Well nobody mentioned THAT!! Things I never thought about pregnancy until I actually got pregnant

[heylottie]

I consider myself fairly well read on all things fertility and baby, having been ttc for some time. But now I am pregnant there are things that I am still surprised about.

1. Drool - I am sure I never used to wake up in The Pool of Drool that now greets me every morning
2. Baby gender - was always adament that I would never want to find out the sex, but MY GOD the temptation to ask at the 20 week scan was nearly overwhelming! I didn't but golly...
3. That I would need panty liners some days (TMI? yes but still)
4. That listening to Matchstick Men and Matchstick Cats and Dogs on the radio had me wailing (I don't expect this one to be universal)
5. The amount of people who, when you tell them of back ache, gripes and pain, say 'well it will only get worse' triumphantly.
6. That when the baby kicks my first response is still (sometimes) 'Oh I need to fart.'

Any more???

no one told me about the humiliation of walking round the shops and then randomly screaming 'OW OW OW' as it felt like something pushed your appendix under your hip - and this is only week 21 - can hardly wait to see what other delights await me lol!

Also never warned me that men would now feel the need to grab my bump every time they see me!! This in particular freaked me out a whole lot lol!

x

The irritablke legs. OH GOD.

Then I forgot and got pregnant again. I'm 5 weeks, and oh what a surprise, I can't sleep for my own legs!!

*irritable

Definitely missed out on the fact that my body would make up for missing 9 periods with a 5 week long ooze after the birth. Great.

And the leaking breasts at 20 weeks, first time (body couldn't be bothered with dc2) - I thought someone had dropped an orange felt pen in the bed until I woke up wondering why my boobs were wet!

the rib ache
the heart burn- esp from milk?!?!
the wetting myself when i sneeze
the pain between my legs when i walk
the swelling, that my shoes dont fit me

arghhhhh

( i have a dd who is 11 months and i am 33 weeks pregnant- silly me for doin it all over again)

The sheer exhaustion just from walking 100 metres down the road.
Just someone looking at your breasts makes them throb uncomfortably.
Trying to go for a wee before you get sick, yet you still manage to erm... leak.
Boobs leaking in the night and drying with your top stuck to your nipples so when you try to take it off in the morning you get a delightful "ripping a plaster off your nipples" sensation!

Afterwards the one thing that really suprised me was the amount of blood and blood clots. When they say normal sanitary towels wont do they really mean it!!!

no one told me about:

the post natal hair loss
that the after pains get worse with subsequent children (with no 3 I was convinced I was in labour again but minus the gas and air)

no one mentioned the fact that you might not get the energy boost in the second trimester - that in fact you might just feel crap all the way through your pregnancy!

Oh thank god it's not just me who forgets how to drive!

That towards the end you wake up in the middle of the night and need to turn over and can't because you are SO ENORMOUS. I used to wake dh up sometimes and snivvle at him until he brought out the industrial winching equipment and helped me turn over .

I just dropped a jar lid on the floor and thought of this one...

No-one tells you that for about 3 months of your life (5 if you have a c-section), the floor and everything under a foot tall on it will be out of bounds to you.

Also, that after about 2 months of this you will cease to care, and your house will be littered with tissues, socks, earrings, toys, bits of veg that have shot off the chopping board, kitchen utensils and panty liner wrappers.

Erm, does anyone else find that this problem is compounded by the fact that they drop things for a pastime?

I've lost count of the number of times I've been holding something and my hand has just decided it can't be bothered to hold it any longer. Butter knives, hair grips for DD, things I am carrying around whilst tifying up.

This morning I was putting my deodorant on and my hand just went "This is all too much for me," and dropped it. It makes me laugh!

GentlyDoingIt - I'd forgotten about the dropping things and not caring

I remember when I went on maternity leave, I made my partner rearrange the bottom kitchen cupboards in case I wanted anything from it in the day when he was at work.

Ha ha not just me then

Also, that you will lose your balance and keep walking into displays/other people in shop aisles and muttering under your breath like a drunkard.

Yes and I've managed to carry on the muttering under my breath since I gave birth... I'm now one of those women who walks around the supermarket (taking out displays, old people etc with my pram) talking to herself

You lose the ability to judge the size of gap you can pass through - this may seem obvious, but until you've hit your bump with the car door when shutting it (firmly!), you don't really know.

DH wishes someone had warned him that, at random intervals and with no regard for propriety, his wife would snarl 'Will you get your bloody foot out of there?' whilst attempting to dig the heel of her hand underneath her ribs.

yes! I have done that Poledra! (car door) but have had the rib thing too.

I am very grateful to the people who posted about the breast milk/watering can effect. These kind women have saved me from possible horror and alarm come January. THANK YOU.

I did not realise that I would:

a) Cry at crappy songs on radio.
b) Cry when DH does anything nice for me.
c) Have to make a concerted effort to stay awake past 7pm.
d) Grow 2 bra sizes in the first 8 weeks.
e) Go from 'Let's bonk on the sofa during the adverts' to 'Don't ever come near me with that thing ever again' within a short space of time.
f) Have strange period-type pains for the first 8 weeks.
g) Be repulsed at the thought of meat AND vegetables and only want to eat processed tomato products from Heinz.

? Twitchy feet in bed
? HUGE boobs from the moment you're pregnant (2 cups sizes!!)
? Brain the size of a pea
? Constant need to wee and track down nearby toilets
? Crying for no reason
? Agonising hip pain when trying to sleep
? The amount of carbs needed to try and control sickness
? The tiredness

Good list VAB - Huge boobs and brain size of pea... I wonder if there's some sort of formula we could predict the relative change in size with?

I'm a 38G now, so my brain must be about 2cm³.

not sure if anyone else has mentioned this but...

When you bump into friends or colleagues EVERYONE is entitled to comment on your size, but NO-ONE is allowed to have the same opinion.

Within one day you can be described as 'very neat', 'carrying triplets or a huge baby', 'hardly showing', 'nearly ready to pop', 'losing weight' and 'carrying a lot of fluid'. When asked how long you have left to go EVERYONE is shocked, whatever number you say.

Pregnant women rarely resort to actual violence but, in this situation, we are legally entitled to pull someone's nipples until they really hurt.

oh dear me, yes...

You will become a receptable for unsolicited advice & old wive's tales and will hear every birth story under the sun.

You need to try and spot the people who have been there and done that, but AREN'T offering you advice or anecdotes. Better still, people who ask how you are feeling, and don't follow it up with a story about ow they were feeling when they were pregnant 2 / 5 / 10 / 30 years ago. These are the golden ones. These are the people who want to hear how it is for you and recognise that every pregnancy and birth is different.

In fact, these are the very people you should be asking for advice from!

LOL receptacle

I think "receptable" was a hit by Mel & Kim in the 80s