The ONE thing you wished you'd known before getting pregnant

[ThisIsMeD]

I'm so thankful to not be having a difficult birth - no morning sickness, and all looks well at 20 weeks.

But oh lord, I wish I'd known just how debilitating the fatigue would be in my first trimester. I was so exhausted, I would cry.

I knew tiredness was one of the side effects, but I never realised how insane it could get! 😅

That your symptoms don't always just magically disappear after the first trimester 😂I really expected to wake up the day I entered the second trimester and feel like someone in a Herbal Essences shampoo advert!

That my bump would be so big I would need help putting on trainers and socks by the end 🤣

That I couldn't go an hour without peeing, seriously baby must spend all day jumping on my bladder 🥴

Definitely the tiredness. I'm 8 weeks today with my third and you'd think I'd know by now, but I had no idea having a baby the size of a pea inside your belly could knacker you so much. It surprises me each time lol.

So true! I was expecting that as well. And when they did disappear, I barely noticed!!

How big did you get?
I’m actually a little anxious about how big I could get. I’m definitely bigger now, but no obvious bump yet!

And immediately after you pee, you have to pee again 😂

This is quite deep but I had such a expectation that pregnancy would be the best most magical time of my life when in reality it isn’t always like that! The anxiety, the pregnancy symptoms etc
I realised that there is a lot of pressure on mums to be to be glowing and enjoying their pregnancy when the truth is half the time I’m struggling

FEW things. No appetite until about 20 weeks. Literally couldn't eat and when I finally forced myself I could only eat a toddler portion size before feeling unbearably full. Period cramps since 2 weeks I'm now 39 weeks and still get them daily. Constipation, trapped wind, hip pain so bad I can't leave my house and insomnia. Oh and my partner walking out on us a 10 days ago. That's probably the ONE thing I wish I knew before getting pregnant.

First pregnancy at 18 years old was beautiful absolutely no issues felt great until the end. Such a difference at the age of 32 !!

The tiredness is unreal! I'm struggling to get through a whole school day at the moment (I'm a reception teacher).

We're understaffed at the moment and I honestly feel like crying because I'm not getting proper breaks during the day and I actually really need them to catch my breath.

I'm also really worried as something really nasty is ripping through the school at the moment and I feel like a sitting duck down with the young ones.

I used to hear about Hollywood cliche (true for some women) about pregnant ladies who have a ravenous sex drive during pregnancy and I used to think that it was one cool side effect of pregnancy, something to make up for the shitty symptoms. I wish I knew that in addition to the shitty symptoms my sex drive would at it's lowest during the entire 9 months.😥

I’m so sorry for what you’re going through with your partner. How absolutely callous!

Constipation and gas was such a nightmare to me also, although when I changed up my supplements in the second trimester, it eased up considerably.

pregnancy is quite the trip!

I feel like my sex drive is high, but I’m too scared to try. Like the booze, I’ll leave it alone till after I give birth 😂😂😂

Are you able to get some days off while the nastiness makes its way through the school? You really don’t want to catch an awful cold, but I appreciate it’s definitely different with some jobs.

Thankfully my workplace had a little lounge area where I could pass out for an hour at midday. 11am is exactly when my exhaustion would hit hardest.

Super happy I’m past that! All the best. You got this!!!

I agree! I struggle too sometimes. I’m so grateful and thankful it’s happening, but I’m also extremely eager for it to be all over.

Im definitely not the person I was before I got pregnant though. I’m definitely more zen, and more confident in my ability to handle things. If we can handle this rollercoaster, we really can handle anything 🖤🖤🖤

I relate to this. Having dreamed of being pregnant for a long time, I’d built it up to be a true ‘Happily Ever After’ phase where I’d literally be on cloud nine the whole time and nothing else could really seem bad.

Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely thrilled to be pregnant but life - with all its usual shitty bits - does still go on.

Most of all though, I wish I hadn’t been quite so naive about expecting others to be as over the moon for me as I was. Lots of them have their own issues

I don’t think it’s the tiny baby that’s making us tired.

it’s growing a whole organ from scratch. One that is going to be the intermediary between us and the baby, nourish the baby, filter bad stuff, etc.

Placenta is done forming at 12 weeks. Though it continues growing slowly after.

Pregnant with first DC. Never anticipated feeling a sort of 'homesickness' for my old body. I was never super slim or athletic, but I just mean the comfort my old body afforded me.

I'm always some kind of uncomfortable lately and every week a learn about a new limitation I have :'(