WHY WHY WHY do people like to tell pregnant women horror stories?
Recently a guy tells me this gem: When his sister-in-law was pregnant with her third child, she woke up and basically peed a ton of blood. They lived in a small town, so the ambulance barely got her to the hospital in time. Five more minutes and the kid would’ve been dead. She was not even close to the end of her pregnancy, so the kid spent SIX MONTHS in the NICU.
Then there are the people who like to tell me how I’m having too many kids and that their mom’s uterus FELL OUT while she was grocery shopping. Or that there was just a baby born without a brain. Or that I’m almost 38 and should get an amniocentesis (NEVER!) to check for “problems.”
Great. Thanks. Do you feel better now?
So I’m writing about it on this site and then I’m putting it out of my mind because I CHOOSE to think positively during this lifetime. Even when I was fully pregnant with Callie and passed that huge blood clot and the ambulance came and they were talking C-section and the ambulance people didn’t even check for a freaking heartbeat, I stayed calm, prayed and thought good thoughts and everything was FINE (no C-section!). To this day, my doctor still doesn’t know what that huge clot was.
There’s a woman in my Catholic homeschool group who thinks positive thinking is a bunch of New Age crap, but I say, “What does it hurt to think of good outcomes?” Isn’t prayer just a bunch of positive thoughts, after all?
*Don't forget: if you're a writer-type, come check me out at Writing Mommies today, where I'm talking about when an editor wants local quotes and sidebars ...
Kerrie, I think there is a balance there. Obviously, we need to know that there COULD be problems, but what is the point of freaking out about them? You can't change them.
ReplyDeleteAnd what kind of idiot goes around spreading "joy" like that just to worry a pregnant woman? Do they think that you'll stop having kids after this if they scare you enough?
"Well, I WAS going to have ten children, but some dude in the grocery store told me about his cousin's friend whose baby was born without a brain! So I'd better quit it!"
Arg. Just be glad it's not family.
(Wait, it's not family, is it? That would be a special kind of hell.)
Why do people do that kind of thing? People would randomly come up to my mother when she was pregnant with the older of my two younger brothers and tell her all sorts of horrible things.
ReplyDeleteEh, don't worry about it. Everything'll be fine. :)
Oh I'd have fun with that one..."no brain uh? Is your mother ok?" ;)
ReplyDeleteI make it my own personal mission to counter balance it by telling any pregnant woman who will listen(and they all do so far!) that there is nothing to be afraid of, everything will be fine, baby will be fine and that they are beautiful! The odds are on my side that I'm right, after all most babies are born with brains, most women don't bleed in the middle of the night and almost die etc. and most women and babies are healthy after birth particularly if they have a normal, uninterferred with, birth!
I had my last baby at 39..she's adorable and perfect! Pshaw to the haters I say!
Breeze
Why not ask them, minus any emotion: "Why are you telling me this?" Then stand and wait for their answer.
ReplyDeleteI agree on your comparison between prayer and positive thinking. Same thing, different names.