Single and Pregnant

Growing up, I imagined the “perfect” life—falling in love, marriage, children, grandchildren, etc–in this exact order.  At the age of 30, I’ve discovered that what happens to other people can happen to me also and that life rarely happens in “perfect order”.    As naive as it sounds, I always thought that I couldn’t get pregnant.   I suffered with anorexia throughout my teens and well into my mid-twenties, I’ve trained for marathons almost every year after college, suffered from exercise addiction, and didn’t have a menstrual period for over 7 years.    In addition, my boyfriend and I have been having unprotected sex for over 6 years, and my doctor said  it was unlikely that I ovulated.     The day I found out I was pregnant in the middle of September,  I was shocked, overjoyed, and unhappy.  I was overjoyed, because I’ve always thought about having children and this was a blessing.  I was unhappy because I knew my boyfriend would be less than thrilled (which he was), I was just starting a new job in a my new career as a nurse, and as I said before  it wasn’t in the “perfect order”.  How was I going to handle this?  

Now, I am almost 4 months pregnant.  I’ve accepted my pregnancy fully and I’m very excited to meet the little person inside of me.   I’m working full-time  and I exercise gently. It continues to be difficult to work out the unknowns of  being pregnant and single, but with the support of my loving family, I know it will work out. 

  Being pregnant has made me appreciate my body.  It’s no longer about me anymore, but about my baby.