The following post was written in May of 2017 when I was 8 months pregnant with our daughter, Graci. At that point, I felt like I had experienced so many pregnancy symptoms (which I still don’t miss by the way). We hope you enjoy this post that we pulled from the archives, and be sure to let me know what you think in the comments below!

I’ve been so incredibly lucky. My baby is healthy and we’re slated for delivery in less than a month. Throughout my pregnancy, I haven’t faced any major complications, but there have been plenty of annoying symptoms along the way.

But, just as I am thankful for a healthy baby, I’m thankful for these annoying symptoms, too. I’ll explain.

During the course of my pregnancy, I’ve had an array of annoying symptoms — bloody boogers, pelvic pain, stretch marks, bleeding gums, heartburn — the list goes on. (Check out my top 5 weirdest symptoms here.) While they’ve definitely been annoying, I think the majority of them are preparing me to take on the next stage in the motherhood journey.

Stretch Marks & Body Image

Having major things happen to my body during pregnancy has forced me to evaluate the way that I want to talk about my body in front of my little girl.

The world is a harsh place to be a girl with pressures to be thin and “perfect”. During my pregnancy, I’ve been forced to come to terms with my body growing beyond the heaviest weight I’ve ever been with red marks appearing across my stomach and legs.

I’ve had to look at myself in a different way. I’ve had to acknowledge that while I’m not personally in love with my stretch marks or the number on the scale, that my body is doing something incredible right now. It’s making my baby girl. And that is nothing short of beautiful.

Going into motherhood, I know that I will have to be an advocate for my daughter to see her own beauty when the world tries to tell her that her beauty should look differently. I’m going to have to watch what I say around her about my own body because she’ll learn from me.

So, after my daughter is born and she sees my tummy and the stretch marks that I’m sure will still be there, I’m not going to try and hide them. Instead, I’m going to proudly tell her about the time her mommy’s body grew and grew to carry her for nine months so that she could be a healthy little girl.

Pregnancy Discomfort & Making Delivery A More Appealing Thought

Maybe this one is just me. But as pregnancy has gotten more and more uncomfortable, the less I fear childbirth and the more I’d just like to get on with it!

Believe me, I’ve gone through bouts of here petrification at the thought of having to give birth.

But, these days, as the pain and discomfort reaches all new levels, I find that I’m less scared and more anxious to move onto the next stage of pregnancy – delivery. (I still don’t really want to know any more details than I have to, though.)

I think that nature makes pregnancy uncomfortable and annoying so that you stop dreading the inevitable and instead start getting excited to move to the next step.

Imagine if pregnancy wasn’t uncomfortable, and there were no annoying symptoms! Labor and delivery would be an even more unpleasant thought. Instead, labor and delivery means an end to the pregnancy discomfort (with an adorable baby at the end, of course)!

Nine Long Months Of Pregnancy & Giving You Time To Prepare

Being pregnant for nine months can feel like a lifetime. In fact, I feel like I’ve been pregnant forever. I don’t even remember what it was like to not have a belly to carry around.

The reality is that nine months really isn’t that long to prepare for such a life-changing event. Becoming a parent is all encompassing. While nine months of annoying symptoms feels like a long time, I’ve actually realized that it’s just enough time to prepare.

Over the last 8 months, my boyfriend and I have:

• gone through the shock of finding out we were going to be parents
• the anxiety of waiting to find out if our baby was developing normally
• the excitement of having a baby on the way
• slowly purchased baby products as we could afford
• moved our family so that we were better equipped to give her the best life

Can you imagine dealing with all of the emotional, financial and other preparations in a shorter amount of time? I sure can’t. I don’t think the journey would be as sweet if it were shorter. In fact, I think there would have been a lot more panic.

Getting Up A Million Times A Night To Pee & Preparation For A Newborn

Lately, I’ve been having to get up multiple times a night to go the bathroom. These wake-up calls are less disruptive than feeding a newborn multiple times a night.

However, I still feel like they are preparing me for disruptive sleep with a newborn.

It is sort of like pregnancy is giving me a slow warm-up to sleep deprivation.

I’m actually thankful that pregnancy is giving me a warm-up to not getting a solid night’s sleep. I honestly do feel like I will be better equipped to wake up with our little one multiple times a night when she gets here!

Before pregnancy, I was a really heavy sleeper and I was always paranoid that I wouldn’t hear my baby cry at night. Now, I think my body is used to a shallower sleep, and I’m no longer that concerned (plus, she’ll be sleeping in our Halo Bassinest right beside me).

Fellow mommas, were there any pregnancy symptoms that you think prepared you for postpartum life with a baby? I’d love to hear your perspectives below!