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)

[Loopy5000]

i'd forgotton about the sqirty milk ItchyFoot. Sooo surprising the first time... I laughed out loud and squirted all over the place in hysterics!

[CattyMcCatface]

The room looked like a bloodbath after my delivery. The cleaner gasped when she came in. I'm such a bleeder.

[Toothfairy7]

HYPEREMESIS GRAVIDARUM absolutely NOT morning sickness... 100x worse ... Definitely wasn't expecting that.. Almost expected to feel sicky as a rite of passage in pregnancy... But not that!

[Toothfairy7]

Oh, and the pain of breast engorgement worse than giving birth !

[Badders123]

I just wasn't expecting to feel so weak
But I was anaemic in pg then lost a lot of blood at delivery (4th degree tear)
So perhaps not so surprising really
I fainted when trying to shower and woke up naked and wet in a pool of blood and clots with 5 people round me
Dh had to do all the nappy changes for the first 48 hours coz whenever I bent over I went funny

[redsky7]

A condition called PUPPS which gave me a itchy rash all over during my third trimester. Apparently only affects twin pregnancies. Found a brilliant pine tar soap that cleared it up in days.
Pelvic pain - it was agony getting out of bed.
Insomnia
Swollen feet that lasted for at least 4 months after birth.
Clumps of my hair shedding (more than I expected)
My skin got darker during pregnancy (especially on my feet and face). I lightened up about 6 weeks after.

[Postchildrenpregranny]

My children are grown up but I will never forget that fleeting moment when you look into the eyes of a new born and think ' I know you .And you know everything' .They look so wise .
My pregnancies and labour were both thankfully relatively straightforward .
I can remember being amazed that my body knew exactly what to do .Even if my mind struggled a bit ...

[PeppaIsMyHero]

That when they ask you to pee in a jug after the birth, you should stop at about 100ml to confirm there is no blood in it and not keep going to fill the 2lt jug while your nether regions unexpectedly imitate Niagra Falls.

Colic can result in near-insanity.

Not to panic if you don't love your baby immediately: you will still become a great mum.

[Skywest]

During pregnancy I had pulsatile tinnitus for the first time. I still get it now 3.5 years later!

[AWaspOnAWindowInAHeatwave]

That 10cm is roughly the diameter of a pack of Dairylea cheese triangles. Never been able to look at those fuckers the same again in the supermarket.

[freezermalfunction]

Another one

You will moult like a husky after giving birth
With waist length hair it was interesting

[LBOCS2]

Spd. Your bones actually grind together.

Yes! If I pressed my knees together when I was on my side in bed, I could actually hear my pelvis creaking. Gross.

[DuchessOfPodd]

During birth - that nobody, not my midwife and not the NCT had taught me anything about breathing techniques to manage pain. Clueless.
Post birth - That breast feeding would be so difficult and effing painful. ( I got there in the end though and carried on for years)
That clumps of my hair would fall out and clog the bath plug as if I must be going through chemo.
How terribly exhausted I was, couldn't walk up my own stairs and couldn't stand up straight for 3 days as my diaphragm was so bruised from trying to push.

[2anddone]

The sickness could last all day and well past the 1st 3 months (I lost a stone in the first 6 months of pregnancy).
The carpal tunnel, I had it with both of my dc and have just had an op to fix it as it came back after 7 years!!
How good the bed bath, tea and toast feels after giving birth.
How awful that first pooh is after cs.
How if you end up with an emergency cs they don't suck out the blood and give you a miny tummy tuck when they sew you back up!! Honestly thought they did!!!

[georgetteheyersbonnet]

Oh and to anyone reading this thread who hasn't experienced it and seriously wants to know what pushing feels like: it doesn't feel like an "iurge" at all, it feels exactly like your body has decided to vomit downwards (exactly the same involuntary violently heaving muscular sensation as when you vomit, only downwards through your abdomen).

My pushes came in batches of three - I couldn't push at all in between and every time it happened it happened exactly three times and then stopped again. I could sort of push with the heaving but my body was essentially doing it itself.

[jobrum]

I'm glad other people mentioned the pregnancy sweatiness; I couldn't find anything about it, like I was a lone sweaty weirdo. It occurred during the last couple of months of pregnancy and only when I slept. The sensation of sweat dripping woke me up. Even my shins were sweaty! And it wasn't because I was hot, it was the middle of winter and I tried sleeping out the covers and just ended up wet and cold.

I bought loads of satinary towels and stopped bleeding after about a week, same with breast pads. But I wasn't prepared for the nipple pain! Or how uncomfortable my breats would feel. I was surprised at how hearing my baby cry would make me feel too. My mil kindly took her when we were at their's for an evening meal to allow me to eat a meal all the way through with no interuptions. I could hear dd crying in the next rrom, she'd just been fed so wasn't starving, wasn't suffering any harm but her cry made me physically hurt. I would fet pains in my breasts, feel panicky. The intensity of my feelings towards her really took me by surprise.

[greathat]

All about hyperemesis and SPD. I had shot pregnancies

[greathat]

Shit

[Doman]

Developing asthma during pregnancy (and remaining asthmatic afterwards).
The blood. Dear god, the blood.
Post-natal incontinence.
Realising that it didn't matter that my husband ended up at the 'business end' as baby #1 emerged (and that it hasn't changed anything).
Having a epidural that worked on one side of my body and not the other (soon remedied).
Coping with the fact that my body is basically ruined and not actually caring :)

[Reebs123]

Burping
Farting
Tiredness/jelly legs
Nosebleeds

[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.

[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

[SeaEagleFeather]

That's appalling biddy

[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!

[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