Jan 23, 2020
By Sarina Gumness
As I write this article, I am going into my 12th week of pregnancy, which also means I have finally begun to tell people about this exciting news. Pregnancy has been very tough for me. People tell you about the normal symptoms but they do not prepare you to what extent that may lead. For me, my symptoms have been extreme. It’s been impossible to keep any food down and I find myself living on my bathroom floor in front of the toilet. I even drag a blanket in there because I know it’s going to be a while.
When you find out about your pregnancy, you want to tell everyone—but it’s become traditional to wait until you are about 12 weeks along and the chances of miscarriage are reduced. While pregnant I’ve learned that it gets kind of lonely. I felt very alone, and sometimes I still do. Of course I have my husband and my parents right along beside me in this process. But you feel this loneliness because, at the end of the day, the person going through this is you and no one is going to fully understand although everyone will try to. Now, I do not have the full lesson about how to avoid this loneliness because it’s absolutely normal. Something I have learned through this is that no matter what, even when you feel alone, God is right beside you.
It took me a couple weeks but I eventually started to say a little prayer every time during these throw-up sessions. I prayed that any discomfort this baby could ever feel be put on me. I’ve realized this sickness is going to have the greatest payoff and I have no arguments. At the end of the day little prayers can bring such comfort. I have never been a big praying type, I find it hard to sit down and just pray my guts out— because the second I’m feeling something I just need to get it off my chest. That may mean praying a sentence a hundred times a day or just saying a comment to God like, “please help me here, thank you.”
At the beginning of this article I did not know where I was going with it and maybe this is me just ranting about the things that I’ve been holding in. But I hope this brings a little encouragement to just one person out there. Maybe some of you wanted to know a little more about the girl you read from every month: Hi, I’m Sarina Gumness and I’m pregnant with my first kid, scared out of my mind, and not absolutely sure what I’m doing— but we can all get through this with a little bit of prayer. If you’re in a situation where you feel lonely, I pray there’s a pay off for you as well. And at the end of the day, I’ve got your back and so does God.