The Woes and Wows of Pregnancy

Woe:  I'm only 19 weeks and 12 extra pounds into this pregnancy, and my back is already feeling the strain...
Wow:  ...but all back pain is erased when my husband puts this awesome massage tool to use!  (This is a great comfort during labor, too, by the way!)

Woe:  Not-so-attractive random patches of spider veins are appearing on my legs...
Wow:  ...but still no stretch marks on my tummy!  (Yay for cocoa butter!) :-)

Woe:  My belly is getting big enough to occasionally get in the way, I'm starting to feel a slight shortness of breath, my strained ligament is a source of nagging discomfort, and sometimes I feel like someone is pushing out on my rib cage from within...
Wow:  ...but how amazing is God's design for the female body, able to adapt and accommodate a growing baby...or babies!

Woe:  Because of my prior cesarean, I have not been able to find a doctor who will grant me my wish for a trial of labor...
WOW:   ...but "I know that [God] can do all things and that no purpose of [His] can be thwarted" (Job 42:2); for "many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" (Proverbs 19:21)!

Woe:  We still have many more weeks of waiting until we meet these babies whom God has blessed us with...
WOW:  ...but God knows them already!

For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

(Psalm 139:13-16)

Wow:  "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them" (Psalm 127:3-5a)... even if the bearing of them is woeful!