why (my) gardening is harder than (my) pregnancy

It came to me as I was attempting to till soil with an axe (we had found a power tiller in our shed, but declared it not functional after an hour of tinkering and more blood shed than I care to admit): Gardening is a lot like pregnancy. Now, I've only had one pregnancy and that pregnancy was an accident resulting in an amazing adoption story (side note: that story was published on Offbeat Mama: http://offbeatmama.com/2009/09/open-adoption-birth-story). However, as I was taking a break and looking over my garden, heart alight with all the possibilities it offers, I realized that this garden has already been a lot more difficult than my pregnancy, and here is why:

- My body didn't set the stage for my garden. I had to plan, clear the top soil, till, plant seeds, and fertilize. With my pregnancy, the only thing I consciously did was till.

- When pregnant, my body gave in-your-face clues as to what kind of nutrients it needed. With the garden, I've had to research endlessly and hope I wasn't getting bad advice, reading it wrong, or confusing the plants.

- I've bled a lot for this garden without the benefit of people giving me drugs and telling me what to do.

- I wasn't allergic to most of the things pregnancy involved. With the gardening, it turns out that I am allergic to just about everything that produces pollen in the spring.

- If you're healthy, pregnancy doesn't involve a bunch of bugs. And it definitely doesn't involve birds eating everything before you get a chance.

- If you forget a prenatal vitamin a couple days, it's not cause for concern. If you forget to water a couple days, you could lose all that hard work.

- No one is sympathetic to your gardening aches and pains.

- Pregnancy doesn't require getting out of bed early (except to pee, then you can go back), changing out of your pajamas, or getting dirty.

When all is said and done, though, I can only hope that at the end of the season, my garden has brought me a tenth of the joy that giving birth has.