Hormones and Emotions

Last night dad-to-be and I were watching the BBC's Nature's Great Events. It's one of those beautiful nature programs that shows about animals. The episode we were watching was called, "The Great Feast" and it was amazing to watch. We got to see a baby sea lion being born and it was amazing to see how the mother reached around and pulled the pup out as the birthing finished and then lifted him to her nipple to feed. It made me a little teary eyed, I'll admit. 

Can you believe how adorable that pup is?
photo from bbc.co.uk

Then we got to see a baby humpback whale and its mother swimming all the way from Hawaii to Alaska to partake in The Great Feast. It was so touching to learn and see how the mother only swims as fast as her eight week old calf and especially how when the calf gets tired, she swims underneath him and supports him. Omgosh! That definitely made me tear up.

But then something awful happened. A great storm was brewing in the Pacific and the show took us back to the sea lions with their adorable little pups. Big waves started crashing onto the rocks on the coastline where the sea lions live. The mothers got protective and pulled the sweet little pups out of the water and tried to take them to higher ground. But the waves were coming too fast and too hard. The sweet little pup was overwhelmed and the mother was barking and trying to get to the pup. But then the pup got washed off the rock and into the water and I screamed, "NO!" with such passion I even shocked myself. The storm passed and the narrator said "...many survived, but not all were so lucky" as the mother lifted her limp pup off of the rocks. And I just couldn't help it, I started crying and I told dad-to-be "I can't watch this show anymore" and he looked over and saw me and was so concerned and quickly turned it off and gave me a big hug while I sobbed for that little seal pup and its mother. 

Just thinking about it now, I'm crying again. He was such a sweet little pup, such innocent eyes. He was so surprised when the waves came and swept him away. We had seen his birth and how his mother loved him so much. Then to see him dead and his devastated mother lifting him from the rocks. Oh, it's just so unfair! Dad-to-be held me and said, "Don't worry, our little pup will be okay" and I cried and cried and cried and got his t-shirt all teary. I love our little pup so much already and I couldn't bear seeing a fellow mother go through that. 

Today my out of control emotions continue. Not to such an extreme, but the hormones are still surging enough that when my blood glucose levels were perfect this morning and I didn't have to do the sugary drink test and all that, I cried then, too. It's so unbelievable to think of everything that is going on inside my body - the placenta, the baby growing, all of it happening naturally because of all the hormones. Pregnancy is such an incredible journey. It's definitely the most amazing thing I have ever done.