What parts of this pregnancy lark have come as a shock to you?

[TheScenicRoute]

Hello,

Well I can definitely be accused of romanticising the idea of being pregnant before I got here, but one or two things have come as a shock (and I'm only 8+4 so I'm sure there's more to come!!!)

Here's my three....

The exhaustion! The EXTREME exhaustion, the fact that I'll go to the lengths of secretly locking myself in the grubby work shower room at lunch time with a blanket on the floor and a pillow to shoe horn an extra 1/2 hours sleep into the middle of my day! I wouldn't cope working full time if I didn't do this!

The soles of my feet are on fire! I'm one of life's 'cold' people, my feet are NEVER hot, this is so weird and a little uncomfortable.

Finally, the romanticised idea that when I got pregnant the baby would be mine and my partners. But oh no! What I didn't anticipate was that EVERYBODY would have a stake in these (twins) babies, and everyone has an opinion. It's made me dread the announcement at 12 weeks because then there'll be even more opinions.

So what were your shock factors?

I keep getting told how neat my bump is (I'm 37+4) and how lucky I am but I just want to scream at people that neat I may be but I still can't breath or eat, I constantly need a wee and I can't get out of chairs, off the bed or the floor or even put my shoes on without making the same noises my 88 year old grandad used to make when doing the same things.

What gets me is how everyone commentates on every thing you do ("you're massive!" "You're tiny!" "should you be eating that?" "how many sleeps til baby arrives?") ... to the point that I am heartily sick of discussing anything pregnancy related (I was never much interested to start with) and I just want to tell even the kindly-intended people to STFU.

Thank god I'm on mat leave now and can hide in my house and not talk to anyone.

Was a while ago now, but stretch marks.

I had my mum, auntie and grammy all crowding around going "oooohhh so that's a stretch mark!"

The three of them. 7 children between them, not a stretch mark and popped right back to pre-pregnancy size.

Apparently I take after my dad's side, being a silvery-pink zebra with some baby-weight still lurking.

The fact that from about 34 weeks I stank of breast milk (even though I wasn't leaking). All of my clothes smelt of it and even my shoes ! It was as if it was coming out my pores.

That I would be so unbelievably huge, barely able to move, have difficulty taking a deep breath, getting a good nights sleep or even eat a decent meal (no stomach room) yet STILL have another six weeks to go.

Restless leg syndrome - it actually exits - it's horrific when you want to sleep but can't because your legs need to move! It never went after pregnancy - 3 years later still have it :(

Well, apart from the actually getting pregnant without medical intervention, it's been the debilitating exhaustion. I am 17 odd weeks now and only just about getting some energy back.

24/7 nausea
Mucous+++
Trapped wind - have escaped this so far second time around, instead have alternating constipation and diarrhoea
Dizziness
Bad skin
I didn't glow last time and am certainly not glowing this time!

so far...

bleeding scare
shortness of breathe
trapped nerves
itchy skin
varicose veins
mood swings
and soooo TIRED!!!

ellajayne - yes lol about people putting their hands up you. remember that from dc1 cant wait for that again lol

The combination of being tired and not being able to sleep, heartburn and pelvic pain. I haven't actually gained any weight whilst pregnant (I had a BMI of 34 at booking in, so I didn't need any more reserves!), but I still feel so much less mobile and so much heavier.

Piles. Huge nips. Constantly vomiting. Insomnia.

Heartburn, itchy boobs, mood swings, restless legs, fear of giving birth.

I found the whole thing just quite shocking really. Just that sense that my body was growing a whole new person kinda freaked me out. I railed for ages against the injustice that I had to carry the baby and couldn't bomb about recklessly on my bike, keep up my ice hockey practice etc. Eventually then DH said 'well I can't have the baby for you I haven't got a womb'.

I got a BOGOF deal the second time around and the real shocker was how effing big I got and just how physically hard growing two whole new persons was.

I didn't know my feet could swell that big and not burst, I didn't know that it's not uncommon to be renedered virtually incontinent at the end of a twin pg that goes to term, I didn't know it was possible to not find any position (standing, sitting or lying down) that was comfy for more than about 10 seconds.

I measured 56 weeks by fundal height at 34 weeks (as a friend commented 'that's like being a year and a month pregnant') and strange white finger sized lumps appeared at the bottom of my bump (mercifully I could only see them with the aid of a mirror) which totally freaked me out. I asked the midwife what they were and was told 'Oh, when the skin goes beyond the point of elasticity the skin and the subcutaneous fat separates out a bit...you know like cottage cheese'....Ugh ugh ugh. (yes I was a bit tubby to start with but they weighed 7'6 and 6'12 at birth and had their own sacs and placentas).

Oh and piles.

....but obviously have 3 lovely DC's and would do it all again in a heartbeat...well, p'haps....

With both of mine, my hair going shit as soon as I was pregnant, really dry and brittle, then falling in out in huge handfuls after birth and its never recovered, still shit

With my second, the afterpains - god, I thought they'd left something in there and it was getting infected the amount it hurt!

• Greasy hair. Seriously you could fry an egg on my head rn.
• Itchy itchy itchy huge darkened nipples.
• Feeling so sick all the time.
• Crying ALL the time.
• Needing a nap ALL THE TIME.
• How excited DH is.

That being pregnant actually hurts. Nobody tells you that! Everyone knows about morning sickness (although I haven't even had a hint of that) and heartburn and being emotional, but nobody tells you that the stretching actually hurts. The agony when I sneeze or cough when sat in certain positions!

That it is so much harder the second time round. No rest with a toddler. And no patience with the poor toddler, because of the no rest. My poor DD .
The constant nausea on top of the exhaustion.
The worry that DD's life will be turned upside down and that she will feel all sad and heartbroken once the new baby arrives.
The vague worry that this baby won't be all right. That I won't be able to love him/her as much as I do DD.
The worry that the spd that didn't entirely disappear after last time will come back much earlier and much worse.
And I'm only 8 weeks!!!!!!

Insomnia is the biggest surprise for me as normally blissfully heavy sleeper. What, I have better things to do in the pitch darkness at 3am than fall back into sleep straightaway?