I have decided that I am officially in the “uncomfortable” stage of pregnancy. I know that there are plenty of women out there who get much more uncomfortable than me, and I am actually pretty lucky not to suffer from some of the ailments other women have, but nonetheless I am uncomfortable. I was pondering my current situation today and was amused about how perspective is such a funny thing.
When I was pregnant with Madeline I was working full-time at a job where I sat at a desk all day long. I had a few friends who were stay at home moms and one of them happened to be pregnant with her second child at the same time as me. Every now and then I would get an email from her and she would talk about how exhausted she was from pregnancy and she would tell me that she had to get going because she needed to nap while her little girl was napping.
I have to admit that I would get really jealous when I read that. I thought, “must be nice to be a stay at home mom. She just plays all day long, and then gets to take naps.” Ha! Now, being pregnant with my second I find myself recalling those days sitting at my desk thinking about how easy I had it. I didn’t have to chase around a 2 year old, or lift a toddler and carry her around all day long. I just got to sit all day long at my desk. Back then, though, I was convinced that if only I had the ability to nap every afternoon that my life would definitely be better. Well, let’s just say even now with the freedom to nap every day I am not actually doing it. There is too much stuff to get done during naptime, not to mention all of the drama surrounding naptime these days!
Back when Madeline was first born I thought having a newborn was so difficult!! I was sleep-deprived, and I had a little human being to take care of full-time. Now, I look back on those days and think to myself how easy I had it! Yeah, I had to feed her every 3 hours, but she basically slept all the time. I would wake up in the morning, breastfeed her, and then go back to sleep for another few hours until she woke up again. I could have literally stayed in bed all day long if I wanted to!
Plus, she was so portable in the beginning. We could have taken her to movie theaters, out for dinners, anywhere we went because I always had her food with me (I didn’t need to worry about packing a snack, or a drink), she slept all the time, and even if she was awake she could just sit in her car seat. She also couldn’t talk back, or embarrass us in public!
Once this baby is born I won’t be able to take advantage of the 24 hour a day sleeping in the same way. No matter if he decides to sleep-in or not I will have to get up whenever Madeline gets up. And even if he stays up all night long, I won’t be able to catch up on my sleep while he sleeps during the day, because Madeline will need to be taken care of.
These are just the thoughts in my head right now. I think that is just how it goes with kids. Whatever stage you are in currently feels like it must be the most difficult, but then all you need to do is give them a few months to come up with new ways to challenge you and all of a sudden you gain some perspective and realize that you didn’t have it too bad!
So, maybe my new mantra will be, “Just wait. It will get worse!” When other mothers share their frustration with me over their current situation with their children, I can share my new phrase with them. Maybe I can even cross-stitch it onto a pillow and display it prominently on my couch as a little reminder to help me keep things in perspective! And when I take to my blog to lament over my current frustrations you all can leave my comments reminding me that things will probably get worse 
