Things they don't tell you about pregnancy ..... Add on to the list...

[Cheshirehello79]

Now as much as I'm looking forward to meeting my little one and can't wait for the first cuddles, I wish I knew everything about being pregnant. Being my first pregnancy I read most books and took various advice but there's some things no one told me and I wish I knew. I'm a week away till due date but thought I should share this and please feel free to add on as everyone's pregnancy is different.

Morning sickness - God knows why it's called morning as it happens anytime day or night.

Unwanted hairs- hair grows course and shows up various places never grown before and no matter how much you shave come 20 weeks you tend to give up - well I did!

Sleep deprivation- come 36 weeks my days have become nights and nights have become days. Can't sleep anymore even when you try go bed early - it's so frustrating.

Baby kicks- as much as it's lovely and the re- assurance that your baby is happy in there - come 36 weeks - it's no longer kicks - baby foes throw proper punches and it r&£#*in hurts

Sore gums- doesn't matter how good your hygiene is I suffered terrible guns inflammation which is so painful and there's no cure apart from brushing your teeth very frequently

Bump- not every bump takes a nice touch shape it depends how you're carrying your baby so don't be disheartened why some peoples bump are bigger than yours or more round - I only started wearing maternity clothing( at 32 weeks( and I'm average size with so far normal size baby growing inside according to growth scan)

...

You'll get a lovely pregnancy glow-bollocks. I just looked like a house the first time. This time I feel like I've hit by a bus and look like it too

Yes to the insomnia! Am 32 weeks and seem to be not sleeping at all!!

Being so big and tired by the end that you have to have a bath because standing in the shower for any length of time is just too draining ..... I would get breathless just trying to wash my hair oh and having to rotate right to left side in the bath because the water wouldn't cover the massive bump sticking out when lying flat on back (and it would get cold)

It taking twice the length of time to walk anywhere. I was forever late for work because in my head I still thought I could make it to the office from the station in 10 mins .. But in reality it was a slow waddle.

wanting to cry when you dropped something on the floor .. it's just sooo far away and there's a fair chance you won't be able to gett back up!

The clumsiness. Not only is my sense of balance unreliable. My hands do not respond at the speed they usually do. I think this is part of 'mumnesia' but my brain appears on a go slow (and has done in previous pregnancies).
I also find I have to concentrate more on simple things like holding an object in my hand. Things are less automatic.

That and the 'fashion industry' apparently having banned pockets from pregnant women's clothes. I just want clothes with pockets again!

I thought the waddle that pregnant ladies do was mostly to do with being big. But it's mostly because my back, ribs, bladder are in such pain that I am kind of hobbling (comes out looking like waddling).
YY to "morning" sickness - lies! Also didn't expect it to sodding return in the third trimester.
How much strangers stare at your bump and how somehow your husband thinks you look sexy (weird...)
That you may not look properly pregnant til the third trimester.
That buying maternity bras is the most annoying, soulless purchase ever.

Definitely with the insomnia and the clumsiness

The irrationality as well.... My hormones seem to be worse at 35 weeks than in the first trimester

With destational diabetes meaning I have a large baby even maternity clothes struggle to cover the bump and not ride up.... So to avoid looking tacky I spend a lot of time walking .... Then stopping and hoiking then walking and repeat

Not being able to put socks on..... DH does 3 year old ds' socks and wellies and now moves on to mine lol

Weird dreams. Not being able to sort out your own bikini line or toes. Gestational diabetes - no matter how healthy or slim you are genetics mean you can still develop this bitch of an illness. NCT classes are a glorified connections service for expectant couples (not in itself a bad thing). The availability of maternity clothes on the highst is abysmal

Insomnia! Since the 1st trimester

The volume of highly personal questions from practical strangers

That you might not get a bump and people will constantly ask what's wrong with you or the baby, why are you so small

The pains! Even without said bump!

Sore gums, bleeding nose.

Not everyone will be happy when you make your announcement, somehow it causes a lot of reflection but don't let it upset you

Don't get excited for midwife appointments, they generally fill in forms, take blood pressure and look highly uninterested.

There is lots of support, classes and addition private medical care available. But it's pricey!

Choosing names is not fun!

No matter how prepared you are there will be a million things you never thought of and you'll question every decision you ever made!

But despite all this you'll feel like you can run the world and nothing is more important than your little one that's you just can't wait to meet

Lightening crotch. Not looking forward to that again.

That a lot of the time you feel like you've got a hangover. Well I do anyway.

The spreading ribs. The baby weight can be lost with determination but nothing short of a corset will put my ribs back where they were. I sob over my lovely evening dresses that will no longer zip up!

The sodding heart burn! Orange juice is no longer a lovely refreshing drink it is a glass of fire!

Being hungry but not managing more then a few mouthfuls as baby as squashed stomach to size of a pea/ the burning pain from more sodding heart burn.

SPD - can't do anything simply any more it's just all to bloody painful.

That your skin will go shit not all lovely and glowing.

Thrush
Discharge
Other people's baby crazieness
Hormones
The stomach pains
The swelling

The inability to eat anything without getting it all over your bump (did I just used to drop food on my lap or is it because I am about 4ft away from my plate now?!). I have never washed my tops so often in my life....

The agony of stretching pains!

"The inability to eat anything without getting it all over your bump (did I just used to drop food on my lap or is it because I am about 4ft away from my plate now?!). I have never washed my tops so often in my life...."
I have a fairly large chest all the time. I've often had food land there. It is worse in pregnancy though (so a bit of both imo).

snotty knickers.

The itchiness of stretchmarks
Spd
Tiredness and inability to sleep
Gestational Diabetes
"Morning" sickness that happens all day from week until your baby is born
The constant vomiting that starts with morning sickness and Continues throughout labour

All totally worth it when you get to hold your baby

With you on the heartburn - you decide you're going to treat yourself to a thimbleful of wine but it just tastes like battery acid so you follow it with a glass of milk which tastes so much better...sigh.

Swelling ankles...started sometime around week 28...now the only shoes that fit are my running shoes (oh the irony, I can barely waddle now!). And in the last 5 weeks or so I now get swelling fingers - wedding ring's long gone (looks like one for a doll, how did I ever get it on my finger, will I ever get it on again?!)

Didn't know about spd until something twanged down there in week 19 and now I constantly feel really sore . Fully intended to be really active throughout pregnancy but spd has made that impossible.

Didn't think I could ever get excited at the prospect of labour but at 40+3 I'm desperate for it!!

Oh yeah and the belching. Never realised that was a pregnancy thing. I belch constantly once I've eaten. And if I'm hungry. So all the time then. Really big throaty belches. Great if hone alone. Not so great if in company and trying not to...

Super randy dreams!

Carpal tunnel syndrome. Nuff said.

You will want to burn your maternity clothes by the end and shop like a normal person.

Your feet will hurt from the extra weight and develop dry skin that you can't reach to remove.

Not only will you get cravings but aversions as well.

Your tummy will itch.

The fatigue will be debilitating.

You will get to a stage when you want to punch people for commenting on your tummy. Or people who say 'twins? Ooh, double trouble!' And expect a laugh.

Your dog will know something is up and be a pest.

Your knickers won't fit.

Your shoes won't fit.

Your bed won't fit.

Sleeping on your back is longer an option.

I'm still waiting for my super randy dreams, tired, I feel cheated out of that one! Vivid dreams, yes sometimes, randy dreams, sadly not. Would be more action than I'm getting now. They say sex is supposed to help kick start labour but it's just too much effort and I think DH is scared I'll crush him!

Fanny daggers

Not being able to sleep on your front.

Parking the car and getting out, only to find that your car's wing mirror and the one on the car next to you are forming a gap to narrow for you to get through so you have to get back in the car again and move it.

Having to get your ring cut off at the jewellers because your fingers have swollen up.

Being desperate to wear jeans.

• That I will never want to wear a pair of leggings again in my life.
• My new founded relationship with gaviscon
• Midwives can be wrong