Perception of Pregnancy

Every time that I have been pregnant I am intriged to see how people perceive pregnant woman and pregnancy in general.  At the beginning of your pregnancy you often get people commenting on your cute belly and how you are glowing. Then, somehow 9 months later they are asking if you are still alive? If you can handle one more day of it? When you are gonna go? Saying that you look like you are going to pop.  When did pregnancy become a disease or a possible risk of death?  Women have been having babies for hundreds of years and continue to do so with little death and disease.  How has the beautiful process of creating a baby inside of your body become such a horrible thing? Something that is often associated with pain, suffering, trama, emergency, and possible death.  Where have all the strong, beautiful pregnant women gone? Have they been sucked into our societies perception that birth is dangerous and it requires doctors and ambulances and high dosages of medication? 

I understand that there are some situations that requires emergency help, but as a whole women are strong and their bodies have been made to deliver a child.  We have been given the gift of being the first place our kids grow, where they are created.  Our bodies protect and nourish them for 9 months and then deliver them into this world.  How can we believe that we are in a risky dangerous state as a pregnant mother?  I will be honest, when I am pregnant their are days that I feel tired and worn out.  But there are many other days that I am filled with honor for the gift I've been given to carry my children, I feel strong and confident.   

This particular pregnancy I've had the opportunity to challenge myself with what many would call an extreme workout program called Crossfit.  I have scaled workouts along the way to fit my changing body.  But I have been able to see how strong my body really is and even though some workouts seemed like they might not be possible I've completed everyone that I've gone up against.  I've continued to keep in my mind, "just keep moving and finish".  No matter how slow I might be going or how long it might take me, and in the end I felt amazing for completing something that seemed impossible. Isn't that life as a wife, parent, etc. ??  Facing seemingly impossible situations and pressing on and finding all the strength and courage was right there inside of you and you make it through.  

The fear that often holds us back from even starting or challenging ourselves in the things that seem so difficult.  Delivering a baby, the physical process of it may seem daunting but women have accomplished it beautifully for hundreds of years.  Why allow the fear that resonates from hospitals and pregnancy horror stories effect our experience?  Why crumble and believe that once we hit 37+ weeks we are miserable and uncomfortable and in pain constantly?  If we are constantly looking for the pain and irritation isn't that exactly what we will find?  But what if we began to look at the beauty and fascination of how our bodies have molded to this life inside of us? A life that responds to our voice and our environment.  A life that moves and dances inside of us.  Admiring the strength that has brought us to an amazing moment of birth.  Birth is a process, your body working with your baby to help bring him into this world.  Allowing the strength that has sustained you throughout the pregnancy to finish the work, to "just keep moving and finish". 

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes that applies to so many areas of our lives... 

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."  

-Marianne Williamson