A letter to the pregnant lady sitting next to me

Dear lovely pregnant lady sitting next to me,

You tentatively reveal that you are only 10 weeks pregnant! 10 weeks! You share with me you feel like hell. You are already not sleeping. You already feel sick at the smell of meat. You are already wishing this time away.

But no!

Please don’t.

For I can not tell you that it will all get much easier. Sure, I can tell you that you’ll feel better in the next trimester. But I can not tell you you are about to embark on the most dreamy experience you have set in your mind. Or that you will not struggle as a mum. Or that breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world. Or any of this.

How desperately am I trying to keep in all the things you don’t want to hear right now?

That sleep will become so much worse, and then pretty much elusive once you deliver your beautiful being into this world.

That if you think raw chicken smells bad now, just wait until you have to deal with countless poo-laden, poonam-esque nappies.

You ask me what life with a toddler is like. And I bite my lip because SURELY there is some carrot I can offer you which will get you through the challenging transition you are going to make in the next year. I wrack my brains. How not to offend? How can I deliver the truth with a soft landing?

I can’t, and won’t lie to you. I won’t be part of the big rouse we have all created for every woman pregnant with their first child out there. Can you hear the cogs of my mind whirring as we sit side by side?

And so I muster up the best democratic line that I can…

“The best thing you can do is to have a sense of humor about it all.”

There – that is my golden nugget of mum wisdom to you and every pregnant lady out there. Here is my quasi-truth which I hope will not say too much but will say it all.

Let’s talk again on the other side shall we?

Yours,

A yellow-belly mum who just knew you didn’t want to hear the whole truth

Motherhood: The Real Deal is run by Talya, a mum to a very intense, amazing little toddler gal who most of the time specializes in driving her round the bend. Having given up the working mum role when she hit 12 months (she was the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief for an online lifestyle platform) she’s sat on both sides of the fence as a working and then stay-at-home mum and like many, has grappled with the issues which come hand in hand with both scenarios. You can follow Talya on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.