This post is not in any way meant to downplay how anyone else might have become a mother. I fully believe that no matter how your children came to you, you are their mother and whether its adoption, fostering, biological, etc., they are all loved the same. The idea for this post came from many nights of talking to my husband and realizing just how difficult it was to explain pregnancy to him. So, to all of the mamas, no matter how you became a mama, you and your story are important too!!!
So, pregnancy. Almost a year of your life spent growing a human. Everything changes. Your body, your hormones, your emotions. I mean even your skin and hair change. You give everything, but you also get some amazing blessings throughout the process. For instance, those baby movements. I will never forget the first flutters and movements I felt. I could feel them so strong even before Brian could feel them from the outside. Wesley I felt around 18 weeks, and Lincoln I felt the first flutters around 14 weeks. It truly is incredible to feel your child move. My unborn baby reacts to my touch, my voice, and outside noises, and I feel every reaction. I feel him startle when I press my hand to my belly when he’s been still for a while. I feel him hiccup. I feel him stretching. And although I haven’t seen him face to face, I’m already learning about him and wondering which of these little quirks he’ll carry into his time outside the womb. Will he get hiccups every morning still? Will he wake up when he hears his brothers voice (at 6:30 every morning and instantly start kicking me lol)? Will he have a strong startle reflex? He already has a personality that only I can really learn.
But besides the excitement of feeling movements, it’s an honor to carry a child. Again, no matter how your child came into your life, it’s an honor to be their parent. It’s an honor that God led them to you and entrusted their soul to you and your spouse. I know God hand-picked this sweet little soul to be our child. It gives me an opportunity to trust God and to follow his will for my life. This is what God has given me. This is what God has entrusted to me. It’s an honor and I have to choose to accept it and do it to the best of my ability.
It’s also a sacrifice. I have heard very few people talk about how amazing and easy pregnancy was. Because typically, it’s not. It’s hard to not feel like yourself. It can be difficult to feel like you are never alone and never stop being touched (or kicked lol). You give your body, your hormones, your emotions, your physical comfort, and so much more for 9 months. Again, almost a full year of your life devoted to growing another human. The love you have for this child makes it all worth it, but nothing good comes easy. Accepting that and remembering that eventually this will pass, is how you push through. And one day, pretty soon after you’ve delivered this baby, you’ll forget all about the hard stuff. You’ll romanticize what it was like being pregnant, and that’s how we end up with more than one child lol.
Ultimately, it’s an amazing and difficult journey. And with each child its different. It is something amazing that only women have been given the blessing of doing. I have learned so much about myself through both of my pregnancies. I’ve had to lean on God more and grow deeper in my relationship with my husband. The second you see your baby face to face, you realize how worth it and special it all really was.
Mama Mizell Blog 