Small things you wish you knew before they happened to you.

[Enko]

I mean little things that surprised you when they happened to you and you wish you were pre warned about. Not personality traits 😁

For me I wish I had been prewarned that retainers can discolour and it's not due to you not cleaning them well enough.

Thank you for the concern, but it was more than 20 years ago. I don't even remember his name or even my GP practice at the time.

To be fair to him it was an initial assessment and I'd never had physio before so I had no idea what to expect - I sort assumed I would just tell him the problem (backache), hadn't occured to me he'd need to examine me. And he probably assumed when he asked that I would have thought ahead and be wearing sportswear or something with cover under my clothes, not a thong!

I had a course of treatment and he never did anything dodgy, and he did identify the root cause and correct it. So even with hindsight I think he was on the level.

He probably made sure he was more specific after that about what patients should wear though!

That when your milk comes in, your tits are really lumpy and visible from space. And that there is more than one hole in the nipple. I thought I’d broken my boobs when milk appeared out of holes I didn’t know were there, like a shower head!

yes the shower head & the spraying too me by surprise

That if you ever need DLA/ work related component of UC it can take up to 3 months for them to assess and another 3 to pay. Really wish we’d claimed a year ago when DH got ill rather than putting it off until we couldn’t afford to and hoping he’d get better and be able to go back to work. Also, that if you struggle through on savings rather than claim ESA you may be ineligible because you haven’t paid enough NI in the last 2 years.

This was quite exciting the first time it happened, for all the wrong reasons!

About after birth pains as your uterus contracts. I wondered if there was another one in there.

Wish I'd been warned that the first poo post childbirth feels like giving birth to another child. The most excruciating experience ever. Next time I will be downing the lactulose hourly!

This! And it gets worse the more children you have. It’s so so painful.

That when you go through the menopause your lady bits can atrophy ( basically means shrink and disappear including your clitoris )

This! I had two bits. At first I thought it was two tiny cysts. Then the little sacs burst and my tongues was red raw and kept bleeding. Then I realised every time I spoke something was ripping into my tongue. Then I realised bits of bone were growing from my gum. Freaked me out. Sterilised tweezers and had to dig them out and lo and behold they looked like tiny teeth with a pin sharp edge in each which was cutting my tongue. They were much bigger than I’d anticipated too as most was concealed by my gum. I’ve kept them out of macabre sick wonderment. I took them to the dentist when I next saw her and she was a bit bemused and said it’s common (it’s taken me over fifty years to find this out)!

Also, re menopause: that it’s not all stereotypical hot flashes and going off sex. In fact it made me more horny than I’d been in my entire life, I only had about five hot flashes and I’m now post meno, but it can fuck yo your mental health and makes you feel like you’ve got Alzheimer’s - the brain fog is crazy. Words are just there on the tip of your tongue but they just don’t come! Mind you HRT is a wonderful thing and can help with the latter issue (but not the former).

Afterpains. Yes. Jesus. I thought I was dying. No one told me!!!

Oh god yes the post pregnancy sweating! Why is no one honest about this shit

That wearing jeans (maternity ones)after giving birth is really painful when you sit down. Got dressed as being discharged and oh the car ride home was excruciating. Had never crossed my mind that my undercarriage would be swollen and painful.

Second time I wore lovely, soft jogging bottoms!

That cluster feeding exists.

When my first baby started feeding for (what seemed like) whole days and nights at a time I was convinced my milk must be not good enough / something was badly wrong.

Yes this.

At school we are just taught about how you get pregnant and how to avoid it.

I wish I'd of been forewarned about miscarriages and neonatal death. I was 21 when I gave birth and he died 2 hours after he was born.

I honestly just thought I would get pregnant and have a baby. I was not prepared for what was to come

Agree with this.

It’s kind of sad that most of these are around childbirth and early motherhood, goes to show how ill- informed we are as mothers. I, myself, can attribute to each and every one of these accounts.

We were never told about ovulation at school and that there is only a few days each month you can get pregnant it was just sex = pregnancy.

That I was going to get severe toothache on the Friday night before bank holiday and that I wouldn't be able to get an emergency appointment and now have 2 more days of intense face pain to work through until Tuesday.

That not exclusively breastfeeding would not mean my dc were ill, stupid and futureless. I went through hell with dc1 in particular and I will never, ever forgive the midwife who told me that breastfeeding was like feeding baby a very healthy salad, whereas formula feeding was like feeding a baby McDonald’s.

I wish I'd known how needy dogs are, and that I don't want to be needed!

Also this thread has made me SO glad that I don't want kids.

Swirl whiskey in your mouth it instantly takes pain away

No whiskey in the house just caramel vodka and the sugar in that would make my teeth explode I think

Yes to emptying bowels before giving birth unless you want to accidentally shit yourself 😓🫣

Yeah I don't think that would work 😬 111 have a dentist option they may be able to get you in somewhere