Is pregnancy overrated? some people say being pregnant is great?

Question

I had a baby 9 months ago the birth and the pregnancy were the worst times of my life i wouldn't do it again.
My friend is pregnant with her second child she cant eat a thing and she is always throwing up at work i feel so sorry for her.

Does breastfeeding make your boobs sag? i didn't breastfeed

Answer 1

I think that pregnancy as a good thing is glorified by the media so much that it's actually become a reality. Don't listen to those who say otherwise.

The body is going through so much trauma - in terms of physiological change - that it's not designed to be easy.

Sometimes even parents lie to their kids so that they can experience the joys of grandchildren. So the myths are passed down. There are very few - if any - inherent joys in being pregnant.

Humans psychologically compensate to ease their cognitive discomfort with the whole process. If they want a baby, people are not comfortable with the ideas of being pregnant (which is something good - if they want it) and feeling sick (which is something bad) - so they try to make themselves think that the pregancy discomfort that they are going through as being not that bad after all.

i.e. motherhood by some is considered to be a life dream and pregnancy one of the worst times in their life. The incompatibility in these feelings and emotions creates "dissonance" or cognitive discomfort. To reduce their discomfort and make the two feelings alike, they can either bring motherhood down to the level of pregancy and say it's horrible - but that would be an abomination. So they bring pregancy up to the level of motherhood and think after it's over that it wasn't that bad.

For example, for more info on textbook psychological notions of cognitive dissonance, refer to the following quote from Wikipedia's entry on the term by the same name:

"The introduction of new cognition [pregnancy hurts] that is dissonant [incompatible] with a currently held cognition or thought [that motherhood is great] creates a state of "dissonance," [i.e. discomfort] the magnitude of which relates to the relative importance of the involved cognitions. [motherhood & pregnancy = very important, therefore the discomfort is very strong] Dissonance [discomfort, uneasiness] can be reduced either by eliminating dissonant cognitions,[either forgetting that pregancy hurts OR that motherhood is great - almost impossible to do by the way] or by adding new consonant cognitions [meaning adding new beliefs that will reunite the conflicting feelings of one as bad and the other as good]…”

So you can either forget/eliminate your feelings or change them, the passage continues:
(source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance)

“The maximum possible dissonance is equal to the resistance to change of the less resistant cognition; therefore, once dissonance reaches a level that overcomes the resistance of one of the cognitions involved, that cognition will be changed or eliminated, and dissonance will be reduced.”

The above quote means that once you change the thought that is easier to change, you reduce the discomfort you feel. This would mean that once you change pregnancy to being good, you reduce the discomfort you feel in the end.

For more of a complex explanation: pregnancy would be the “less resistant dissonance” and any associated thoughts with it would be easier to change than those about motherhood – hence changing thoughts about pregnancy would usually be the first move as opposed to changing your feelings regarding motherhood as good to bad.

Answer 2

For some people pregnancy is great I on the other hand have been pregnant 3 times and each time I put on 5 stone and had preclampsia toxaemia and nearly died on two of my pregnancies. As for motherhood they say the first twenty years are the worst, I am yet to find out my oldest is 18.
As far as saggy boobs from breastfeeding, it is a myth it depends on many factors.

Answer 3

It really is one of those occasions where you cant have an answer.
It depends on the pregnancy itself. I had three very different experiences. The first was great, the second terrible (sickness and fainting all 9 months) the third frightening as we weren't sure I'd make it to the end. My boobs didn't sag but they got smaller every time. As for the births. It is the one thing I would love to fully experience. I had to have Ceararians and full anaesthetic. I feel cheated and I would rather have had the pain of birth!

Answer 4

Like you i hated every minute of it. I was sick right the way through all day everyday it was like having a permanent sickness bug. But people say you never get 2 the same and they are soooo right ,the second pregnancy was worse, i was on crutches from 4 months which made it very difficult to run to a toilet to throw up. Needless to say i have only got 2 kids and would nt have any more due to this matter. Although if they found a cure for morning sickness (one that works anyway) then i would probably have another one.

Answer 5

i really didn't care for being pregnant, and i didn't have tons of fun nursing my children either, though i nursed all 3 until they were 8 months old.
The rewards of having 3 healthy children is far better than that little bit of my life i spent pregnant and breast feeding.
I think sagging breast may be partly hereditary, not all from breast feeding, but i have taken care of my body and exercised and my youngest child is 3 and i don't sag yet.
Even if you sagging breast does become a problem, this can be fixed with surgery... it is a small price to pay for a healthy child.

Answer 6

Pregnancy is different for everybody. My first pregnancy was the best but my second one was the worst. I had terrible back pain and morning sickness for 7 months.
The breast feeding thing, that also is different for everybody. I didn't breast feed neither of my children and my boobs are just fine. I have heard some horror stories about other women and it would scare the hell out of anyone. People are different and therefor so will their experience be. Thank you.

Answer 7

I Loved being pregnant, i even liked the way i looked as i had a nice sized bump and didnt put on weight in any other area (apart from my breasts, lol). I loved going to sleep with my baby moving around and kicking, i felt so blessed. i never thought of my son as a fetus, always as a baby who had a just as important life as any other person. I hated the contractions though, but once i got a shot of pethadine i loved giving birth (strange, i know).
I truley miss being pregnant and hope that one day i will be blessed with another baby.

Answer 8

Its not the same for every one. My first pregnancy was brill i was only ill once and i loved the feeling of my baby kicking me.

But my second & third pregnancys. I was really poorley with and had to be hospitalised.

But after all that i have my 3 great kids and theres no way i would ever change that.

Pregnancy can be pants but motherhood is Brill (but trieing )

Answer 9

the interesting thing about pregnancy is not the time u go through the pain or discomfort of being pregnant, though it differs for everyone but the thing about it is the joy of the baby you'll have at the end of 9 months. think about the joy and u'll know it's great. I want sincerely look forward to be pregnant cosi want to have my own child too.

Answer 10

I guess it depends on how much you've wanted children. I waited 15 years for my little miracle. Though pregnancy has its ups and downs I'm relishing in every bit of it, as I was told by 2 doctors that this would never be and wanted to do a hysterectomy. Thank goodness I never listened to them. Such as life. I can't wait to meet my little one, the little piece of my immortality, the little piece of my man's immortality. One with a future so bright.