Things people dont tell you about pregnancy....

[Letsallscreamatthesistene]

Just for fun!

My ribcage has gotten wider
My hips have gotten wider
I can only get good deep breaths if im sat straight up or standing

URGH

Is it normal for sore boobs to suddenly settle down at 6weeks+6 ? People tell you about them hurting but nobody ever talks about on and off symptoms !

@itsemily my symptoms came and went whenever they felt like it, to the point there I'd panic that I didn't feel sick or my boobs weren't sore! It's completely annoying, but the beginning is probably the only time you'll be wishing for those awful symptoms

@shutupsteph thanks so much for the quick reply . Got awful nausea and no appetite that kicked in at it’s worse on Friday ish , not eaten much , full of cold but suddenly my boobs stopped hurting . Began to get a bit concerned (first pregnancy!) x

I’ve been producing loads more ear wax lately (I mean seriously loads) but that could be unrelated to pregnancy!

@Selfsettling3 nailed it. I'm a shoe lover and had a massive collection that I had to get rid of after I went up a size. Broken hearted more over that than my destroyed boobs after EBF but at least a surgeon could fix those if I cared enough!

@avocadont what even is this?! 😄 I'm feeling ya with the left nipple and left nipple only leaking randomly

Both pregnancies my right ear would pop and I couldn't hear out of it! It was every single day and would last hours! Sooo annoying, apparently it's called pregnancy ear and is quite common

How difficult it is to provide a urine sample when your belly is so big!

Heartburn. Constipation. Difficulty rolling over in bed.

The fact you 💩💩💩 yourself in the labour ward (no...just me.. ? 😬)

That everyone will have an opinion on/negative story about any potential baby name you like "oh really, I went to school with someone called that... They're in prison now". / "My great aunt 6 times removed dated someone with that name and they stole all her money".

How easily you cry at everything.

By the time you're on subsequent pregnancies and reaching the end of term, your labia will double in size and feel ready to burst from the pressure of babies weight/extra blood supply down there. Also varicose veins in your vagina are a very real, and very unpleasant thing

The piles.... Omg, the piles

Oh and carpel tunnel in both wrists.... Horrific

Oh god I HATED being pregnant because it was such a shock to me.
I was able to-
Smell the fridge if it had been opened from upstairs and I even had my husband cleaning it on a daily basis because it made me vomit.
My hair growth was out of control, I looked like cousin it for 9 months.
I wasn't able to brush my teeth without vomiting for the whole 9 months
I had to shower and go to the toilet with a drink or some rice cakes because if I didn't I'd vomit.
The heartburn oh the heartburn!!!
Going for a wee, squeezing every last drop out and still needing to go after.
Painful swollen labia
Carpel tunnel
Feet are half a size bigger and wider now (which is better for me because I was a half size and shoes were too wide for me before)
INSOMNIA.
Mood swings and depression

All but stopped farting and just ended up a massive ball of burps and baby
Exhausted all the time
Pissed myself when I bent over running a bath - thank fuck I was at home
Snot and earwax flowing out like lava
Also had what is known as a pregnancy grey, the amount of hi-lighter I went through was obscene
After giving birth my ankles swelled up so much I was concerned I was going to develop stretch marks.
Night sweats post birth were horrendous

At least I didn't get piles....

Oh and being milked like a cow by countless midwives because baby couldn't latch.

Those women are absolute hero's

I had oedema in my vulva, my lady parts swelled to about 4 times the size and I couldn’t walk for 2 weeks.

The restless legs was easily the worst part of my pregnancy, I would be in cool baths to soothe them at 3am because I couldn’t stop crying! I’m 5 months pp now and it’s only just starting to ease off

The feeling like you have flu for 9 months!

Ohyesyoudid

Smell the fridge if it had been opened from upstairs and I even had my husband cleaning it on a daily basis because it made me vomit.

Yes, this!!! I threw out a whole fridgeful of food because something didn't smell right and I could work out what it was!

In the first trimester - pain in my boobs that felt less like normal pain and like someone had replaced my boobs with dry ice - it was the weirdest, most uncomfortable sensation, it felt like they were freezing off irrespective of how warm I was.

Heartburn. Like, insane.

Carpal tunnel, which weirdly only lasted 3 weeks and in the second trimester.

Prenatal depression and anxiety - this was the worst for me and really took away the shine of being pregnant.

Acne - never suffered as a teen (luckily) but boy did it make up for it when pregnant.

Discharge and thrush. Never had anything like it.

The 'ick' - see other thread on MN at the moment, but I became unbelievably irritated by my DPs eating habits when pregnant - never happened before or since but fucking hell I wanted to stab him sometimes with my fork.

Not enjoying pregnancy - everyone has it pegged as this beautiful time but for me I felt shit most of the time and quite low.

Good side - my nails grew beyond what I've ever been able to achieve!

I had a fairly easy time of it last time - almost no sickness (although the super sense of smell was problematic at times), no piles or bad constipation, only mild heartburn. Definitely some crying at random times and insomnia, snoring, fatigue etc., but basically I was doing fine. Friends who were pregnant at the same time and suffering were probably quite irked at my nonchalant breeze through the whole experience.

UNTIL I got to about 30 weeks, and developed insanely painful and itchy venous eczema all over my bump, legs and arms mainly, little bit on my back. I would have to have cold showers in the night to relieve the burning pain, could barely walk, struggled at work to stop scratching myself! Made my cry from the pain at times. GP had to prescribe a steroid cream which I was told to use very sparingly, and which didn't do much anyway - they were mystified and asked if I'd ever had this before (I hadn't). As soon as I'd had dd it disappeared.

This time my symptoms have been quite different I am just praying I don't get the same again. I'm not saying it was worse that the 3-day labour followed by EMC, but nearly ...

Also (despite getting a hairy tummy) the hair on your legs seems to stop growing in the last few weeks or so! Didn't have to shave them once

That sometimes, severe swelling is nothing more sinister than it appears and you just have to put up with looking like the Michelin man for a few months... left hand photo is 2 days after birth, the right is how I looked for the whole of the third trimester

I'm currently 28 weeks and so far have experienced:

• really bad acne, especially along my jaw line
• leaky boob - only the left one for some reason
• horrendous heartburn 😭
• back pain
• peeing ALL THE TIME
• sleeplessness; either getting up to pee or just randomly waking up and unable to get back to sleep for hours
• stretch marks appearing even though I've been applying Bio Oil religiously from week 12
• random aches and pains
• severe vomiting in the first trimester (up to 10 times a day), so glad it's stopped now
• bladder weakness, peeing when I sneeze, cough or vomit
• taking MONTHS to get over a chest infection

Varicose veins in your lady parts

Does anyone have the link to a post sharing some experiences or some advice about them? I cried myself to sleep yesterday at the thought of not getting rid of them. I'm 37 weeks pregnant.

Ameliae I can assure you they do go, I had a normal vagina again within a couple of weeks, at the time though I felt like you, god awful things

Piles!!! No one warns you about those bastards during pregnancy or when they make a surprise return afterwards 🤬 x

Wow I’ve not had many of these at all!! Do people really go up a shoe size?!!! I’m a size 3 that would have been handy!
Mine have been insomnia
Having to pee a million times a night
And with this one a very achy hip
Very dry itchy skin
Oh and heartburn

But tbh each one of my four pregnancies have been completely different. The insomnias been the only constant.