Ah, pregnancy sex. For many, it brings up mixed emotions and no small measure of anxiety. Parents.com did us the service of
uncensoring some of the most burning questions and offering medically sound answers. Now I'll break it down for you a little more.
"Q. So many women say they feel sexier pregnant, but I just feel fat and tired. I'm only two months along, and sex is the last thing on my mind.
A. It's not just you -- this is totally common! During the first trimester, your body is hard at work, which means you may feel exhausted, nauseous, and overwhelmed -- no wonder you're not in the mood. "Once you hit your second trimester, the nausea lifts and estrogen kicks in, which jump-starts your sex drive," says Lou Paget, author of
Hot Mamas: The Ultimate Guide to Staying Sexy Throughout Your Pregnancy and the Months Beyond. She advises that even if you're not up for intercourse, you can easily stay connected with your spouse by cuddling and kissing."
Many women feel sexier pregnant? Maybe I'm just splitting hairs here, but I think there's a difference between "feeling sexier" and
wanting to have sex. If there's so many women out there who feel sexier pregnant, I say, right on sisters. For
moi, wearing a short skirt and actually brushing my teeth makes me feel sexier. Having swollen ankles that look like giant pork sausages, vomiting at the smell of tortilla chips, and switching to elastic waistbands did not make me feel sexier. In any trimester.
But as they say, some people get the va-va-voom hormones, and some don't. Really, any change in mood, temperament, your body, or your shoe size during pregnancy is probably totally normal. Growing hair out of your ears? Normal. Need glasses now? Happens to lots of women. Want to throw a spatula at every third stranger who says, "Ooooh, you must be due any day now!" Ditto. If you're pregnant and one morning you wake up and you have turned into a giant cockroach, there's a section in
What To Expect When You're Expecting on that.
But could we take an informal poll? How many spouses would like it if pregnant spouse said, "I don't want to have intercourse right now. But I'd like to kiss and cuddle instead so we can stay connected." I'm just curious.
Next time: Will his penis hurt the baby?
