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Take Back...or Don't: Extending Those Pregnancy Benefits

Published 06.15.2009 | Permanent Link | Comments (19)

Hey, I have a crazy idea. Let's NOT talk about vaginal tears or depression or inner-tube midsections today! Let's talk about something light and fluffy and possibly a little childish and scammy that I'm SURE the rest of you are too mature and responsible to pull.

You know how certain household tasks generally fall to other people during pregnancy? Either for health/safety reasons or simply because the smell of fabric softener made you barf? I have a confession. Eight months later, I have not ONCE done any of the following chores for no other reason except that I was pregnant last year and it hasn't yet occurred to my husband that I am still coasting on his simple force of habit:

1) The litter box. I'm not even sure where we keep the pan liners anymore.

2) Opening and disposing of the contents of various Plastic Food Containers of Fuzzy Mystery from the back of the fridge.

3) Anything that requires a ladder or standing on chairs.

4) Mowing the lawn.

5) Painting in non-well-ventilated areas. Or in well-ventilated areas, if we're being completely honest.

On the flip side, a pregnant friend told me that she couldn't WAIT to take over litter box duty again because she was so tired of having to nag her husband about it every week. But she was terribly upset at the prospect of no longer getting that pint of ice cream he'd obediently picked up for her every Friday after work for nine months. Sort of like how I was excited to be able to rearrange the living room furniture all by myself, but annoyed that I wasn't able to dictate our dinner menu every night of the week to cater to my cravings and whims.

What pregnancy benefits are you still clinging to? Are you still enforcing an embargo on Microwaved Popcorn Smell? Do you still expect your partner to do all the heavy lifting? Still justifying the daily chocolate pudding cup habit?


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Comments (19):

Elizabeth said:

I haven't done the litter box since spring 2006. I'm never taking that one back!

Posted on June 16, 2009 09:28

anne said:

I got out of trash and the litter box in my "prenup" but it was further cemented by the pregnancy.

Painting I generally prefer to do...because only I do it right. :)

There are plenty of things that I look forward to with being pregnant again though. Definitely the food and food-related demands. And really, any chore that you don't feel like doing because you're "too tired," or "too huge," or "I'm growing a person here, dangit!"

Ahh, the perks.

Posted on June 16, 2009 10:50

cindy said:

I just changed the litter box for the first time since October 2003. My husband finally asked me last week why he is still doing it. I stepped up and cleaned it. I figure I had a good run of it.

Posted on June 16, 2009 11:00

Hillary said:

I was hitting the end of the no-litter box road when I got knocked up again. Problem solved.

Posted on June 16, 2009 11:46

Kimberly said:

I might be SOL. I had my 6-week postpartum appointment yesterday, and when I asked my husband if he had any questions he wanted me to ask the OB, my *dear* husband wanted to ensure I'd be OK to start mowing the grass again. Dammit.

Posted on June 16, 2009 13:38

Rayna said:

No sauerkraut in the house. Period.
About 5 months in to my 2nd pregnancy I woke up extremely nauseous and very concerned since I was well past morning sickness. Come to find out some sauerkraut was cooking away in the kitchen for a party later that day. I couldn't go in the kitchen at all and ten years later it isn't any better. I don't care for it so it just makes sense to keep the embargo!

Posted on June 16, 2009 13:51

hydrogeek said:

@Kimberly: I told my husband I would happily mow the grass again whenever he could come nurse the baby for me so I could go outside for a few hours. Problem solved.

Posted on June 16, 2009 14:35

Jenn said:

Full disclosure? I've never used a lawnmower. In. My. Life. (oh, and I'm 34).

Honestly? I didn't really get any chores "taken away" from me while I was pregnant. I know, that sounds really awful, but my hubby, the sweetie he is, just helped me a little more with the daily household chores.

He's still helping me. And I'm letting him. That way we both have more time to play with The Munchkin, who's now 4 months old.

Posted on June 16, 2009 14:48

Kathleen said:

I'm pretty much with anne- although I even ended up with the painting during pregnancy whether I wanted it or not, thanks to low-VOC paint.

Celebrating twenty weeks of baby and no litter box. :)

Posted on June 16, 2009 17:56

Heidi said:

First of all, Kimberly....Thanks for the LOLZ.

My BF used to wash the dishes every night beause just the feel of soggy, chewed up, nasty-azz food brushing mah delicate hands would make me barf. (And to be honest CSI came on right after dinner and I have a weird thing for Grissom.)

I got away with that for like 10 months, with "I don't know, honey, it just still makes me sick to my stomach. Where's the remote, by the way? Looove yoooou." Until we moved and the new house has a dishwasher. Now all I have to do is rinse the plates off and plunk them in the dishwasher. Damn you, technology, DAMN YOU!

Posted on June 16, 2009 19:50

Catherine S said:

I didn't get any chores taken away from me either!! We don't have a cat and I do not, will not, ever, un un, mow a lawn. But was expected to do everything else, including cleaning, cooking, and install ceiling fans at 7 months, climbing ladders and all. Love the husband but he just didn't really get the whole pregnant thing.

Posted on June 16, 2009 20:51

SUPAHMAMA! said:

dove's unconditional chocolate for dinner followed up by an ENORMOUS bowl of golden grahams. and when i say enormous, i mean half a box...

Posted on June 17, 2009 02:23

geek anachronism said:

I stopped cooking in the first trimester, but took up washing up because I felt guilty. At least that was until it started killing my back. Then I got high blood pressure and got limited to about two chores a day, if that. So i usually did a load of laundry and maybe a bit of cooking. Mostly I lay on the couch feeling sorry for myself. Demanding food occasionally. Oh and absolutely refusing to vacuum because it set off BH contractions.

Mind you at 26 weeks we moved house and there's only so much you can refuse to do...

One week out from the birth and I tend to avoid the laundry, vacuuming and taking out the rubbish. But I've always hated taking out the rubbish.

Posted on June 17, 2009 06:30

Olivia said:

Two and a half months post partum and I'm back to doing all the chores I did before pregnancy. I took back the litter box about a month after giving birth because the cats were mine before marriage and I feel obligated. And, I just helped mow the lawn last weekend.

Really, I felt too guilty letting him do all the heavy lifting since he is now a SAHD. He's responsible for the bulk of child care, and he does the dishes more than I do and cooks.

Posted on June 17, 2009 08:51

kathy said:

I took back litter box duty the second I could squat down to do it. God bless my husband, but he SUUUUCKED at litter box duty. I'm dreading that the next pregnancy, to be honest. I'd rather just do it myself.

It took me awhile to remember, after coming back to work, that I can no longer get out of going to radiology:( X-rays and CTs requiring our presence are back on my to-do list, which stinks because I hate those tasks and was thrilled to have them gone. I still have moments of, "hey, wait...damn. I CAN do that."

Posted on June 17, 2009 13:55

Ellie said:

Every time I hit the point post partum where I could resume the chores again I got knocked up. Sorry Honey, you're gonna have to clean the litter box for another ten months! Oops!

Posted on June 18, 2009 18:18

Louise said:

Putting the older child to bed. When I was puking all over the place for the first half of my second pregnancy my husband took that one over for me, and he still does it because now she prefers it (I get the Glare of Death when I try putting her to bed now), and heck, I deal with her all day, the least he can do is get her in her crib at night.

And he takes care of the trash. And that chore is Never Going To Be Mine Again.

Posted on June 19, 2009 13:50

Kate said:

I've gotten back all my household chores, but I teach 4th grade and was heavily pregnant for much of the school year. My kids just got into the habit of doing everything for me...picking up things I dropped, getting things from across the classroom for me, bringing me chairs out to recess, etc.. Then I came back from maternity leave, and they were just so in the habit and they LIKED helping so much that I just kind of...let them keep it all up.

Posted on June 24, 2009 19:06

Nicole said:

He carries the laundry upstairs and will often wash it on weekends. In fact, he'll do most things I ask, without complaint (except cooking and washing the dishes - but he'll eat and dry them :)). Especially when I'm trapped on the sofa with a ravenous 5 week old.

Posted on June 25, 2009 11:43

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