Why does no one talk about how awful pregnancy actually is?

Ladies, I really need to know: why don’t we talk more openly about how miserable pregnancy can be?

I love that I’m pregnant. I genuinely do. But I don’t love being pregnant.

I’ve always been the healthy one, super independent, rarely ever got sick. The last time I was ill was COVID in 2020. Beyond that? Not even a cold. I’ve taken care of my body, always ate clean, worked out, lived alone for five years, thrived on my independence.

Now I’m in my first trimester (around 3 months in), and I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Every. Single. Day.

I don’t even have morning sickness, nausea, or vomiting, so I know I have it easier than many women. But the exhaustion is unreal. It’s beyond fatigue. Some days, I can’t even get through a shower without help. I had a complete breakdown recently and had to ask my husband to help me bathe and put on clothes. I used to be so active, so capable. Now I feel like a shadow of myself.

And because I’m still in the early stages, I haven’t told work. So I’m expected to show up, smile, and function like everything’s fine when internally I feel like I’m crawling through mud. I don’t recognize my own body anymore. I want to crawl out of it. I feel like I’m losing control over everything that once made me feel like “me.”

I’m entirely dependent on my husband now (thank God he’s amazing). But I still cry sometimes out of sheer frustration. My mental health has taken a nosedive. My productivity is down, my career feels like it’s slowing, I can’t eat as clean as I used to, can’t work out like I used to, it’s like my whole identity is on pause. And I hate this feeling.

So here are my honest questions: • Why don’t women talk about this more? • Why does every new mom say “It’s so worth it when you see your baby” when it feels like my life is falling apart? • How do people have more than one kid when this is the toll it takes? • Why is pregnancy so romanticized when it can be so brutal? • Why are we being gaslit into believing this is some glowing magical phase?

I’m not trying to be negative. I just want honest, unfiltered conversation. Because right now I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of fake positivity and Instagram bump pics that say “glowing goddess” while I’m here barely functioning.

Please tell me I’m not alone.