Things about pregnancy that no one tells you

[CBear6]

I'm starting to remember the weird things I noticed when pregnant with DS, mainly because they're happening again with this one, and at the time I wondered why no one ever mentions these things, not even the books (or at least the ones I read).

Things like:

• rolling over in bed becomes a test of strength, patience, and momentum. It's all about timing the pivot and the flop and using Whatever is in reach (sorry DH) for leverage

• your nipples get huge and change colour

• morning sickness isn't just in the morning, sometimes it's all day and all night too

• the random hormone-fuelled dreams

• the hair. It'll either stop growing and go all lank or it'll grow like weeds. And it's not just the hair on your head that's affected

• skin tags. For whatever reason they're common in pregnancy. I didn't know this until the doctor told me so when I got one on the end of my nipple, it turned black (the tag not the nipple)

I've actually had to sit on the toilet this is so funny! And true.

I can't kiss dh at the moment or even let him breathe in my direction. I had food poisoning a few weeks ago I thought I had quite a strong pelvic floor. Apparently I can't throw up with out wetting myself

Glad to hear these things aren't just me.

I had no idea that I could have quite serious bleeds and still be pregnant!

Dr says that whilst it is uncommon to bleed during pregnancy it is not necessarily the start of a miscarriage - who knew?!

I bled on and off all the way through with DS and was told it's not normal but it's common.

Hi Rick, we meet again (hope all is well with you)! I'm with you and cbear on the bleeding front. And the discovery that noone really knows that much about what goes on during the first 20 weeks!

I am now frantically doing pelvic floor exercises as I did a massive hayfever sneeze yesterday and it turns out I now do a little wee when I sneeze!

Oo and one more - that i would keep panty liner companies in business.

The " well meaning friends" who just have to tell you every horrible pregnancy/ labour/ miscarriage story they know whilst your still pregnant.
Also how you worry every time you sneeze or get constipated that your going to bring on labour!.

Hey everyone!!!
Im abit new, well very new to this as this is my first!
im about 6-7 weeks and have experienced the nausea but havent actually puked yet (to be honest im hopeing thats all i get on that front im abit of a wuss with actualy being sick!!)
iv got the sore boobies that feel like they both weigh the same as a fully grown elephant!
As for the smell i seem to have a supersonic sniffer i swear i can almost smell what 4 doors down are having for their tea!!
I get cramp first thing on a morning and its not when im in bed it tends to be when im trying to hold my boobs to stop them from hurting when im coming down the stairs!!
I havent got to the constipation yet iv got quite the opposite! And have had for about a month!
As for the other half anything he does seems to irritate me poor thing he gets me what i ask for but low and behold theres something wrong with it haha!!
I was told just before i found out i was pg that i might not be able to have kids so im actualy loving every bit of it!

Thanks bigmac :) DS turned out just fine and I've had a really smooth ride this pregnancy compared to his, thankfully.

Congratulations on your pregnancy Danielle! I was the opposite to constipated early in this pregnancy too, it's apparently down to hormones and either extreme is perfectly normal. Ginger really helps with the nausea, ginger tea or biscuits or even pop. I also found that I could hold onto carbonated drinks easier than flat drinks so I drank lots of lemonade and fizzy water. Eat little and often, even if you don't feel like it because hunger makes the sickness worse, keep crackers or fruit with you always and just graze as often as you can. Eating as soon as possible after you wake up helps too and giving into cravings can help - I found that virtually the only foods I could stand were the ones I was craving. If it gets to the pukey stage I found that a dose of Gaviscon first thing on a morning helped a bit, I don't know how or why it works but the nurse at my doctors surgery recommended it, I still felt sick but 90% of the time it stopped me from actually being sick. Pregnancy is wonderful, weird as hell but wonderful.

I'd like to add time to the list. No one ever mentions that time magically slows once your countdown reaches single figures. Seven weeks to go and I swear it's taking years.

Baby brain has kicked in too. I completely forgot what I planned to make for tea, had to actually ring DH at work and ask him if he could remember me mentioning anything to him about it. Then I went to the shops for bread but came home with an apple pie and some tortilla wraps, it was only after I put them away that I remembered the bread.

The inevitable effect of physically slowing down. In my head in racing about at a brisk pace as normal, in reality I'm waddling about at approx 2 miles an hour with all the grace of a weeble. The shops are about a quarter of a mile walk away, nothing pre-pregnancy, early pregnancy, and mid-pregnancy but now takes me nearly half an hour if I'm also pushing DS's buggy.

hi, i've only read the 1st couple of posts in this thread so far, but i think in sex ed at school, rather than just tell u u can get pregnant whatever time of month it is, even if he withdraws 1st etc etc, they should talk about what its actually like being pregnant. as no-one ever talks about discharge, all the aches and pains, constipation etc, you only discover this when u fall pregnant 4 the 1st time, and even then a lot of it you wouldnt talk to your friends about. im sure it would make a lot of teenagers a lot more careful!

Know what Jimmijam, you're absolutely right. The MWs should arrange something with the school nurses and actually invite pregnant women along to the lessons to tell them honestly what it's like.

My SIL was 16 when DS was born and I kept emphasising to her all of the bad points. Not that they're particularly bad bad but I really played it up and exaggerate it just to put her of any ideas she had about having babies anytime soon, her older sister was pregnant too along with a few of her school friends and I was worried she might think that since everyone else was having babies she may as well too. I even went on about cost of baby things and after DS was born I told her stories of stitches, weakened pelvic floor, MWs and students getting face-to-face with your fanny, etc.

She's now 18 and not pregnant :)

Don't want to be a party pooper because this thread is meant to be funny (I think?):) but for me the worst is the WORRYING! I mean seriously - you are so out of control of what's happening (aside form eating healthy etc) and there isn't much you can do sometimes but there's always this little niggling voice in the back of your head - well, for me at least!
I worried before my scans, when the baby wasn't moving yet, when it doesn't move, when it moves too much, when I accidentally ate/drank/touched something I shouldn't have etc etc etc etc

phew it's exhausting sometimes!!! And then, of course, when you have the baby it just gets worse (probably?) ;)

I know it's old but I've just found this thread and love it.

I'm now about 62 weeks pregnant :D ok, not really but I'm 41+2, it's getting ridiculous now.

Lol, I too have been waking up with drool on the pillow. I thought it was cos I usually sleep on my back and now have to sleep on my side.

Being more prone to mosquito bites... apparently they LOVE pregnant women and they already love me.

At this point, everyone texting saying 'any news yet? Any news yet? Any news yet?'. I've stopped replying. I know they mean well but it's bloody annoying. Now they've taken to asking when I'm gonna be induced... just rude if you ask me. I've pretty much gone into hibernation. Phones have been driving me nuts. If I go to the toilet, phone will ring downstairs straight away. If I have a nap, phone will start ringing like mad. If I turn off phones, people get worried and start asking why I'm not answering the phone and if I've gone into labour. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

I've actually had it pretty ok though, apart from the whole not being able to sleep great and some horrible heartburn towards the end... nothing Rennie can't solve though. I've got a skin tag too, they're horrible! My skin and hair have been brilliant though and I definitely have that glow. The past couple of weeks though I've had this horrible throbbing in my vagina at times... like baby's trying to headbutt it's way out... and then I need to pee... and can't obviously! Oh and when I DO sit on the toilet waiting for the drops, sometimes I get this horrible twinge in my hip just above my bum that makes me jump up, some kinda trapped nerve.

My dreams have been EPIC :) best dreams I've ever had (best was evil superman wrapping the world in a giant magnet... like seriously apocalyptic!)

I've had a couple of episodes of serious hysterical laughter... where I've ended up crying and felt like I was going insane, to the point where DH was getting worried about me. Very very strange but quite funny afterwards.

Why do people delight in telling you horror stories too? I was talking to a friend saying that I could be one of those who feels a twinge and has baby on the toilet 20 mins later. She replied saying 'or you could be like my sister who felt the first pain on Sunday and gave birth on Wednesday'. Ehhhhhhhhh... hello? Same friend is at the stage where she's wondering if she should have kids and keeps telling me all the reasons that she shouldn't and all the reasons kids are a nightmare. I DON'T CARE RIGHT NOW!

The myth of OH massaging you to sleep every night and going to the shop at 3am for that banana milkshake you need. OH is just as (un)likely to do that as he was before.

Forgetting about bump and trying to bend really quickly or walking bump into doors and stuff!

Twice I've thought I was in labour and it turned out I just needed to fart.

Ha ha about the extra hair growth, my SIL had warned me so I knew to expect it, but that was how I realised I was pregnant!

I was shaving my armpits and thought - there seems to be a wider area than usual to shave, why all these extra wisps of hair - then thunderbolt moment of working out my period was a week late (having given up the pill after 15 years I was forgetful of when it was meant to be, without the pill packets to count on - duh!)

My hair stopped coming out when washing and brushing it.

No-one tells you about PGP/SPD

No-one tells you that you will put on weight in other areas as well as the tummy.

Shaving your pubes is impossible.

Backache

I had no idea just how obsessed men people become with you falling over. My H (and every other bloke I know) hover in a slightly panicked way whenever I walk down a small slope, or start to climb stairs.

Bloat. I had been pre-warned about constipation, but no one told me I'd have a huge bump at 8 weeks that comprised 100% wind.

That stabbing pain on sneezing/laughing. Scared the bejasus out of me.

That people would think that its ok to ask you if it was planned. Err excuse me! I feel like replying with "no actually, because at 27 years old I still don't know how to practice safe sex".

Also that once one discomfort finishes, it only gets replaced by another more annoying one. Yeah I'm glad morning sickness is over, but now I get to feel sick in a completely new way with indigestion!

Wouldn't change it for the world though

Great thread!

So that's why I've got lots of skin tags!

Leaking when vomiting- I thought the weak pelvic floor came after delivery, but it's great motivation to keep on doing preventive pelvic floor exercises.

I can't brush the teeth in the back of my mouth either!

Awww guys ive sat and laughed my way through this thread i too have experienced alot of the symptoms. My first pregnancy was so straight forward up until the last 3 weeks where i developed severe spd and ended up in hospital because i couldnt walk. This time ive had thrush, water infeactions, piles, increased discharge, spd at a much earlier stage and pains down both legs and ive developed a weird popping sound every now luckily i havent wet my self or had any unfortunate moments yet and im 39 weeks today but ive had the near misses.
The one thing that got me the first time round was the first proper trip to the toilet for a wee (after having my daughter) which seemed to go on forever with no control what so ever i remember sitting there thinking OMG ive been in here ages there going to think ive fallen down the loo....... i have no idea why i didnt think that it would be like that considering what your pelvis has just been through.

Hello just joined, this page is HILARIOUS and has really cheered me up! I'm quite an old 1st time mum (43 in July, now at 14 weeks!) and I've been not-so-secretly worried that my body just can't hack growing another person inside of them and my every symptom, emotion and comments at the GP or antenatal clinics have had me frantically searching the net and the proliferating pregnancy books at home for (sometimes not forth coming) reassurance. But this has made me realise most women seem to have some sort of hard time in some shape or form irrelevant of age and that I'm just normal (for once ha ha!) and to see the funny side. Haven't read them all yet so may be some repitition, but here are some of mine (many are about gas!):

-The bloating and gas that makes me think finally I'm starting to show and take a baby bump picture, to find my front deflated the next morn!

• Farting so violentally that my boyfriend feels it ripple along the sofa even though he doesn't hear it as he's watching TV on lap top and has head phones on

-Crying...Watching Formula 1?!? -Feeling tortured by smells I formerly loved (e.g. sizzling bacon) -Feeling violence towards the person smoking 2 metres from me at the busy crossing whilst a big heap of us are waiting for the green man and emitting a challenging marmish 'Tsk!' -Nausea, all day every day, since 5-6 weeks ('when will it end? What have I done?')

• Speeding up my walking as my rear undiplomatically putt-putt-putts out rapidly a stream of gas - loudly - as I walk past someone trying to relax on the park bench

Thanks again for cheering me up!

im expecting dc3 33+2 and this is my 1st boy the pregnancy things for me are

crying at things like my toddler falling over or something on tv! (never did with the female pregnancys)

being moody for no reason
not being able to eat like i did when i was expecting girls
weird dreams
turning over in bed
the worst Nausea, / being sick non stop up till about 14 weeks
being clumsy
the kicks are mega hard although thats not a bad thing
smells like other halfs aftershave eughhh

This thread has made my day! 8+2 and hating the first trimester!
Was so desperate to be pregnant, that I thought it would all be a breeze and everything would feel so easy after the worry of ttc! Whatever! I'm miserable such a bundle of fun!
So far:

• the WORRY! constant
• how hard it is to hide you preggers
• how every conceivable person will suddenly be telling you about their friend's neighbours cat who had a mmc (when they don't know you pregnant)
• hugs hurt
• the dreams
• the insomnia
• the total exhaustion
• nausea, constantly
• hunger! Immediate. And if I don't fix it straight away, I vomit
• constant retching
• super sonic smell
• having to be near DH constantly and then wanting to kill him
• my mum constantly laughing and saying "this is the easy bit!"
• farting, that could compete with a 16 year old rugby team
• bloating (swear I could pass as a few months pregnant)
• hair growth. All over!

BUT I still wouldn't change it for the world

That sometimes when baby kicks it feels like its right down in my lady garden, as low as if I could put my hand down there and feel its feet.

Now that its bigger and turned and engaged, it doesn't really feel like kicks so much as turns, and sometimes a movement right under the ribs feels like a mini electric shock on the bone.

30 weeks of incessant thrush, and the doctors often sounding like they don't believe its come back only three days after using what they've given me for it. The relief when it finally stopped at about 30 weeks.

How difficult it is to learn to sleep on your left side when you've always slept on your stomach.

How I thought I would spend the whole pregnancy worrying and reading baby books, but my normally worrier self is very relaxed and I haven't even opened the one book I was given.

How my asthma and allergies have just vanished! Am hoping they won't be coming back when baby is born.

Thank goodness the pain when sneezing is normal! Been trying to get a dr appointment sooner but still another week to wait! That was completely freaking me out.

I can handle the all day nausea but yes to the worry! All the time and about everything! Every ache, twinge, every feeling, even panic when the nausea stops!

The boobs! They hurt! I know they said it would hurt, but geez they HURT!

The needing to scream at everyone I'M PREGNANT!!! And grinning like a maniac

And how much I would love every single second!

Oh Memphis, can't stop laughing at your sideburn.

Burping!

Soreness around your belly button.

Weird bits of dark pigmentation appearing on your face - it looks like I've used a dodgy lip-liner...

constant runny nose
very bad snoring
went off perfume and tea (usually drink upwards of 6 cups a day)
sickness for the first 5 months (oh yes to the tooth paste stories)
skin tags
hip/vagina pain
moving in bed/sleeping
oh the tiredness

on the plus side could eat prawns after starting a shellfish allergy a few years ago

and now 6 weeks later i still look pregnant and i was quite skinny to start with, massive leaking boobs and always stinking of milk and sweat - lovely, and the shell fish allergy came back

but i loved feeling the baby move and am so glad to have the end result :)