We nurture our pregnant women, for this sense of love is caring for two.
In species that reproduce sexually the relative vulnerability of the female during pregnancy, birth and motherhood is offset by chivalrous behaviour of males. In a modern society women need a great education and full choice of what they wish to accomplish in the lifetime, and that may or may not include motherhood. Yet because of this basic element in sexually reproducing species the society (males and females) will either become chivalrous (protective) of females or misogynistic/patriarchal. Thus both chivalry and misogyny/patriarchy become aspects of wider society directed at women yet carried out by both genders for personal gain.
He smiled, "You're eating for two, I'm caring for two. Let me be your empathy rock."
She sat in window-light that felt all the warmer for the growing belly she cradled.
Each pregnancy is a new day, a new start, a new sense of normal, the feeling of your reality about to shift upon its axis.
Pregnancy can be a beautiful thing, it is the miracle of life, the wonder of making a new person, of welcoming a sacred and sentient being into your heart and soul. It can also be pain, discomfort and challenging on an emotional level. Hormones change, the body transforms to nurture and carry the growing baby. It is, as with marriage, not a thing to enter into lightly, yet with a solemn and mature commitment.
A sense of motherhood begins so early in pregnancy.