Navigating Your Pregnancy

It can seem impossible to enjoy your pregnancy when you’re feeling so lousy, especially if you started out with high expectations. When Amy Moore from Chicago, IL, was pregnant with her first child, she was let down by the fact that some parts of pregnancy weren’t so enjoyable. “I guess I thought I’d be blown away by the miracle of life and be constantly overjoyed,” she admits. “Sure, I was excited, but sometimes being pregnant—especially when I was sore, tired or feeling sick—wasn’t much fun at all.”

Having conflicting feelings is normal, says Ceridwen Morris, co-author with Rebecca Odes of From The Hips: A Comprehensive, Open-Minded, Uncensored, Totally Honest Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and Becoming A Mother. “It’s really important to realize now that complicated emotions are a part of the package,” she says. “It's OK to curse your pregnancy. I encourage people to just go with the flow, even when it's a bit on the whitewater rafting side—you've just embarked on a major life change; cut yourself some slack. Things will change, feelings will change.”

Surprise, You’re Pregnant!

Emotions run especially high with an unplanned pregnancy, but if you can work through these feelings, you can begin to enjoy even the most unexpected surprise. At first you might be ambivalent or negative about being pregnant. You may wish it didn’t happen or even have fantasies about miscarrying. Feelings like these are normal, but need to be dealt with so that you can move forward to a healthier way of thinking. It’s difficult to get excited about a pregnancy when people say negative things, so be sure to surround yourself with positive people who will be happy for you and your baby-to-be.

Shelly Earnst of Cincinnati, OH, faced a surprise pregnancy when she was 20 and unmarried. “I was so worried that everybody around me would be really negative, assuming I couldn’t possibly take care of a baby, or telling me I shouldn’t go through with it,” she recalls.