Pregnancy Ups and Downs

Over the last few weeks, pregnancy hormones have decided to grace me with their presence. Over the last few years I took seizure medication to prevent seizures. The seizure medication I was taking leveled all my moods and emotions, even to the point where I was emotionless at times, so the unwanted ups and downs of pregnancy have seemed to really taken their toll on me. Living in another culture very different from America and dealing with these hormones have made for some pretty interesting days. Getting out the in city among the locals exhausts me and many times makes me frustrated.

Take for instance my experience yesterday. I haven’t wanted to get out of the house lately, but yesterday afternoon I made myself. I met some friends and we treated ourselves to a pedicure.
Afterwards, I got out and walked around and windowed shopped for awhile. I saw a maternity clothing store and decided to go in a check it out. Note: The store obviously only sold maternity clothing. I saw two shirts that looked cute and decided to try them on. The store attendant was helping me with the ties and we began making small talk.

I told her that I really like one of the shirts I tried on. It looked cute on now and it offered room for my belly to grow. “Oh you are pregnant”, she said. “Yes, twelve weeks”, I replied. “Oh”, she said, “I thought you were just fat.” Oh the nerve! How in the world do you reply to that? “No, I’m not fat, I’m pregnant,” I said with a smile.

After that she proceeded to give me a lecture on how I should not paint my toe nails because it is bad for the baby. Well, even though my pride didn’t want to buy the shirt I liked, I bought it any way and then went home. Needless to say, I didn’t get out for the rest of the day and have been venting ever since.

I could sure use your prs as I deal with the changes going on inside my body and my attitude. Please pr for encouragement, rest, and grace and a deep love for the people here even when our cultural norms collide.