Surviving the Domestic Jungle

Occasionally I catch this show called “I didn’t know I was pregnant” and to be honest I thought it was all nonsense at first. I mean, how can you not know??? When Im pregnant my belly gets huge and there is no way I could miss the kicks that move my whole stomach and the sickness at the beginning is undeniable. I have watched a couple of episodes and now I am a believer that this does actually happen to women. The thing that I wonder about is they all say they had no symptoms. No nausea or cravings or moodiness etc. I am a big believer in the power of suggestion and it got me wondering if pregnancy symptoms are all in our head because we are told that we should feel a certain way. The women who were blissfully unaware have no symptoms so I wonder if pregnancy symptoms exist at all! How can a woman who is pregnant, like any other woman, not have one single symptom? I do believe some women ‘play up’ the whole craving thing and the moody thing but I don’t think any woman likes to play up the throw up thing! I guess my question is, if women are aware they are pregnant and have symptoms and women who don’t know they are pregnant have no symptoms, do symptoms really occur? I often wonder if we are so programmed to believe things a certain way that we cant possibly imagine it any other way. I could not imagine being one of those women and going into labor without knowing I was pregnant. How terrifying and traumatizing! Id be worried I hurt my baby!! I guess women had babies for centuries without any prenatal care but still, in this day and age, it is available and we are also programmed that we need it! I for one will never change that programming. I love doctors and think they have a very hard job and without them, life would be…well…shorter!! Anyway, the more I think about my pregnancies and their symptoms, the more I wonder about all of this. If it weren’t for my big belly and morning sickness maybe I wouldn’t know. I dont really have cravings and I am a little moody but I am moody in general! I never have heartburn and occasionally my back hurts but again, it does when I am not pregnant sometimes. I guess it could happen to anyone but regardless of symptoms, my belly is undeniable! I am not an overweight person so my flat tummy goes to extra large very quickly but I could see how an overweight woman might not notice a pregnant belly. I guess this could happen to anyone but I really do wonder about the symptoms and are they real??