20 Reasons You'll Miss Being Pregnant

Enjoy these perks now (they'll be gone soon enough)

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5) calories, calories, calories “Women can eat more during pregnancy because they’re eating for two,” says Mona M. Shangold, M.D., director of the Center for Women’s Health and Sports Gynecology in Philadelphia. “The exact number of calories will depend on how active you are and what your metabolic rate is.” If you play your cards right, you can potentially extend this benefit for another year or so by nursing your baby — you’ll need the extra calories to produce all that milk.

6) the anticipation There’s a certain excitement in looking forward to events — it allows us to extend and savor our enjoyment of them. “I know that there’s a lot of hard work ahead taking care of an infant,” says expectant mom Crawford. But the anticipation phase is pure enjoyment: “I look forward to nursing another child, I look forward to my sons meeting their brother,” she says. “Knowing that all that wonderful stuff is on the way, it’s like waiting for Christmas.”

7) indulging your cravings sans guilt   “It’s important for pregnant women to listen to what their bodies want,” says Susan Kundrat, M.S., R.D., a sports and wellness nutritionist and owner of Nutrition on the Move in Champaign, Ill. “A woman may be craving a food that is high in a nutrient she really needs.” Just watch portion sizes and make sure your cravings are part of a balanced diet, she adds.
This is your very own pregnancy, and you get to indulge whatever cravings your hormones concoct. Mangoes? Chocolate chip cookies? Steak? Go for it.

8) feeling special The humdrum of daily routine can suck the feeling-specialness out of the best of us. But is there anything more special than creating life? “I tell people, ‘Do you realize that you are making a person inside you?’” Lichtman says. “Making a person!” Nothing humdrum about that.

9) being the center of attention Pregnancy may be the last time in a long while that you are the center of attention. “Once they have the baby, so many women are so instantly wrapped up in — and overwhelmed by — caring for their infant that they immediately forget the recent experience of being pregnant,” says Crawford. Also, the outside world pays attention to you when you’re pregnant and to the baby once it’s born. So go ahead and savor the fact that, for now, the focus is on you.

10) the shopping New clothes for you. New clothes for baby. New furniture, new gadgets, new linens. Yellow and green if you don’t know, pink or blue if you do. Socks smaller than your pinkie finger, whimsical hats with ears attached. Just remember that you do still have to save for college.

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