Super Human

            I have a friend who is currently pregnant with her first child. She’s at the point in her pregnancy when the thought of pushing something the size of a watermelon out of a hole that is the size of a golf ball becomes a reality. Remember those days? Scary. I tried to explain to her that it’s not as bad as it sounds, or looks, and people have been doing this for hundreds of years….and she can have an epidural if she chooses! Should be a piece of cake! Still nervous I tried to change the subject to a positive aspect of pregnancy…the Super Human strength that you gain a few days or weeks before the baby is born. This is typically gone as quickly as it arrived, but in those few days, or hours, I’m quite definite that a woman could move a 2 ton cargo train, or at least have it clean enough to eat off the floor. I remember when this hit me a couple of weeks before Benji was born. Adam was away at a softball tournament and I was at that stage of my pregnancy where your body and mind work together to prevent you from sleeping…and it hit. I just NEEDED to move a crib and 2 big adult sized dressers, I NEEDED to vacuum every inch of the carpet, wash all of the curtains in the whole house, wash and fold all of the new baby clothes, and then separate them into totes labeled by sizes, re-fill one dresser with all of the newborn clothes that I had just accumulated, fill the other dresser with all of my clothes that I had taken out of the dresser that would now become Benji’s, carry a bookshelf or two up the hardwood stairs, oh and then clean all of the stairs, pack a diaper bag, pack a hospital bag, open the baby dresser again to look at all of the clothes and re-arrange the sock drawer, and then after that hour was up…go rest for a few minutes in front of the tv because my back was very sore. I have never used cocaine, however I think the effects are similar. After finally getting a restful night, and then loading up with Tylenol the next day, (I know Tylenol doesn’t really work, but that’s the only thing pregos can take) I felt the urge to sanitize the kitchen. I didn’t feel any super human strength, I must have used it all the night before, but I did have the energy of that annoying person at the office who drinks 14 cups of coffee during the day. Therefore, I cleaned. I bleached and sanitized, and when the kitchen was sparkling, I moved to the bathroom. Don’t worry, I turned the fans on and opened all of the windows, although the fumes were still very strong. In this frenzy the “green” cleaners were not going to cut it…I needed bleach dammit!

            So, you see…don’t be scared of what is about to happen to your body, embrace the fact that you will NEVER have a house as clean as you do after your nesting instinct kicks in, you’ll NEVER be as strong as you were for those couple of hours, and you’ll NEVER get so much accomplished in that small amount of time…especially after the baby is born!