Remember that you’ve never done this before. Even if you’ve been pregnant before, you’ve never experienced this pregnancy before. Aspects may be different and you may feel differently. You are not always going to know how you want to address concerns that come up or what would best serve you in a situation. You may act in ways that frustrate you in hindsight. You are going to mess things up. You’re doing something you’ve never done before. You’re not going to expect your child to walk without wobbling or failing the first time he tries. Similarly, you’re going to have wobbles and falls and you shouldn’t view them as failures. Just like you’re going to nurture your child when she falls and bumps her head as she’s learning to walk, be gentle with yourself.
So, give yourself permission to be less than perfect. We women can put such high expectations on ourselves. Even if you’ve been wanting and waiting for this pregnancy for 2 years, it’s okay to be grumpy some days. There are a lot of potential things to learn during a pregnancy: how to deal with physical changes to your body, how to embrace your new role of mother to this unborn child, how to handle unsolicited advice, how to ask for help, how to plan for the care needed for a newborn, how to deal with circumstances that are outside your control…how to create this new life in a way that works for you. There are many potential considerations that you have never considered considering before!
Please join the conversation: In what ways have you been gentle with yourself? When is it most important to remind yourself that you’ve never done this before?
