Chie

20 weeks! I’m a bit late on this week’s post, but I’m happy that I’m at the half way point of my pregnancy. It went so quick, and I feel as though the second half will go quicker. I can’t believe I will be holding a baby in less than 5 months!

This week I received a package from my father-in-law in the States, a package full of baby goods:) Blankets, clothes, “I love grandpa” bib..etc. It was so sweet! I can’t wait to decorate the nursery with them. I felt bad though, because the shipping fee was very expensive ($50!).

I’ve been feeling the baby’s kicks every day this week. This has been the best part of my pregnancy so far! I love feeling the baby move. When I first started feeling the move, it felt as though I was keeping a small gold fish in my belly. Now that the baby got bigger, if feels more like I have an eel in my belly..I know, it’s not a lovely image, but I feel that way!

Before I started to feel the move, I often worried whether I was really pregnant. I had no morning sickness, and things really didn’t change much for the first couple of months in my pregnancy, so I sometimes forgot that I was pregnant. I like that the baby reminds me that I’m pregnant now by his kicks!

I don’t want to be completely negative here, but I will be honest, the worst part of my pregnancy is the changing body image. I didn’t expect to receive so many comments from people about how I look once I got pregnant, and I wasn’t ready for it. Just so you know, I’m not talking about comments left on my blog, rather, comments from people in real life. I don’t mind people telling me my belly has grown. But I’ve also received some comments about my thighs and butts getting bigger, I’m too big for 5 months, or too small for 5 months. And I try not to worry or care about it much, but it’s hard not too. I just wonder why people can’t keep their comments to themselves…

Not only some people around me, but also some nurses at the hospital I go to like to bust my balls. I love and hate going to the hospital at the same time. I love because I get to see the baby with ultrasound, but I hate it because nurse comes around to check and comment on how I’m doing with weight gain. According to her, I’m only allowed to gain 8kg through out the pregnancy, because if I gain more than 8kg, the baby will hard time coming out because of the fat or something. And last time, she nagged me for gaining too much already. Well, I gained 2 kg at 4 months point, which I didn’t think it was terrible. But the weight they measured at the hospital weighted 1-2 kg heavier because of clothes and I just had a lunch. I tried to explain that to her, but she told me to measure my weight correctly (I guess with clothes on?!) and I should not gain any more until the next visit. I felt very sad, because regardless of what I actually weighted, she made me feel big, fat and ugly… I also felt terrible because I felt as though I’m more concerned about myself than the baby’s well-being.

I know everyone experiences different pregnancy, and my experience is vastly different from my friend’s, who had a baby 6 months ago. Also, I wanted to make sure to write that this might be uniquely Japanese experience, and I think I would have experienced the pregnancy in much different way if I were still in the U.S.
It seems to me that the weight gain is stricter here, and I’ve read in some website that pregnant women going on a severe diet because the doctors tell them not to gain much weight.

Anyway, if you are pregnant now or if you had experienced pregnancy in the past, what is/was the best/worst part?