Expect the unexpected when you are expecting

I made it through an entire movie Saturday without crying or having to leave the theatre to find the nearest ladies’ room. I know, not something even remotely amazing for the average person, but quite a feat for a woman with a baby sitting on top of her bladder and hormones running amok.

Maybe it was because the movie, What To Expect When You Are Expecting, was so enjoyable primarily because I'm expecting, but as the movie turns out, there's not much, well, to expect when you are expecting because everything can be so unexpected.

Laughing about someone else's pregnancy woes was rather refreshing—I mean, my story of throwing up in the bathroom sink or on the sidewalk outside of work doesn't even remotely compare to Cameron Diaz throwing up into a trophy on national television. And I thought my pregnancy was pretty rough until watching Elizabeth Banks’ character go through every symptom in the book and then some. Acne? Hemorrhoids? Aches? Check, check and check.

But since I'm just past the halfway point, there were also some moments that made me think, Wow, I'm not ready for that! Like lack of bladder control. No thanks. Emergency C-section? Not so much. And while I'm past the first trimester when most (spoiler alert) miscarriages occur, no pregnant woman wants to be reminded of the possibility.

But I've known for a long time now that there's something ironic about pregnancy's cute little synonym “expecting” because you never really know what you are going to get—not that any part of parenthood is really predictable. Of course, predictability is not nearly as memorable as the awkward surprises.

And there were plenty of already-reached-parenthood-characters serving as reminders that kids are just as unpredictable—or even more so—than pregnancy. The dad group that the character not-so-ready for adoption joins in on has plenty of examples of that. There's the accident-prone four-year-old who tends to disappear for sections of scenes to get into mischief. The baby who screams if anyone else touches him. And what's with the dads over-accessorizing? I mean a baby carrier and a triple stroller? Stroller fans? And what's with the tube socks? Maybe they learned early there's no such thing as being over prepared when you have kids.

The ending of the movie was by far the best. Yes, there were those scenes with the happy parents and their babies—but is it wrong to laugh when the character who had no negative pregnancy symptoms (you know, the girl in the bikini and six inch heels at her own baby shower) wound up with the most unpredictable screaming twins? Since I wasn't the only one in the theatre laughing, probably not.