Think about it for a moment: what is it about a person that really defines them? What makes you like some people and dislike others? It's not their name, nor really their looks. Personality, I hear you say? Bingo. But what defines personality?
Very broadly speaking, personality is about behavioural traits, disposition and preferences. All of which changed for me as soon as the pregnancy hormones kicked in.
Take preferences for example: I used to be renowned for my affinity for chocolate, single malt whisky and strong black tea (so strong that you could split it with an axe), yet I now can't bear to even look at the stuff.
Sex? I used to like sex. Enough said.
Now to the behavioural traits. When not pregnant, I'm a night owl who can happily work till dawn, then go to the office and appear conscious. In my first trimester, I battled to stay awake past 7 p.m. I'm also a writer. who didn't write a word for three months while fighting morning sickness that strikes any time of day and feeling exhausted by the mere prospect of getting out of bed.
Pre-pregnancy, my disposition was that of an impatient irritable efficient highly organised person. I'm now calm, unstressed and forgetful. Perhaps when the baby's here I'll be unable to follow a straightforward logical argument. Perhaps the MCPs (male chauvinist pigs) are right: women are mentally inferior. You know, I used to be a feminist too, once upon a time, many many weeks ago.
I look at myself in the mirror, at the suddenly darkened nipples 3 times the size of my own, at the curved abdomen and docile eyes. I can recognise my exterior no more than I can my inner self. Soon even my name will sound foreign: it'll be changed to Mum.
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