Three-year-old Gutsy walks out of my room yesterday and asks me "Mom, is that blue thing on your bed your underwear?"
...
....... *sigh*
Yes, my sweet little buttercup. That 'blue thing' is indeed a pair of maternity underwear. Not only are they maternity, but they're also plus-size. For the 'jolly' expecting woman. The 'rotund' pregnant female. The 'rubenesque' fetus carrier. I know they're nearly unrecognizable as something that could be small enough to pass as an undergarment, but if you could just imagine for a minute being a size 18 and pregnant...
Poor Gutsy. The child will have nightmares of monsterous, demin-coloured panties entangling him in a web of stretchy fabric. I believe we shall convert his education savings over to a therapy fund.
It's not so bad being a bigger pregnant girl, though. I'm actually smaller in this pregnancy than I was in my other two (enormous baby belly not included in said statement). I'm a lot healthier, too. I was jogging several times a week, lifting weights and doing yoga prior to getting the double lines on my pee stick. My blood pressure was down, my stamina was up and I felt younger than I did back in the day *shakes a cane around for good measure*. I'm still feeling pretty good, even though the majority of my workouts are now walking to the park with the kids, cleaning up, hauling laundry and young children around and doing the lamest yoga-esque moves ever to accomodate my growing baby.
Today I read the worst thing I think I've read in a while. I was lurking on a fairly large message board and came across a post from a woman who was planning to abort her perfectly healthy 18 week old baby because he was a boy. She already has a boy and doesn't want another. She was pregnant with a girl before this one and lost the baby at 18 weeks. Now she can't imagine having a boy so she's going to terminate, get pregnant again and hope it's a girl this time.
I am sincerely hoping that this is a cruel joke that some bored student made up because he or she is off for the summer. I really do. Because as pro-choice as I'd like to think I am, I draw the line at abortion due to an unfavourable gender. I'm guessing she's either one of the most selfish people on the planet or she's severely mentally ill/traumatized over the loss of her daughter (and who wouldn't be?). Either way, I was very upset to read that. It disturbed me to no end.
We don't always get the gender we had hoped for. I'm about to have my third boy and have already heard all sorts of thoughtful comments. Such as:
"Are you disappointed that it's a boy?"
I cry every day. They had to put me on suicide watch after my ultrasound. Thanks for asking.
"I'm sorry you're not having your girl."
Hang on a second, here. Nobody told me I was entitled to a daughter. I feel totally ripped off now! What a raw deal.
"Are you going to keep trying for a girl?"
Yes. We plan to just keep on the screw train until I pop out a daughter. Life isn't complete unless I have one, you know. What would life be like if I could never shop in the pink half of the store?
"Like the saying goes: A daughter is a daughter for life. A son is a son 'til he meets his wife." Wow. Thank you so much for telling me that. You're so kind and sensitive. This whole time I was planning on being close to my sons throughout adulthood. But now that I know their wives will mess that up for me, I'd better find ways to sabotage their future love lives and/or put away some money for hitmen in case a wedding slips by me. Can't have those catty chicks around messing things up for me. After all, the reason I had children is so they can be my BFFs and we can be together for ever and ever and I'll never be lonely.
Do people really make that big a deal out of gender? I mean, really? Am I the only one who thinks it's sexist to put so much emphasis on a vagina or a penis? I know girls and boys are different, but in the end isn't having a child of either sex a real blessing? Aren't they all different regardless of what's between their legs? Intrepid and Gutsy couldn't be any more different. Intrepid is nine and still loves to cuddle, writes essays about how much he loves his family and will probably always have a special attachment to us. Gutsy is far more independent, although he's three and likes to snuggle. Three-year-olds do a lot of that. I have a feeling he'll pull away a bit faster than his brother, but that's ok. He's allowed. I have no expectations of what our relationship will be like when he's older. I just hope he always loves us as much as we love him. And I'll welcome his (hopefully quite friendly) life partner with open arms. I feel bad for girls who are expected to be very close to their moms the rest of their lives because they're girls. That just doesn't seem fair. Everyone has their own personality and their own life to live. Whether or not they stay close is a combination of said personality, goals and the fostering of a close relationship. I don't think gender has much to do with it.
I sincerely hope that woman who is planning to terminate based on gender changes her mind. In the meantime, I'm going to love my boys for who they are, not what they are.
...
....... *sigh*
Yes, my sweet little buttercup. That 'blue thing' is indeed a pair of maternity underwear. Not only are they maternity, but they're also plus-size. For the 'jolly' expecting woman. The 'rotund' pregnant female. The 'rubenesque' fetus carrier. I know they're nearly unrecognizable as something that could be small enough to pass as an undergarment, but if you could just imagine for a minute being a size 18 and pregnant...
Poor Gutsy. The child will have nightmares of monsterous, demin-coloured panties entangling him in a web of stretchy fabric. I believe we shall convert his education savings over to a therapy fund.
It's not so bad being a bigger pregnant girl, though. I'm actually smaller in this pregnancy than I was in my other two (enormous baby belly not included in said statement). I'm a lot healthier, too. I was jogging several times a week, lifting weights and doing yoga prior to getting the double lines on my pee stick. My blood pressure was down, my stamina was up and I felt younger than I did back in the day *shakes a cane around for good measure*. I'm still feeling pretty good, even though the majority of my workouts are now walking to the park with the kids, cleaning up, hauling laundry and young children around and doing the lamest yoga-esque moves ever to accomodate my growing baby.
Today I read the worst thing I think I've read in a while. I was lurking on a fairly large message board and came across a post from a woman who was planning to abort her perfectly healthy 18 week old baby because he was a boy. She already has a boy and doesn't want another. She was pregnant with a girl before this one and lost the baby at 18 weeks. Now she can't imagine having a boy so she's going to terminate, get pregnant again and hope it's a girl this time.
I am sincerely hoping that this is a cruel joke that some bored student made up because he or she is off for the summer. I really do. Because as pro-choice as I'd like to think I am, I draw the line at abortion due to an unfavourable gender. I'm guessing she's either one of the most selfish people on the planet or she's severely mentally ill/traumatized over the loss of her daughter (and who wouldn't be?). Either way, I was very upset to read that. It disturbed me to no end.
We don't always get the gender we had hoped for. I'm about to have my third boy and have already heard all sorts of thoughtful comments. Such as:
"Are you disappointed that it's a boy?"
I cry every day. They had to put me on suicide watch after my ultrasound. Thanks for asking.
"I'm sorry you're not having your girl."
Hang on a second, here. Nobody told me I was entitled to a daughter. I feel totally ripped off now! What a raw deal.
"Are you going to keep trying for a girl?"
Yes. We plan to just keep on the screw train until I pop out a daughter. Life isn't complete unless I have one, you know. What would life be like if I could never shop in the pink half of the store?
"Like the saying goes: A daughter is a daughter for life. A son is a son 'til he meets his wife." Wow. Thank you so much for telling me that. You're so kind and sensitive. This whole time I was planning on being close to my sons throughout adulthood. But now that I know their wives will mess that up for me, I'd better find ways to sabotage their future love lives and/or put away some money for hitmen in case a wedding slips by me. Can't have those catty chicks around messing things up for me. After all, the reason I had children is so they can be my BFFs and we can be together for ever and ever and I'll never be lonely.
Do people really make that big a deal out of gender? I mean, really? Am I the only one who thinks it's sexist to put so much emphasis on a vagina or a penis? I know girls and boys are different, but in the end isn't having a child of either sex a real blessing? Aren't they all different regardless of what's between their legs? Intrepid and Gutsy couldn't be any more different. Intrepid is nine and still loves to cuddle, writes essays about how much he loves his family and will probably always have a special attachment to us. Gutsy is far more independent, although he's three and likes to snuggle. Three-year-olds do a lot of that. I have a feeling he'll pull away a bit faster than his brother, but that's ok. He's allowed. I have no expectations of what our relationship will be like when he's older. I just hope he always loves us as much as we love him. And I'll welcome his (hopefully quite friendly) life partner with open arms. I feel bad for girls who are expected to be very close to their moms the rest of their lives because they're girls. That just doesn't seem fair. Everyone has their own personality and their own life to live. Whether or not they stay close is a combination of said personality, goals and the fostering of a close relationship. I don't think gender has much to do with it.
I sincerely hope that woman who is planning to terminate based on gender changes her mind. In the meantime, I'm going to love my boys for who they are, not what they are.