I’m not what you call the world’s biggest lover of pregnancy. I tend to be more the “grit my teeth and get through it” version of a pregnant woman rather than the “I feel wonderful and glowing” kind I so envy/admire/secretly loathe.
And yet, as difficult as I find pregnancy to be and as much as I look forward to the delivery finish line, I also have to admit that I dread the immediate postpartum phase maybe even slightly more. I love having a newborn and I love the relief that comes with not being pregnant anymore (breathing normally! No swollen feet!) but I also dread the ways that being postpartum can actually be worse than pregnancy …
1. There’s no excuse for the belly anymore.
Every pregnancy, I make the mistake of thinking, “Maybe this will be the pregnancy when I actually lose my belly quickly!” And every pregnancy, I am left with a lingering post-delivery mass of jelly belly that persists in sticking around for, oh, a good ten or more months. At least when I’m pregnant, I can talk myself into thinking that extra flab is just the baby.
2. The exhaustion is bone-deep.
The exhaustion of pregnancy is different than the exhaustion of the postpartum phase. With pregnancy, there’s an insomnia at the end that comes complete with an affection for giant pillows and endless tossing and turning, but there’s also some degree of anticipation