally I find these comments rude and offensive. It upsets me that some women make a mockery of such a natural process and enjoy instilling fear into others unnecessarily. I am not foolish and I comprehend that delivery is not a walk in the park and I welcome others to share their personal birth experiences with me. More times then not, when a mother is sincerely recalling delivery and labor she most often says that was not horrifying at all and much less painful than she expected it to be.

Because of these mean encounters I have with women who think they are being funny when they offer a “comical” comparison to labor, I sometimes wish I hadn’t shared my news of becoming pregnant with so many people…. although I suppose it would be nearly impossible in the 6^th month to hide my pregnany! This makes me hope that never in my life will ever find pleasure in purposefully scaring another human being. And if ever someone is reading this that remembers personally offering me one of these jokes, don’t be upset at me writing this. I likely won’t remember who said what as these jokes happen quite often! I also wouldn’t ever hold a grudge for something so trivial.

And that is my venting for tonight…