On Pets and Pregnancy (Pregnancy part 2)
Sometimes I feel distant from my own body – like I’m taking care of a pet. Is it really me that is walking funny, feeling funny, not-skinny-any-more-but-somehow-still-small, and doesn’t have much energy? And my pile of vitamins! I have to take so many I call them my “granny pills”. I have always hated vitamins. This take-it-easy, eat healthy, less crazy daredevil is hardly like Naomi. It’s like another person living in my body. Bingo! Oh yeah, that’s right, that’s what it is!
And now this pet.
See, this pet is quite demanding. It needs food. LOTS of food, in fact, but can’t eat too much all at once unless we want to feel like after Thanksgiving dinner. And if I let it get hungry, it feels sick and threatens to throw up the next thing I feed it (does that not make sense, or what??!). And it likes three types of food, and it knows which it wants at what time. Our new diet has 3 food groups – carbs, protein, vegetables/fruit. It must be like a young housepet – and we must be in the potty training phase – because we have got to pee all the time! And I must give it lots of water. (Probably not helping with the # of trips to the bathroom, but it must have it’s water!) And then the pampering. I almost feel bad wasting hot water on baths, but Ben says if it relaxes the poor pet, it’s ok. Then it needs vitamin E oil and lotion rubbed on it’s tummy to prevent ugly stretch marks from appearing. Whew! It is vain! Not only that, it then wants monthly professional pictures to have a record of how it has grown. And since it is growing, it insists on needing new clothes that are bigger, so we make trips to the store trying to find something that will work. It needs more sleep than me at night and then still has the audacity to act like it wants a nap! The Dr. says I must listen to it and try to figure out what it wants and then give it to it. Darn thing, it’s going to be spoiled! What about me??? It takes a lot of my energy taking care of this pet! And I must give up things that I like – climbing trees, amusement park rides, heavy work, downhill skiing, and all other things wild and crazy that are so much fun – in order to take care of my pet! I must be calm for it and cater to it, so it… can help me take care of baby! 🙂
