I should start by saying I don't.
I have had the pleasure of getting to work with Jesuit Novice's as I share life at my job. This year one was staying in the home where I work. I was really blessed in some of our conversations. He really felt the importance of the sacred life that is beginning now and that got me thinking.
While I have always felt pregnancy is a sacred time, I haven't felt so in regards to myself. In regards to others, most assuredly but to me- I'm just waiting for it to be over. No sacred special miracles over here, just get me to the baby and possibly an epidural.
In our talking I realized I need to apply those sacred ideas to myself as well. That this is a time of so much potential. A new person and I am put in the specific unique place to be home where they form and grow. I will bring them to one of the most important days of their life- their birth! I am the place they find safety and calm especially in this new roaring storm that is the world. But it all begins now.
I'm not entering the sanctity of life debate with this, that's not the point. I know mother's that have tried and begged and charted and tempted and done treatments, suffered losses, miscarriages, and dashed hopes. To not value this time feels like a slap in the face to those women. If my pregnancy goes without complication in November I will have a healthy baby. That person is beginning now, their whole life- all they will be- I help begin that. How can this not be sacred? How can I not relish in this point. It's all innocence and beginnings and hope.
When I find myself saying "I just don't want to be pregnant anymore!!!!!" I will remember this. When I'm sick, achy, nauseated, and miserable. I'm going to remember that this is a sacred time. That this is to be cherished. This is my time to be enjoy the pregnancy with this child. To relish in that special closeness with this little one. That's why I love being pregnant. It's something kind of incredible.