Men vs pregnancy hormones
I am the mother of two pregnant daughters …
There is a lot to say about the miracle of birth and the joys of motherhood but there is not enough to say about the Pregnant Woman’s Hormonal Tidal Wave. It is the mother of all Hormonal Tidal Waves and it comes with absolutely no warning. It crashes unexpectedly to shore and temporarily destroys a woman’s confidence, tolerance and nerve endings in the blink of an eye. It comes in the form of uncontrollable sobs and tears and leaves in its wake stunned husbands and children, piles of laundry and dirty dishes, and junk food wrappers … and the only person who understands what happened and possibly why is another mother, preferably their own.
Men, 95% of you are going to do or say the wrong thing so this is a head’s up:
1. For heavens sakes don’t ask what is wrong. 2. Don’t tell her to buck up. 3. Don’t tell her she won’t be pregnant forever. 4. Don’t point out what you think might have caused it or give suggestions on how to raise kids or clean the house! 5) Never compare her pregnancy to your mother’s pregnancies (you don’t know squat about your own mother’s pregnancies anyway) 6. Especially, don’t say you understand. How could you possibly understand? You can try to understand but you will never really know how it feels.
What can you do if you are a man? (If you are a woman you will know what to do.)
1) Call a babysitter and get her out of the house, 2) Let her talk and cry but don’t give advice, 3) Do tell her you love her and want to help, 4) Don’t take anything she says personally and don’t tell her she is wrong, 5) Take her shopping (make sure you get her a good book and junk food, 6) Tell her you appreciate all she does and don’t know how she does it … and that you KNOW you could never do day in and day out what she does near as well as she does it, 7) When you get her home let her lay in bed with her junk food of choice and good book while you straighten the house and get the kids to bed, 8) Put your arms around her (unless she doesn’t want to be touched) and tell her you are proud of her and love her. 9) Don’t ask her if she is feeling better (she will tell you when she is feeling better).
Let her have her Hormonal Tidal Wave without recriminations. The cure seems to be in the crash itself and she will love you all the more for trying to be helpful.
Technorati Tags: Hormonal Emotions, Pregnacy & Emotions
