Day ~149

Thump, bump, knock knock.

All right already! After days of feeling just nuthin' from Miss Belly, this morning she's practicing cartwheels. Wheeeee! This is a lot like the day after our ultrasound, when she seemed to be gleefully celebrating her screen debut with several hours of mambo. It's almost as if she knows that I was listening in on her yesterday, and will therefore ham it up for a little while.

I love it.

The funny thing is, all the mamas I know are telling me to enjoy the peacefulness, because in a month or so when she has the hiccups all day long, I will be pleading for her to calm down.

C'mon, mamas. Let me enjoy this a little bit! This is a good example of all the negativity being flung at mamas (often, by mamas!). I get really tired of hearing, all the time, about how exhausting and financially draining and woefully life-altering this is going to be. Time magazine with headlines like "The Myth of Motherhood," interviews with women who are bemoaning their time at playgroups because they graduated-from-Dartmouth-for-god's-sake. Like I need the warnings. Me - Ms. Freakout. I was freaked out to go away to college, freaked out to get married, freaked out to move to a new state ... not because I'm a stick in the mud, timid type - no way. But because I am convinced that peril lurks around every corner, and I want to spend time getting properly trained for ninja battle beforehand. And there are some things in life that require taking a risk, and not having a plan. Getting pregnant was the biggest leap of faith I have ever taken - my dark side is already fully convinced that I am going to be exhausted and overwhelmed and miserable and isolated. What I really need here is excited support! Reasons to be thrilled! Lists of things to look forward to! Descriptions of how it changed women for the better, and how they'd never go back, and how they wish they'd done it sooner! I know it's messy, and tiring, and hard. (I don't know first hand, but I have heard it, taken note, and committed it to memory, folks.)

I like to think that part of being a supportive community is sharing celebration and joy. Which is why I appreciate blogger mamas so much - I can tell they're having a lot of fun, even amidst the poop and sleeplessness.