Things you only learned about pregnancy and birth once you were committed

[BestZebbie]

Inspired by the thread about giving women more information about natural birth.... What happened to you/ your friends during pregnancy and birth that came as a total surprise?
I'll start with:
Temporary deafness in late pregnancy (probably fluid related, like swollen ankles)
Arthritis post-pregnancy, apparently triggered by it
Pains when the placenta implanted (meaning that I thought it was all going wrong)

[abbinobb]

That has and air turns you into a twat, but it wears off so quickly that you get that 'morning after a massive piss up cringe' feeling about 100 times per 10 minutes

Singing salt n pepa 'ah push it, push it reeeaaalll goooooood!" Between pushes was a particularly shameful moment

[Spudlet]

I wish someone had told me how long a tear could take to heal. It would have saved me a lot of tears and panic when, after six weeks, I finally plucked up the courage to take a look with a mirror.

It is all healed now though (7 months later - not that it took that long to heal). I can even have sex again or could if we weren't both totally shattered

[TaLLyHOnellie]

Not to worry! Figured it out!

[TaLLyHOnellie]

What's PGP?

[LuluJakey1]

That DH would just turn into an absolutely besotted, emotional heap as soon as Ds arrived. He still is 20 months later.

That I, who had never been maternal, would just have this ache of love for a baby instantly. It was a physical lurch when I held him and looked at him and he gazed at me. [I found out later he couldn't actually focus his eyes on me at that point]

That my phobia about vomit and poo would just disappear and nappies and sick would become a daily obsession for me and DH. The hours we have spent discussing DS's poo !

[emmantfc]

That you could get through pregnancy without any morning sickness, cravings, aversions, pelvic pain or heartburn at all

That meeting a friend's newborn at 18 weeks pregnant could cause your breasts to leak and this could continue throughout the rest of the pregnancy

That contractions could start on Tuesday morning but baby might not arrive until Friday lunchtime, and that 'staying active' during early labour is idiotic because 3 days later when you're bone-achingly exhausted, you could fall asleep standing up, in between pushes.

That natal hypnotherapy might not diminish the pain but could mean you focus enough on breathing to get through 60+ hours of labour with no pain relief.

That every single midwife, consultant, paediatrician, nurse and doctor involved could be professional, kind, compassionate, helpful and encouraging.

That a plastic jug could become your best post-birth bathroom friend.

That there is no sleep to be had on a postnatal ward so you could be sent home the day after with a newborn baby you have no idea how to care for, having not slept for the best part of a week - which is terrifying (and nine weeks later you'll still not have slept for more than 3 consecutive hours at any point).

[mrsmugoo]

I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of hormones on day 3 and the baby blues tears at 5pm on the dot every day for the first fortnight. 2nd time round I was expecting it and didn't get it at all.

[kelper]

I've just started reading this and it made me cry, I had no idea remembering DS' pregnancy and birth would make me feel like that :(
No-one told me that i would have DS at 10am, tear so badly i required 200 stitches, but that I wouldn't get those stitches until 7pm that evening.
No-one told me that I would absolutely suck at breastfeeding, that i would express for 4 months feeling like the most rubbish mum ever, and would be made to feel shit by every professional I met (this was 9 years ago though)
However, no-one told me my awesome DS would be rolling over in his hospital crib at 2 days (no-one believed us until they saw it) and that I would love him so much my heart would ache.
I also had the most huge craving during the last 3 months for lavender. It drove DH crazy as he's not a fan, but my whole house was lavender scented 😂
I only have one DS, I don't think I could go through it again ;)

[randomsabreuse]

With the spatial awareness, I kept trying to turn sideways to get through narrow gaps, which made the situation worse... probably once a day ... how did I not learn!

[abbinobb]

greyhorses oh god the boob pain, I was expecting it to be sore boobs like you get before your period but it's more like someone filling your boobs up with cement until they're almost exploding.

[xxxbingbunnyxxx]

Kidney stones!! Got one about 6-7 months after, not common, but does happen, blooming painful. And pain after the birth but not lower back pain, strained a few muscles there!

[mrsmugoo]

Complete lack of spacial awareness in pregnancy. I constantly walked into things and couldn't reverse park the car for toffee!

[KatherineMumsnet]

We are just moving this to classics, folks.

[catlass]

That you would have lochia for weeks after. I remember thinking it would be a few days like a period. I asked my midwife how long I would bleed for and when she said 6 weeks I was

[Greyhorses]

I was prepared for the agony of birth by the millions of horror stories people loved to tell me.

What I wasn't prepared for was my milk coming in and it being agony while drying up as I didnt bf. I couldn't even put my arm by my side as they were rock solid even under my armpits
In desperation I resorted to cabbage which made me smell like school dinners and didn't help, I cried for days every time I moved!!

[Rockingaround]

Klaxon ...and did like this thread

[Osirus]

How intense my feelings for my newborn daughter would be. It felt like my chest was being crushed.

How emotional my DP would be. He cried quite a lot during the first week!

How I would feel towards my DP's family leading up to and after birth. They were very overbearing towards the end and constantly visiting me and texting for any news. It drove me nuts and I ended up hiding everytime I heard a car pull up in the street! Even my cats became nervous everytime they heard a car door close!

My DD is 5 weeks old and I still feel weird around his family, particularly his mother, who is very nice. I hate anyone who is not my family or friend holding my baby. I have an irrational fear that they will run off with her! I feel bad but I can't help it.

I can't get my head around that I have to share the most precious thing in my life with people that I barely know simply because they are related to my DP.

[LuluJakey1]

Actually, the hormones during pregnancy. There were about 3 tims- each lasting a couple of weeks, where I was vile to DH- didn't want him on the same planet never mind in the same room.Completely irrational- he had done nothing to warrant it.

[trinesrad]

Pelvic discharge near the due date, bloody stuff just keeps coming (though only with DS2).
Sciatica, never thought I would walk properly again.
Now this one will sound weird. I didn't have any friends/peers with children when I had my first so had no idea what to expect. Had a pretty horrid birth and was out of it for 12 hours or so afterwards. So the first time I went to change DS1 the umbilical cord had started to dry. Now I don't know what I expected to see but it was shrivelled and green-ish. I burst into tears because I thought he was going mouldy. He wasn't (ha).
Oh yeah, the hormones!!!!!! After the birth I was a bit of a fruit loop with DS1.

[KiwiNomad]

I had a very particular cumin scented or musky smell during pregnancy which put me off that spice for sale a good few years. Also waters didn't break all at once which delayed labour and eventually resulted in c section. Oh and in hindsight would have gone for another section vs forceps. Things are well and truly misshapen

[MumzieMel]

Horrific palpitations in the last two months which stopped me from sleeping, so exhaustion exacerbated it, lots of tests but went as soon as I had baby
My entire body swelled as I was two weeks over due and I looked noticeably huge!

[SeaEagleFeather]

That's appalling biddy

[BiddyJ]

Student nurse calling me a spoilt bitch when I was in labour with my first. I was a terrified, agonised teen and my mum & sis had popped out when I again passed (18 hours into 23 3/4 labour I was begging for epidural for hours and "they where too busy") I kept passing out between tiredness and pain! Apparently my screams where upsetting the other mothers who had had their epidurals. I was treated with prejudice because there was no father there, my son nearly died as the cord was around his neck and I was bleeding badly by this stage and unconscious again, my sister slapped me awake and the nurse got her nail under the cord enough to get it cut. After seeing my precious 20yro ds they whisked him away and brought in a load of medical students without asking me, I was lying there blood everywhere, bottom half open to the world, so I grabbed the gas and air and knocked myself clean out again! Thankfully the day staff where amazing and took my complaints seriously, they helped me a lot because it's damn scary being handed 8pounds8ozs of pure starving boy when all the other babies are wee 5-6 pound ones and he looked a month old already

[LuluJakey1]

That it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be I was terrified and it was all very straightforward.

I couldn't believe how much I peed for about a week afterwards.

How down to the bone tired looking after a tiny baby could make me feel.

My shape would never be the same - I am thinner than I was before being pregnant but a different shape.

How bizarre and not in control of my mouth I would be on gas and air.

[Reebs123]

Burping
Farting
Tiredness/jelly legs
Nosebleeds