Kristen Bell spoke candidly to Flare Magazine for their December issue about the lack of connection she had with her unborn daughter during her pregnancy. “I kept saying to Dax in all sincerity during my pregnancy, ‘I just don’t know how I’m going to like her as much as I like the dogs.’ I was being serious. Because I f–king love my dogs; they are my children. I love people the more I know them, and I didn’t know her. It could’ve been a water bottle in my belly, that’s about how connected I felt to her during my pregnancy. But within about 24 hours after she came out, my hormones reset, and they reprogrammed my feelings about her.” This caught my attention because I too felt similar to this during my first pregnancy. I didn’t necessarily doubt that I would like my unborn son as much as my dear dogs, but I just didn’t feel a true connection to him during pregnancy. I think that what was happening for me was that I obviously knew that he was my child and that I would obviously love and care for him for forever and ever. But I was going off of logical thought and not actual emotion. I don’t know if I would compare him to a water bottle (although that’s pretty darn funny, Kristen), but I do understand where she’s coming from. That unborn baby truly is a stranger. You don’t really know them at all yet. It’s a very weird and complex feeling if you ask me. In fact, all of pregnancy and at least the early part of parenthood is full of weird and complex feelings. But because those feelings are typically accompanied by incredible feelings of happiness, I think that allows us to handle everything better. It’s almost like many of the negative (or weird or confusing or frustrating) feelings get balanced out by the pure joy of being a parent. Talk about a freakin’ roller coaster ride, huh? 🙂
Photo Credit: Flare
Kind Kiddo 