Junopoly

John and I finally saw the much-discussed Juno last night. Watching movies about my fellow preggos makes me more accepting of my state. Overall, I found Juno a light, refreshing take on the subject of adoption. It's unusual (and wonderful) to see a movie showcase how much adoption can do for the many people involved---the baby, the biological parents, and the adoptive parents. I definitely found a plot twist with the adoptive father to be weird; John and I were agreed that this twist could have been left out.
I went to bed after the movie thinking long and hard about what it would be like to go through pregnancy as a high school student. While the movie hints that Juno's friends are ignorant of her emotions (the scene in which her best friend finds it "boring" that Juno is watching the adoptive mother play with a little girl at the mall), the film does seem to undervalue how difficult a challenge Juno embraces. Not only would the pregnancy itself be unimaginably trying (physically, emotionally, and socially), any mother would struggle with the choice of whether she really could give her baby to another family.
With all this pensiveness and empathy in my system last night, my baby twisted and kicked for the better part of my sleep hours. I found a little body part (a hand? a foot?), and held on, thankful for my gift of motherhood and for the unconditional support John gives me. I couldn't do this alone.