Complain away NieNie, complain away.

I was reading a very popular blog today, and the blogger was telling how someone had emailed her and told her to stop complaining about being so sick with her pregnancy because some people would love to be sick and pregnant since they can't get pregnant at all.

This blogger then told anyone who had a problem with her complaining about being sick to kindly not read her blog anymore.

And though I am not pregnant, I have been pregnant a fair amount. And I was sick. Really sick. I figure I was sick approximately 20 months of the 54 months total that I was pregnant.

I didn't have a blog when I was pregnant, but I can guarantee that I either wouldn't have blogged at all while sick, or I would have complained. A lot.

I took medication for some of my pregnancies just so I would throw up less. I still threw up, even with medication.

Things didn't just taste a little funny, everything tasted awful. Except for that one weird thing that finally sounded good that I made Jeff drive all over town trying to find for me.

I didn't just gag, or feel sick to my stomach. I threw up on average 6 times a day without medication. Sometimes more. Medication helped me keep anything down the first three months.

And I did it 6 times. It didn't get better with each pregnancy. It actually lasted a little longer with each one. I had some miracles during pregnancies that eased some of it, but for the most part I just had to wait til that magic 14, 17, or 20 week mark until I could hold all of my food down.

And I complained. I cried to Jeff. I wondered EACH TIME, "Why did I get pregnant?" And then as soon as I didn't feel sick anymore, and I could get out of bed, I remembered why.

I think it's easy for others to say that you shouldn't complain because someone else has it worse. Well that's true. Someone else has it worse. Someone always does. Complaining doesn't mean that you don't know that. It just means, that for that moment, you need to say out loud what you're going through. And that you don't need anyone telling you, "You know, goats in Greenland would gladly eat those holy shoes you're complaining about having to wear." You just need someone to say, I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do?

And of course, this is not a green light to be the person that no one wants to stand by at parties.

I'm just saying, please let pregnant woman complain about anything they want to, ok? They know they're blessed. They know they are lucky. But when you just lost your breakfast for the 20th day in a row, or when you can't tie your own shoes, you lose a little perspective.

I for one, would do it again. All of it. I would be super sick again, 6 times over. Because despite my complaining at the time, I knew then, and I know now, that I'm blessed.

And when I get frustrated with those lovely children that I sacrificed so much for, I also still know that I'm blessed. And when those children jump on the trampolines encased in inner tubes, and use them as weapons on each other?

Yup, I still know.