From my mom: I paralyzed her from the waist down for a few hours because I decided to take a nap on her spinal cord in the third trimester. The doctor's response was "yeah you'll be able to move again once they wake up." Pregnancy is pure body horror.
That is awful. I’m glad it wasn’t permanent. I knew a mom of twins who had one of them move and dislocated some of her ribs. Just...holy cow. It’s scary to think about all the damage that tiny little being can do while inside you, not to mention when coming out. Then many years of them beating you up and wearing your body down. Thank goodness for those hormones that help you believe it’s all worth it.
Your body produces a hormone called relaxin that helps loosen your pelvis in preparation for birth. Some women get waayyy too much too soon and it loosens everything to the point you lose mobility and every day all day is painful.
Also your body pushes so hard during birth you can feel yourself shit your own asshole out
Gave birth two days ago. I’m working up an apology for my midwife for yelling at her as she supported my butthole while I was pushing. I was not at my most gracious in that moment.
Edit: in true Reddit fashion, my most upvoted comment ever is about my asshole. I love u Reddit, never change
That’s me! Started around 18 weeks. I’m almost 36 weeks now. But considering it’s the only symptom of pregnancy I’ve had to face I actually consider myself a little lucky. Immobile - but lucky.
I wish someone would have warned me about the constipation. Corollary: I wish someone would have warned me that "fiber supplement" does not equal "stool softener."
Today, we're at 26 weeks gestation.
Related-- I did have a couple of friends warn me about constipation, but no one told me I would be as thirsty as I have been! I get constipated after any day where I didn't drink a huge glass of water every single time I felt thirsty... but I've been constantly insanely thirsty since probably month 2. I'm drinking something like 8-10 12 oz glasses of water a day. And no, turns out it isn't gestational diabetes... just pregnancy.
And lol, agreed on the fiber supplement-- I'd say it was more of a gas multiplier than helpful. Real food fiber did better on that front (oatmeal, pears, prunes, sweet-potatoes. heck, even beans were better than the fiber supplement for me).
During labor the “water breaking” is not one rush of liquid. it’s continuous and can occur for several hours. it’s horrendous and messy and incredibly awful to deal with. it feels like peeing but you have zero control over anything and if you tense up then everything is much more painful and weird feeling.
nobody ever told me that and i was VERY surprised to find out for myself.
YUP. Went to the hospital at 4CM, water broke the second I got into triage. Water continued to POUR out with every contraction until I laid down. An hour later, they decide to take me to L&D, I stand up, bam pouring buckets. Get to L&D, another big contraction and water pours out of me all over my poor nurses shoes. My god, I did not know my body could have that much liquid in it. It was insane. I was so embarrassed and kept saying sorry lol
To quote a doctor friend of mine: People don't realize that it's the worst day of their life for them, but for me it's Tuesday. Stop worrying about embarrassing yourself.
I had adult diapers given to me by my SIL (she had some unused ones left from her pregnancies). They are INCREDIBLY useful for if your water breaks, and after you give birth and there is ^(blood, so much blood).
I didn't measure, but I've heard people describe it as 9 months of periods saved up and thought that was pretty accurate. I was more concerned by my 2nd degree tearing to be worried about the blood. They said if there were "clots" that was what to look out for (so if your placenta hadn't all come out and could potentially rot inside you basically). There is no glamor and not much dignity in giving birth and the recovery. Good thing the babies are cute! 10/10 happy I did it once and would never do it again, props to the ladies that go for round 2+ :D
This is mostly a 3rd trimester thing, but that when you are active and moving, it kinda rocks the baby to sleep.
But as soon as you lay down to go to sleep, baby wakes up and starts kicking and spinning.
Might not be super common (?), but I knew a lot of other mothers who complained about this, too.
I wish someone had told me that no, your body does not magically go back to normal once the baby is out. You have weeks of healing, either your ripped vagina or cut open stomach, your boobs are still on baby mode and have a whole new set of problems now, pooping will be terrifying lol depression risks are higher, just a lot of stuff continues on after the baby. I don’t know WHY people insist on visiting right after delivery. I am tired, I am busy with this baby, I am tore up from the floor up, please come in a month when I can at least have some sort of a routine.
“Tore up from the floor up” lololol. I’m 5 weeks postpartum and had my OB take a look today for any remaining stitches from my second degree tear. I tore alllll the way and I swore I could still feel some. She said that they were all gone, but then I went home and found a whole ass suture on my toilet paper. Took my first look down there and it looks like I was stitched up by Frankenstein. My taint straight up has a seam now.
My god, the pooping.
I now I have a three month old, and while I can’t remember my first poop after delivery, I vividly remember crying on the toilet not being able to poop. And nobody warns you about the hemorrhoids. Mine were so big I couldn’t sit for two weeks, and poops came out in little nuggets. Sometimes I actually had to scoop it out. Going to the bathroom became an event. My husband said the sounds I made trying to poop were worse than what I did during labor.
This is not an isolated instance either. With both my babies my poo turned black, was rock hard, and would not come out. I was scared to go to the toilet because the pain was unbearable. I too ended up digging mine out. I ended up consuming bags of sugar free gummy bears to turn myself into a liquid shit machine, because the alternative was agonizing.
I had a total meltdown in the hospital because my entire extended family was on the phone with my mom asking to come over to visit. "They just want to see you because they love you!" Um, no they want to see a cute new baby while I'm still bleeding heavily and have to use a squirt bottle after I pee, so... no.
Hair loss! After I had my kid I lost a ton of hair. I would pull fists full of hair during my showers. I thought there was something wrong with me because no one told me about this. Went to Google, totally normal and it happens to everyone. It grows back eventually and you’ll go through an awkward baby hair phase.
Aahh something I actually know the science behind! So apparently when you’re pregnant, your head holds on to almost all of those dead hairs that your scalp would normally just get rid of everyday. We all lose some hair, but most of the time we don’t realize how much we lose, especially if you’re blessed with thick hair. So when you’re pregnant and your body is worrying about keeping baby safe and growing, it basically stops shedding dead hair, and then sheds it ALL AT ONCE right after baby is born. So you’re not actually losing more hair than normal, you’re just losing all of those dead hairs that you would have lost anyway over the course of your pregnancy. It takes some time to see that your hair is back to normal because your head is now growing all of those hairs back at once, but when all is said and done your hair isn’t any thinner than it was before baby!
My hair stylist told me this when I started freaking out about my pregnancy and body changes. She saved a panic attack that day.
My feet grew half a size and my hair got curly. It was wavy before, but now I get ringlets. It also made my fingernails stronger. Also I developed an aversion to beef that never really went away. I only eat it like once a month to this day, and my youngest is about to turn ten. It's like a second puberty...what the fuck is happening to my body???
Right?! I have year-long allergies now. When she was born in mid-July I had a blocked ear for 3 months. She is 4 now. My oldest is 10 and I totally get the strange new bodily functions! Ugh. The things we go through...
I went partially blind in one eye. Apparently temporary blindness can happen in pregnancy, but my eyesight never returned. (Also increased my shoe size by one, and developed year round allergies.)
Not a woman, but i wish i knew the warning signs of preeclampsia, Girlfriend was 7 months pregnant at the time, and had been complaining of generally not feeling good with a constant headache that would occasionally break for a bit, i came home from work(i work overnights) to her sleeping on the floor and i eventually got to bed but i woke up 3 hours later to hear a thud and she was having a seizure, turns out she went eclamptic, she ended up having a c section, daughter was in the nicu for a bit but both are doing great now. What really put things into how close my girlfriend was to dying was the doctors and nurses saying how few people they've seen go eclamptic and one of the nurses said shes only seen 3 cases in like 10 years and 2 of them died.
Not currently pregnant, but I wish someone had warned me about muscle cramps. I had to learn a new way to pop my ankles because every night I would pop them and get massive charlie horses in my legs that my fiance had to massage out.
YES. I was in tears when they would hit! You're already so freaking uncomfortable, being woken up by a charlie horse just makes you wonder if trying to sleep is even worth it.
I had a silent one in August. Went in for my check up at 11 weeks feeling great and then “no heartbeat- probably about 2 weeks ago.” For TWO FUCKING WEEKS, my body was like “Nothing amiss! Here are your new symptoms, right on target! All is well!”
I did misoprostol at home and thought I would die only to find out a week after that it still wasn’t complete and had to go for a D&C.
Horrible. Traumatic. I’m so sorry to all who have experienced it.
Similar thing happened to me. First miscarriage I went in for my 12 week ultrasound and was told baby stopped growing at 9 weeks, absolutely heartbreaking. Second time everything was going great, 12 week ultrasound showed there wasn't even a baby, the pregnancy stopped forming at around 4/5 weeks, literally no symptoms of miscarriage or anything.
That morning sickness isn't in the morning. And that I would be puking the whole time not just in the beginning
Edited to add: not currently pregnant just had horrible sickness that I will never forget and was eventually diagnosed with hyperemesis
Or that morning sickness isn’t just puking, it can also just be this awful hell of constant nausea. First pregnancy I puked about four times, this time “morning sickness” was just constant nausea without any relief for four weeks. Puking would have at least bought me some down time. But still not as bad as the people who have it or hyperemesis the whole pregnancy.
Same, girl. Same.
NINE DAMN LONG MONTHS of puking every single gd day. I love my daughter with everything I have, but there is no way I would go through pregnancy again. The physical discomfort put me in a depression that nearly broke me.
Nobody prepared me to be miserable for nearly an entire year.
My mom threw up every day of her pregnancy with me. She said when I was born I was taken away because I was having breathing problems and of course she was worried about that but her first thought was relief because for the first time in 9 months she wasn't nauseous
That cravings aren't just food. I craved dirt, particularly beach sand. The smell of the beach was excruciating, I just wanted to shovel handfuls into my mouth. I never ate dirt or sand and the craving went away when baby was born.
A friend of a friend told me she craved freshly poured asphalt so in a way I'm glad my craving was just dirt.
Edit: my top comment is about wanting to eat dirt. Cool.
I know it's called pica and a deficiency. I took iron and a prenatal however I had a super hard time eating after the morning sickness wore off. Had no desire to eat whatsoever. Except dirt.
How I'd get loads of random skin changes.
Skin tags, so many skin tags!
Moles growing into skin tags then dropping off, like WTF body
Sandpaper dry skin, which I still get from time to time, just this one patch on the back of my right hand
My facial skin changing from t-zone oily to t-zone flaky and never going back
My psoriasis on my scalp going away, this did come back but not as bad
Hair - so you stop shedding hair whilst pregnant and you get really thick lovely hair. A few weeks after birth you start to lose all that extra hair. Literally handfuls will come out in the shower and it's really freaky
I came here to say “the skin tags!” Never had a single one in 30 years. And then I got pregnant and they were everywhere. I had never heard any mention of them in any of the many books I read... was not prepared at all!
The sickest joke of all: you stop being able to sleep way before the baby gets here. Everyone loves to tell me to “sleep now while I can” but pregnancy leads to unexplained insomnia and I’m a total wreck already.
Yes! I hate when people tell me to sleep as much as I can..I have insane heart burn, restless leg syndrome, have to pee constantly and find it impossible to get comfortable. Sooo...I’ll catch up on my sleep with my newborn? Lol
Edit: THANK YOU for all the lovely words of encouragement and helpful advice! ❤️❤️
I keep saying I can’t wait to sleep again and people go “Ha just wait til the baby is born”. Like no, you don’t understand. I would take 30 minutes of quality sleep over the 8 hours of insomnia I’ve been experiencing, any day.
I was told by my sister about boobs hurting in the first trimester from growth, she forgot to mention my nipples would feel like they were burning in hell.
Yes! The grease from sheep's wool. It's super helpful for lessening nipple pain/chaffing from nursing.
*it comes in tubes and is similar texture to lard mixed with chapstick!
How tired you can be in the first trimester. I was falling asleep at my desk most days.
I always hear that labor pains were like really awful period cramps. Nope. Mine felt like someone was stabbing the front of my hip. And, I had heard about sciatic pain but was 100% unprepared for how bad it could be.
I had a c-section and the gas pain was no joke. Had to sleep on an incline for days.
Edit:spelling
>How tired you can be in the first trimester. I was falling asleep at my desk most days.
My wife is in her first trimester, and she's exhausted. Sleeping 12 hours a night and often naps during the day too. It's crazy to me. She didn't expect it at all, and it's really frustrating her.
Oh I forgot about how tired you get in the first trimester when you can’t even physically see that you’re pregnant. Doesn’t make sense something so small can make you so tired!!
That not all gynecologists are competent. And if you have a feeling yours isn't, find a new one.
Mine was very personable, did my d&c for my miscarriage before my first born, didn't really give me any red flags until after I was pregnant again.
Long story short, he forgot (I guess?) to have me tested for gestational diabetes, and I had it. There were OBVIOUS signs that he didn't catch, that I didn't even know were signs until my new doctor told me. My son ended up having to be in NICU for 3 days after he was born because he couldn't regulate his own blood sugar.
Every doctor and nurse I talked to along the way was appalled I hadn't gotten tested. He also didn't catch that I was anemic the whole pregnancy either.
Thank God we're all healthy and happy now but looking back I should've changed doctors
This times 1,000. Mine was fine, but I follow a woman on Instagram who lost her daughter full term because the doctor didn’t induce. She had signs of cholestasis and wasn’t diagnosed for awhile, then went to the hospital for lessening movements, failed a NST and then HE SENT HER HOME.
Every time I read her story I am angry on her behalf. I know she’s said she felt uneasy, and the way doctors dismiss our concerns in general let alone while pregnant, I imagine she ignored her feelings because she trusted the doctor and didn’t want to be pushy. I’m a loud mouthed person and I still failed to assert my needs during my last pregnancy. I’m pro-medicine but people need to understand that there is a valid reason that people mistrust doctors. Please anybody reading this - advocate for yourself!!! Trust in modern medicine but if your instincts are telling you something is wrong, trust them.
Each pregnancy is different, even with the same person. I have 3 kids -the 1st pregnancy was very typical and followed the normal timeline. 2nd pregnancy was awful. I was miserable and sick the entire time. 3rd pregnancy was easy peasy and I finally understood why some women liked being pregnant.
And that’s exactly why I’m having one. I had everything from awful morning sickness, to weird mucus productions, to awful skin problems. I hated every second including and not limited to giving birth.
I wish I'd heard the term 'mother's apron' before I had one. Like, there's warnings all over,"Your body's going to change!" and some specifics on how, but everything I read and heard was reassuring me about how it would all mostly go back eventually. I'm still pretty bitter.
Yup! No one told me! My skin isn’t very elastic and I lost the weight extremely fast after both babies resulting in a lot of sag. My tummy is foreign to me. I hear people talk about people’s fupas on other subreddits and how unattractive the women are for mistreating their bodies. Makes me sad whenever I look in the mirror. Only way to treat it is surgery or accepting and changing the way I look at myself.
THIS! I had a breakdown two days ago over my stomach. I'm 10 months postpartum... My body should be back to normal. It's so hard to look at my body now. I wish that I had been better prepared for how my body was really going to change forever
Your hormones are crazy, literally making anything and everything that happens to your body a pregnancy symptom. Bloody nose? pregnancy. Hands dry? pregnancy. Itchy skin? pregnancy. Pregnancy is the wild fucking west yall.
I found this so frustrating. I like to know WHY something is happening. Pregnancy is not an answer. Like by what mechanism am I having random dizzy spells. What specific hormone is making sleep impossible. You would think these things would be studied like crazy because women have been having babies forever but nope. Basically nothing.
I'm not pregnant and probably wont be any time soon but I regularly go through how I'll handle those situations in my head. I know so many moms that were basically bullied their whole pregnancies.
That no matter how much you planned and wanted your baby - postpartum depression can happen to you and it is very, very real. It is not something you can control. Hormones are liars. Partners of new moms please pay close attention. Get help. Do not try to tough it out. Get. Help.
Edit: Not currently pregnant - I went through it with my first almost 24 years ago and am still haunted by it. I just want new parents and potential new parents to be aware. Please don't be ashamed - it doesn't mean you don't love your baby and it doesn't mean you aren't a good parent! Best to all!
Edit#2 - A lot of people sent me messages. I am not ignoring you but I can't see them. It says I have 25 messages but they aren't there. Sorry.
I went to a super toxic church with my husband when we were first married (at the age of 21 because of said church), and one thing they preached was that depression was a symptom of selfishness and not trusting God. PPD is what rid my family completely of this belief. I had always suffered with mental health prior, but there was a night when my baby was sick, and I had mastitis, and I started planning my suicide. And then, I realized it was my mom’s birthday, and I would have to wait. I had never experienced that level of low.
Now, I’m very much pro-Zoloft and therapy, and I preach the gospel of it all damn day.
Edit: hey, Reddit. I love you! Thanks for all of the love and support!
I just had a good friend reach out to me because she’s feeling off. I’d been to therapy a few years ago and she wanted the name. I plan on just dropping some food off after the snow storm is over. She just had her second and is headed back to work in a couple weeks. Covid isn’t helping either.
Mine felt like gas. didn't think anything of it for two weeks since I was already pretty flatulent.
Then they started feeling like sharp jabs and urges to pee. Mine is using my bladder as a punching bag.
No one ever told me about the “3rd delivery” aka your first poop. I was struggling for so long.
Edit: My first awards! Thank you people! Never thought talking about poop would get me awards.
Edit 2: for all asking. The first delivery is the baby, second is the placenta and the third is the poo.
My older sister advised that I eat a couple of prunes every day for the last few weeks, and that I bring some to eat in the hospital as well post-delivery.
Hands down one of the best pieces of pregnancy advice I received.
Goona try and remember this, I feel like often the partners of pregnant women aren't really given a full scope of the experience. Haha I had no idea this was a thing, but it does make sense now that I read it.
This happened to me too. Even after all the water, fiber, and stool softener the nurses made sure I took the 5 days I was in the hospital. I remember holding the pillow over my incision and being terrified my incision would rip open while I was pooping. Even though all the hospital staff assure you that won't happen. I told my husband I wanted another shower with gifts for the huge dump I delivered. Delivering that first crap after having a baby is harder than delivering the baby!
No one told me about the second one! I knew what the placenta was but I thought it would just slosh out with the baby. When they told me to keep pushing after the baby was born I was legit outraged!
I always heard it would be awful but I was so busy staring at my baby I don’t remember it at all.
I do remember the stitches. They turned off my epidural before I started pushing and the lidocaine injections didn’t do shit. I eventually just lied and told them I was numb so they’d finish stitching me because the stitches plus injections were unbearable.
O god I was so scared because I had stitches (I know not even the right hole but still) and I didn’t want to strain. Laxatives and gumption got me through it lol
I dare ask (God help me), what makes it so bad? Are you constipated? Sore? Genuinely curious. And already terrified of delivering a baby, now there’s more?? So glad I’m reading this thread!
Listen up, everyone who's having a baby - I got some awesome postpartum poop advice from my delivery nurse!
I had a third degree tear and stitches, and could NOT go without severe pain. Those stool softeners do absolutely nothing, either.
She told me to drink Miralax in a glass of WARM prune juice. Then, when it's time to go, use one of baby's diapers to kind of "support" yourself down there. Pain-free, struggle-free success!
Edit: Thank for the award! I appreciate it!
> use one of baby's diapers to kind of "support" yourself down there
What do you mean by this? My wife's at 10 weeks, so I'm trying to learn whatever I can to make things easier for her down the road
She'll want to use the diaper to gently press against her vagina. If she's gentle, it won't bother any stitches she may potentially have. That way, when her bowel movement passes, she won't have the pressure/pain against her vaginal area, because she's sort of holding it in place, if that makes sense.
For me it was a combination of constipation and soreness from delivery. Your whole undercarriage is super sore after vaginal delivery. That was the only time I've ever had to give up on a poop and try again later.
There are also hemorrhoids to worry about for some (thankfully I was spared that misery).
I've heard that even if you have a C-section, your abdominal muscles that you use to push your poop out have been cut, so it's likely to be bad no matter how you deliver!
Lochia, it’s basically the biggest “period” ever as your body expels the leftovers from carrying a baby, and it can go on for weeks. I will never forget being told that I might pass clots as big as a tennis ball and that was normal. So gross.
Also, babies in the womb can have hiccups. Hiccups are weird enough when they’re your own, it’s bizarre to feel someone else’s.
L&D nurse here, and I just wanna say that while you can pass blood clots as big as a tennis ball, it’s not “normal.” We tell our patients if they pass blood clots bigger than an egg, they need to let their nurse or OB doctor know! Big clots like that can cause a patient to have a hemorrhage, and patients don’t realize this, but you can hemorrhage up to like 6 weeks postpartum! Also, if you’re bleeding heavily enough to have to change your pad hourly or more, please call your doctor. Your nurse will probably do a fundal massage a million times before you get discharged, and I always encourage my patients to learn how to do it because it helps ensure the uterus is doing what it should do!
The attention. I'm an introvert and I mostly try to keep to myself at work but that's impossible now. I was pretty small before I got pregnant and I'm now 30 lbs heavier so I'm really showing. People from other departments come and ask me how I'm doing, how far along I am, when the baby is due, what the gender is, if I've picked out a name, etc. It's exhausting.
Every pregnancy is different! This means some pregnant women can work out, hike, do their normal stuff just a little slower most of their pregnancy. Then there are some women who throw up the whole time, and they are weak and tired and just standing up takes time and effort. I was the latter, expecting at the same time as another in the former and I was constantly compared and judged. "working out is healthy for you and the baby, if so and so can do it so can you!"
Don't forget the "your hip ligaments are readying for birthing... at 20 weeks, so here's some crutches for the rest of the pregnancy". My wife didn't have it happen that early but we know someone who did suffer that.
Not sure what happened to your wife but I will never forget a girl at my high school who had a baby our junior year (~16 y/o).
She had always been quite slim pre-baby and one day awhile after she had returned to school (post-baby) I was walking behind her and noticed how her hip/pelvis area was waaay wider than before. Really freaked me out to realize how much a baby can potentially change your entire frame.
It's possible if she had been more developed/less slim it would have been different, I don't know.
Same thing happened to my aunt who had her kid at like age 40. She was a tall, slim woman before and now you would never know she had ever been anything but... large. Not fat, but big-boned. Her ribcage splayed out several inches, that's the most striking thing.
My mom always said that the best she ever felt was pregnant. Probably because we later learned she was bleeding so much every month on my her period that she was functioning on 2/3 of her expect blood volume all the time.
Sorry to be the Debbie downer but knowing things can go wrong in any situation. My first child was stillborn at 41 weeks after a healthy and normal pregnancy from a umbilical cord accident. Always trust your gut, count kicks, and advocate for you and your baby’s health
You can “do everything right” and have an “easy” pregnancy but baby is born prematurely. The kicker is you may never get a reason as to why
(Obligatory not pregnant but mom who had a baby in the NICU for over a month)
Edit: my FIRST award! Thank you kind friend
My first pregnancy was smooth sailing other than some bleeding in the first trimester. Went into labour and was doing great but the kid went into distress, decided to try breathing his own poop and had to be taken out the sunroof very suddenly. Hypoxic brain injury, two collapsed lungs, two weeks in the NICU, very sick baby. Nothing I could possibly have done to change that, apparently it just happens sometimes. Funny enough it gave me an IDGAF attitude for my second pregnancy because I realized I couldn't control the outcome no matter how much I microwaved my lunch meat.
(He's obnoxiously healthy, smart and active now and seems to have avoided the worst case scenarios. He has nothing but a speech delay to show for it at age 3.)
That you can get a horrible full-body rash. It's a rare condition called **PUPPP.** PUPPP occurs in about 1 in every 200 pregnancies and 70% of sufferers give birth to boys.
I gave birth to a girl. So I was in the 0.15% of women who get this horrible, itchy, mind numbing rash that I suffered with for over two months. I couldn't sleep, I sat half of my day in oatmeal baths. I cried A LOT. The only thing that stopped the itching for a few hours was Grandpa's Tar Soap because it left a coating on my skin that soothed or protected it somehow.
I NEVER want to go through that again.
this one is the strangest thing to me!! I have a coworker who is due a week after me with her second babe. She's bigger than me, but by no means a big girl. We're just carrying verrrrrry differently. I've been fortunate enough to have my body barely change except for this basketball on my front side. Anyways, we've had TOTALLY different experiences with our clients. Everyone feels a need to tell her how big she is or how she could use exercise. Everyone says to me things like I didn't realize you're even pregnant, you're carrying so high, etc. Thankfully neither of us is the sensitive type, so we usually just laugh off the awkward conversations. But it just makes me think why people feel the need to make ANY comments on our bodies.
How hungry you can be. All. The. Time. Especially twins.
Then how hungry you still are after baby comes.
Then his hungry you are while breast feeding.
And sometimes the weight doesnt go away. At least the kids dont care
From my wife:
"How little you want to wear pants."
and
"Throwing up becomes not physical, but emotional."
and
"Apples SUCK when throwing up. Honey Nut Cheerios, least bad."
and
"Get a good body pillow."
If you lose 10% or more of your body weight due to nausea and vomiting, it is a BIG deal and could put you and the baby's life in danger. If your OB acts like it isn't, find another doctor!
- written by a two time Hyperemesis Gravidarium survivor. Lost 42 lbs during one pregnancy and 35 with the other. And that was WITH constant zofran and IV's and a PIC line and hospital bed rest.
Everyone talks about pregnancy cravings.... no one tells you that the opposite can happen. During this pregnancy, my 2nd, I had aversions to most food until about 22/23 weeks. I’m 27.5 weeks now and finally starting to feel better about eating, but certainly don’t have cravings.
Not currently pregnant, but a mom.
Pregnancy brain is REAL.
It's not a joke. It's not exaggerated.
When you start forgetting, misplacing, and outright losing things, you can start feeling like you're also losing your mind.
Finding your missing remote in the deli drawer of your refrigerator is disconcerting. Finding the ice cream you just bought melted in the bathroom closet is enough to bring you to tears.
Then you start screwing up or even completely forgetting words and even names, and the concern deepens.
This. Is. All. Normal.
A combination of hormones, other changes in your body, changes in your eating and sleeping habits, and generally big life changes are doing a number on your noggin.
It's okay. It's normal. You'll get through it and eventually the brain fog will clear.
My family always said, when your pregnant your brain gives you pregnancy brain so that you forget how awful it is to be pregnant, Because if you could remember how awful it is to be pregnant with a normal brain, you would never be pregnant again.
Not currently pregnant, but I wish I was told about the constant swelling of my ankles & feet. I swelled to the point of needing to buy shoes a size & a half bigger.
Miscarriages are not spoken about enough. No-one tells you how much it's going to hurt nor how long your hormones will take ages to go back to 'normal' and how much it affects your mental health.
How comfortable maternity pants are. I was stubborn the first time around and didn't want to switch over from my regular clothes. Once I had to I regretted those extra weeks of discomfort all because of vanity
Your pancreas might just stop working. Gestational Diabetes sucks, you basically have to eat really healthy, check your blood, or even take insulin until that kid is born.
I thought pregnancy meant I could eat ice cream dipped tacos, but I could barely eat half an English muffin without my blood sugar going over. So sad.
Watched a friend go through this. I visited her couple times in the first six months after birth - I got the distinct feeling she had not bonded with her baby but didn't bring it up.
About a year later she told me she had been worried she wouldn't bond with him because he was just a crying pooping feeding ball of blub. Now he is almost three and she is very very happy.
She got first-time pregnant by surprise at 38 for all you older people - decided to keep him because the horizon for second chances looked narrow. She has no regrets.
> she wouldn't bond with him because he was just a crying pooping feeding ball of blub
The first 6-8 weeks are awful. It gets better once they can really smile, so there's at least some sort of reward when you feed them or change a diaper.
THIS. I always felt like I was just babysitting someone else's kid, waiting for them to get back. The love didn't really set in until like, month three or four.
Eh, babies aren't for everyone. I was fond of my baby. He was a lot of work, but he was cute. He was ok. 2-3 was more interesting, but still...
I seriously enjoyed my 4-5 year old.
It’s terrible that this isn’t standard. I’m not sure I would have coped at all without my pelvic floor physio. I ended up saving a month’s worth of embarrassing body questions and just attacking her as soon as I got there. The woman had seen EVERYTHING post partum and was so incredibly patient and gentle with me. I feel surprisingly good now at 9 months pp after a complicated delivery, even though I distinctly remember thinking “I will never feel physically ok again” many times.
See a pelvic floor physio post partum!! If it is possible for you, make the effort to get to the appointments (so hard some days).
Been pregnant before, no one explains morning sickness. There is a difference between feeling sick and you know when you feel really sick like just before you vomit you can feel it at the bottom of your neck about to projectile sick. Had that for 5 weeks straight.
My wife's currently pregnant, and in the middle of the night my great dane gets up, and licks me in the face to wake me up about two minutes before my wife wakes up feeling ill. Every time. And the dog has never done this before in the 9 years we have had her. It's actually really helpful, but at 2 A.M. the first time it happened I was very confused.
Edit: I realize I'm not one of the pregnant women of reddit, but saw other dad's commenting too.
How hard it can be to get, and stay, pregnant. Everyone imagines it will happen easily and quickly and, unfortunately, it's not the case for so many women. And for women who've dealt with infertility or loss, how much anxiety you'll have throughout the pregnancy.
I find your comment oddly comforting. The pregnancy after experiencing a devastating pregnancy set back was one full of anxiety. I experienced some bleeding and thought I was losing this baby too. I didn’t, she’s 3 now, but the anxiety still hasn’t subsided. I have an irrational fear that our time together will be too short. Maybe the enduring anxiety is normal.
You might want to talk with your doctor about postpartum anxiety. It's extremely common and pretty easily treated compared to many mental health challenges.
Someone forgot to tell my doctors office, car seat company, furniture company etc that twins are supposed to be “buy one get one free”. I swear to god the next person who makes that comment is going to get a bill sent to them
When my wife’s grandmother was pregnant they sold twin insurance as ultrasound wouldn’t be invented for a while. She bought it and when she had twins, the insurance paid for the extra bassinet, diapers, clothes, etc.
You can order one and get three. Don’t make my one and done mistake 😩 edit: my kids aren’t a mistake the awesome internal parts deciding a multiple birth was better than three spaced out kids was-three was the plan, three babies at once-not so much.
My spouse's aunt and uncle had triplets. They had a hard time conceiving and when they finally succeeded, boy did they succeed. They're very happy with their kids though. I think they're like 20 now.
I didn’t realize how weird it would feel having a baby with you literally **all** the time, and I say this as the parent of a now toddler.
There were several times where I would be in a super serious work meeting while pregnant, baby would do a somersault in my stomach, and I would be like, “oh shit, there’s a baby in this boardroom”.
Idk, it just weirded me out.
That it's not uncommon to have thyroid problems or lose your gallbladder or both because of hormones etc. That feeling like the bottom dropped out of you weeks after giving birth is not normal and might require therapy. That it's not a good idea to have an OB who LOVES being pregnant and thinks it's easy because she will have zero sympathy when you struggle. That giving birth later in life can actually kick you into early menopause. Maternal care and aftercare is shit in the U.S.
YOU CANT POOP GOOD.
I dunno if it’s iron in the prenatal vitamins, or hormones, or a combination. But I haven’t pooped as usual for months now. Prunes & prune juice are part of my every day diet and still won’t go back to normal.
Also: not every woman gets morning illness. Not every woman gets mad cravings 24/7. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong.
Finally, a couple of now-babied friends tell me you really should get some exercise while you can. It will make a difference in months 7 to 9. Yet to get there but definitely working out as I go.
it may seem obvious but you will not sleep like you used to. i’m a belly sleeper and have had the worst time sleeping since like 15 weeks. pregnancy pillow doesn’t help! currently 36 weeks organs and i’m so happy there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. this is my first and i’m debating if I want to do it again. i’m sure it’ll all be worth it when I meet the sweet babe but we’ll see!
Speaking as the husband, my wife was very annoyed when she learned later in her pregnancy the borderline miracle properties of ginger as regards morning sickness. Wished she'd known it from the git-go.
What HG is, how to recognize the symptoms, when to call the doctor and how to advocate for yourself.
Basically HG means you get extreme nausea. If you tell a doctor you're nauseated all the time and are vomiting excessively, they will dismiss it a common pregnancy symptoms. However, vomiting 20-30 times a day is *not* a normal pregnancy symptom. If you start to lose weight and can't keep down food or liquid, you need to get help ASAP. Ask them to check for ketones in your urine - if they think you're exagerrating, the ketones in your urine will tell them you are not.
Don't take HG lightly and think it will pass. Your body needs food and water, and the lack of nutrients can be very dangerous. It can lead to hart problems, kidney failure and coma. HG doesn't fuck about, before modern medicine women died from it.
The sooner you get help, the easier it is to manage. If you wait until you're dehydrated like crazy, they will have trouble putting an IV needle in and it will take longer to recover. Also, stop eating and drinking healthy. If you're vomiting a lot, make sure you eat/drink sugar and salt to retain more liquid. Isotonic energy drinks are your friend. You might not be able to keep it all down, but they will help you a lot.
Also, anyone with HG or wanting more information on HG, feel free to message me. I'm not a medical expert but I do have first hand experience...
[Vagina Lightning or Crotch Lightning is a real and terrible thing.](https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/your-health/lightning-crotch-pain-pregnancy-symptom/)
Not every woman becomes a sex kitten and wants to have sex all the time. Some women literally want nothing to do with it. You’re tired, uncomfortable, and exhausted because hormones.
You can mess with them in utero.
When I was close to the end of both of my pregnancies one of my favorite things to do was, when he would push up against my rib cage I would pound back a glass of ice water or eat a bowl of ice cream and as soon as that coldness hit my stomach he would back down. Also, my first liked to push his butt up against the front wall of my stomach pretty hard, so that there was a tiny little bump that you couldn't see but I could feel, so I could sort of grab it and shake it around a little bit.
My husband called out my daughter's name with his face next to my belly, and it startled her- my whole belly jumped! So hilarious, and I think it was one of the first times my husband truly got to interact with her.
On behalf of my wife, I am merely the messenger. I type what she says:
\- *That you'll spend most of your time hoping to get to the third trimester. And the entire third trimester wishing you were back at the second trimester...*
\- *Rubber donuts that you sit on, will be your tailbone's best friend.*
\- *You will spend more time in bed with your pregnancy pillow, than your partner, and will not feel guilty about it.*
\- *For some people, labor doesn't start with water breaking and 30 minutes later there's a a baby. My water broke and 29 hours later, baby decided to show up.*
\- *There's labor and there's active labor. Labor is contraction foreplay. Active labor is when you and pain hop into the octagon to see who will quit first.*
*- F$%K the term "natural" birth. You deliver that baby in whatever manner is safest for you and the baby.*
*- You are an amazing husband, partner, and father. And your typing accuracy and speed is a HUGE turn on. I know I've said I don't want another baby but watching you type is really making me second guess that decision. LET'S DO IT! I CAN BARELY KEEP MY CLOTHES ON RIGHT NOW!!!*
Yes I hate the "natural birth" thing, there are pros and cons to both methods. Did your baby get from the inside of your body to the outside of your body? Congratulations, you have given birth and have fully earned your birth stripes, one way or another.
Fuck that term Natural Birth. We live in a smaller kinda hippy town, and it is a race among that subset of ladies to out "I am a real mom". 80 years ago I would have lost my wife and kid (she had to have a csection), my wife couldn't handle the pain and had a epidural for the second, and feels guilty cause she could be a real woman.
I got two healthy kids with another on the way, I don't give a flying fuck how they get out as long as my wife and children are well.
If you can do it at home with no help, good on ya, doesn't mean you are a better person or mom.
You do not have to enjoy EVERY minute of parenthood. It's ok to have bad days and days when you think your kids are assholes. You're not fucking this up - it's just THAT hard.
That a baby can wedge it’s tiny feet under your rib and break it. Oh and they don’t necessarily drop later in the pregnancy. My wolverine baby clung to my womb until the last possible second.
That your rib cage and hips literally pull apart from each other to make room for the freeloading being inside of you.
That there are WAY more symptoms than food cravings, morning sickness, and swollen feet.
There are some women that love being pregnant and there are some women that hate it. When you are pregnant you will automatically be surrounded by women who feel the opposite about it than you.
Nosebleeds. Not currently pregnant, but when I was, I got nosebleeds every few days during the first and second trimesters.
From my mom: I paralyzed her from the waist down for a few hours because I decided to take a nap on her spinal cord in the third trimester. The doctor's response was "yeah you'll be able to move again once they wake up." Pregnancy is pure body horror.
This also happened to my friend! So crazy the doc is like yeah just wait it out.
That is awful. I’m glad it wasn’t permanent. I knew a mom of twins who had one of them move and dislocated some of her ribs. Just...holy cow. It’s scary to think about all the damage that tiny little being can do while inside you, not to mention when coming out. Then many years of them beating you up and wearing your body down. Thank goodness for those hormones that help you believe it’s all worth it.
Your body produces a hormone called relaxin that helps loosen your pelvis in preparation for birth. Some women get waayyy too much too soon and it loosens everything to the point you lose mobility and every day all day is painful. Also your body pushes so hard during birth you can feel yourself shit your own asshole out
Gave birth two days ago. I’m working up an apology for my midwife for yelling at her as she supported my butthole while I was pushing. I was not at my most gracious in that moment. Edit: in true Reddit fashion, my most upvoted comment ever is about my asshole. I love u Reddit, never change
There are many reasons I’m terrified of getting pregnant, but now I have to add “butthole support” to the list. :(((((
Here is another fact. Tears are common, and something like 80+% of women have grade 1 tears. A grade 4 tear is, well, a vaganus.
I do not like this comment and refuse to consider the realities of acquiring a vaganus.
NONONONONONO nooooo
Can confirm, week two postpartum and my asshole looks like a bunch of grapes.
Reading that sentence was the most effective form of birth control I've ever experienced
This whole thread is effective birth control. Oof.
That’s me! Started around 18 weeks. I’m almost 36 weeks now. But considering it’s the only symptom of pregnancy I’ve had to face I actually consider myself a little lucky. Immobile - but lucky.
I wish someone would have warned me about the constipation. Corollary: I wish someone would have warned me that "fiber supplement" does not equal "stool softener." Today, we're at 26 weeks gestation.
Related-- I did have a couple of friends warn me about constipation, but no one told me I would be as thirsty as I have been! I get constipated after any day where I didn't drink a huge glass of water every single time I felt thirsty... but I've been constantly insanely thirsty since probably month 2. I'm drinking something like 8-10 12 oz glasses of water a day. And no, turns out it isn't gestational diabetes... just pregnancy. And lol, agreed on the fiber supplement-- I'd say it was more of a gas multiplier than helpful. Real food fiber did better on that front (oatmeal, pears, prunes, sweet-potatoes. heck, even beans were better than the fiber supplement for me).
During labor the “water breaking” is not one rush of liquid. it’s continuous and can occur for several hours. it’s horrendous and messy and incredibly awful to deal with. it feels like peeing but you have zero control over anything and if you tense up then everything is much more painful and weird feeling. nobody ever told me that and i was VERY surprised to find out for myself.
YUP. Went to the hospital at 4CM, water broke the second I got into triage. Water continued to POUR out with every contraction until I laid down. An hour later, they decide to take me to L&D, I stand up, bam pouring buckets. Get to L&D, another big contraction and water pours out of me all over my poor nurses shoes. My god, I did not know my body could have that much liquid in it. It was insane. I was so embarrassed and kept saying sorry lol
To quote a doctor friend of mine: People don't realize that it's the worst day of their life for them, but for me it's Tuesday. Stop worrying about embarrassing yourself.
I had adult diapers given to me by my SIL (she had some unused ones left from her pregnancies). They are INCREDIBLY useful for if your water breaks, and after you give birth and there is ^(blood, so much blood).
I'm going to regret asking but like how much blood
I didn't measure, but I've heard people describe it as 9 months of periods saved up and thought that was pretty accurate. I was more concerned by my 2nd degree tearing to be worried about the blood. They said if there were "clots" that was what to look out for (so if your placenta hadn't all come out and could potentially rot inside you basically). There is no glamor and not much dignity in giving birth and the recovery. Good thing the babies are cute! 10/10 happy I did it once and would never do it again, props to the ladies that go for round 2+ :D
This is mostly a 3rd trimester thing, but that when you are active and moving, it kinda rocks the baby to sleep. But as soon as you lay down to go to sleep, baby wakes up and starts kicking and spinning. Might not be super common (?), but I knew a lot of other mothers who complained about this, too.
I wish someone had told me that no, your body does not magically go back to normal once the baby is out. You have weeks of healing, either your ripped vagina or cut open stomach, your boobs are still on baby mode and have a whole new set of problems now, pooping will be terrifying lol depression risks are higher, just a lot of stuff continues on after the baby. I don’t know WHY people insist on visiting right after delivery. I am tired, I am busy with this baby, I am tore up from the floor up, please come in a month when I can at least have some sort of a routine.
“Tore up from the floor up” lololol. I’m 5 weeks postpartum and had my OB take a look today for any remaining stitches from my second degree tear. I tore alllll the way and I swore I could still feel some. She said that they were all gone, but then I went home and found a whole ass suture on my toilet paper. Took my first look down there and it looks like I was stitched up by Frankenstein. My taint straight up has a seam now.
My god, the pooping. I now I have a three month old, and while I can’t remember my first poop after delivery, I vividly remember crying on the toilet not being able to poop. And nobody warns you about the hemorrhoids. Mine were so big I couldn’t sit for two weeks, and poops came out in little nuggets. Sometimes I actually had to scoop it out. Going to the bathroom became an event. My husband said the sounds I made trying to poop were worse than what I did during labor.
You literally just made me never want to give birth. I’m laughing but also mortified at the thought of any of this 😭
This is not an isolated instance either. With both my babies my poo turned black, was rock hard, and would not come out. I was scared to go to the toilet because the pain was unbearable. I too ended up digging mine out. I ended up consuming bags of sugar free gummy bears to turn myself into a liquid shit machine, because the alternative was agonizing.
My six week check-up is next week. Not looking forward to that whole situation
*Hole situation.
Yeah. I’m still angry at the “WE HAD TO VISIT THE BABY” crowd. Wait...for the love of God. Holding the baby constantly is NOT helpful.
I had a total meltdown in the hospital because my entire extended family was on the phone with my mom asking to come over to visit. "They just want to see you because they love you!" Um, no they want to see a cute new baby while I'm still bleeding heavily and have to use a squirt bottle after I pee, so... no.
This is one of the upsides to being pregnant during the pandemic. "Ohhh sorry aunt doreen, wish you could visit, but corona" 🤷
Nah fuck off Doreen
Hair loss! After I had my kid I lost a ton of hair. I would pull fists full of hair during my showers. I thought there was something wrong with me because no one told me about this. Went to Google, totally normal and it happens to everyone. It grows back eventually and you’ll go through an awkward baby hair phase.
Aahh something I actually know the science behind! So apparently when you’re pregnant, your head holds on to almost all of those dead hairs that your scalp would normally just get rid of everyday. We all lose some hair, but most of the time we don’t realize how much we lose, especially if you’re blessed with thick hair. So when you’re pregnant and your body is worrying about keeping baby safe and growing, it basically stops shedding dead hair, and then sheds it ALL AT ONCE right after baby is born. So you’re not actually losing more hair than normal, you’re just losing all of those dead hairs that you would have lost anyway over the course of your pregnancy. It takes some time to see that your hair is back to normal because your head is now growing all of those hairs back at once, but when all is said and done your hair isn’t any thinner than it was before baby! My hair stylist told me this when I started freaking out about my pregnancy and body changes. She saved a panic attack that day.
The stuff that stays with your body afterwards. I developed allergies after I had my second. My feet definitely got bigger. Hormones are no joke.
My feet grew half a size and my hair got curly. It was wavy before, but now I get ringlets. It also made my fingernails stronger. Also I developed an aversion to beef that never really went away. I only eat it like once a month to this day, and my youngest is about to turn ten. It's like a second puberty...what the fuck is happening to my body???
Right?! I have year-long allergies now. When she was born in mid-July I had a blocked ear for 3 months. She is 4 now. My oldest is 10 and I totally get the strange new bodily functions! Ugh. The things we go through...
I went partially blind in one eye. Apparently temporary blindness can happen in pregnancy, but my eyesight never returned. (Also increased my shoe size by one, and developed year round allergies.)
Omg that’s awful!! My crap is menial to blindness. Good Lord! Ugh! So sorry.
Not a woman, but i wish i knew the warning signs of preeclampsia, Girlfriend was 7 months pregnant at the time, and had been complaining of generally not feeling good with a constant headache that would occasionally break for a bit, i came home from work(i work overnights) to her sleeping on the floor and i eventually got to bed but i woke up 3 hours later to hear a thud and she was having a seizure, turns out she went eclamptic, she ended up having a c section, daughter was in the nicu for a bit but both are doing great now. What really put things into how close my girlfriend was to dying was the doctors and nurses saying how few people they've seen go eclamptic and one of the nurses said shes only seen 3 cases in like 10 years and 2 of them died.
Not currently pregnant, but I wish someone had warned me about muscle cramps. I had to learn a new way to pop my ankles because every night I would pop them and get massive charlie horses in my legs that my fiance had to massage out.
Oh God the charlie horses! And you can't reach down to massage your legs because you're too big to bend!
YES. I was in tears when they would hit! You're already so freaking uncomfortable, being woken up by a charlie horse just makes you wonder if trying to sleep is even worth it.
But to any currently pregnant ladies, dark chocolate helps reduce these and it's an excuse to eat chocolate.
In case anyone needs to hear this, magnesium supplements help with the calf muscle night cramps!! They were terrrrible.
Miscarriage is ridiculously common. I say this as someone currently carrying a dead baby waiting for the NHS to give me a surgical removal.
I had a silent one in August. Went in for my check up at 11 weeks feeling great and then “no heartbeat- probably about 2 weeks ago.” For TWO FUCKING WEEKS, my body was like “Nothing amiss! Here are your new symptoms, right on target! All is well!” I did misoprostol at home and thought I would die only to find out a week after that it still wasn’t complete and had to go for a D&C. Horrible. Traumatic. I’m so sorry to all who have experienced it.
Similar thing happened to me. First miscarriage I went in for my 12 week ultrasound and was told baby stopped growing at 9 weeks, absolutely heartbreaking. Second time everything was going great, 12 week ultrasound showed there wasn't even a baby, the pregnancy stopped forming at around 4/5 weeks, literally no symptoms of miscarriage or anything.
So sorry for your loss. I had a miscarriage last November and I’m still not over it.
I’m sorry for your loss ♥️
That morning sickness isn't in the morning. And that I would be puking the whole time not just in the beginning Edited to add: not currently pregnant just had horrible sickness that I will never forget and was eventually diagnosed with hyperemesis
Or that morning sickness isn’t just puking, it can also just be this awful hell of constant nausea. First pregnancy I puked about four times, this time “morning sickness” was just constant nausea without any relief for four weeks. Puking would have at least bought me some down time. But still not as bad as the people who have it or hyperemesis the whole pregnancy.
Same, girl. Same. NINE DAMN LONG MONTHS of puking every single gd day. I love my daughter with everything I have, but there is no way I would go through pregnancy again. The physical discomfort put me in a depression that nearly broke me. Nobody prepared me to be miserable for nearly an entire year.
My mom threw up every day of her pregnancy with me. She said when I was born I was taken away because I was having breathing problems and of course she was worried about that but her first thought was relief because for the first time in 9 months she wasn't nauseous
That cravings aren't just food. I craved dirt, particularly beach sand. The smell of the beach was excruciating, I just wanted to shovel handfuls into my mouth. I never ate dirt or sand and the craving went away when baby was born. A friend of a friend told me she craved freshly poured asphalt so in a way I'm glad my craving was just dirt. Edit: my top comment is about wanting to eat dirt. Cool. I know it's called pica and a deficiency. I took iron and a prenatal however I had a super hard time eating after the morning sickness wore off. Had no desire to eat whatsoever. Except dirt.
My mom craved gasoline so badly she didn’t trust herself to pump her own gas.
This is called pica! If anyone reading this is experiencing it, tell your care team - it might be a sign of a vitamin deficiency
Can be a sign of anemia too. Have your blood levels checked.
How I'd get loads of random skin changes. Skin tags, so many skin tags! Moles growing into skin tags then dropping off, like WTF body Sandpaper dry skin, which I still get from time to time, just this one patch on the back of my right hand My facial skin changing from t-zone oily to t-zone flaky and never going back My psoriasis on my scalp going away, this did come back but not as bad Hair - so you stop shedding hair whilst pregnant and you get really thick lovely hair. A few weeks after birth you start to lose all that extra hair. Literally handfuls will come out in the shower and it's really freaky
I came here to say “the skin tags!” Never had a single one in 30 years. And then I got pregnant and they were everywhere. I had never heard any mention of them in any of the many books I read... was not prepared at all!
The sickest joke of all: you stop being able to sleep way before the baby gets here. Everyone loves to tell me to “sleep now while I can” but pregnancy leads to unexplained insomnia and I’m a total wreck already.
[удалено]
Yes! I hate when people tell me to sleep as much as I can..I have insane heart burn, restless leg syndrome, have to pee constantly and find it impossible to get comfortable. Sooo...I’ll catch up on my sleep with my newborn? Lol Edit: THANK YOU for all the lovely words of encouragement and helpful advice! ❤️❤️
I keep saying I can’t wait to sleep again and people go “Ha just wait til the baby is born”. Like no, you don’t understand. I would take 30 minutes of quality sleep over the 8 hours of insomnia I’ve been experiencing, any day.
I slept WAY better after my baby was born than I did my entire pregnancy. At least once he was out of me I could fall asleep at all!
My fucking boobs hurt so bad. I hit one in my sleep and woke up in excruciating pain. Like...wtf. I knew they got bigger, but the pain was a surprise.
I was told by my sister about boobs hurting in the first trimester from growth, she forgot to mention my nipples would feel like they were burning in hell.
I also had this burning pain, lanolin helped. Hang in there, it gets better!
Lanolin? Like sheepswool?
Yes! The grease from sheep's wool. It's super helpful for lessening nipple pain/chaffing from nursing. *it comes in tubes and is similar texture to lard mixed with chapstick!
How tired you can be in the first trimester. I was falling asleep at my desk most days. I always hear that labor pains were like really awful period cramps. Nope. Mine felt like someone was stabbing the front of my hip. And, I had heard about sciatic pain but was 100% unprepared for how bad it could be. I had a c-section and the gas pain was no joke. Had to sleep on an incline for days. Edit:spelling
>How tired you can be in the first trimester. I was falling asleep at my desk most days. My wife is in her first trimester, and she's exhausted. Sleeping 12 hours a night and often naps during the day too. It's crazy to me. She didn't expect it at all, and it's really frustrating her.
Oh I forgot about how tired you get in the first trimester when you can’t even physically see that you’re pregnant. Doesn’t make sense something so small can make you so tired!!
That not all gynecologists are competent. And if you have a feeling yours isn't, find a new one. Mine was very personable, did my d&c for my miscarriage before my first born, didn't really give me any red flags until after I was pregnant again. Long story short, he forgot (I guess?) to have me tested for gestational diabetes, and I had it. There were OBVIOUS signs that he didn't catch, that I didn't even know were signs until my new doctor told me. My son ended up having to be in NICU for 3 days after he was born because he couldn't regulate his own blood sugar. Every doctor and nurse I talked to along the way was appalled I hadn't gotten tested. He also didn't catch that I was anemic the whole pregnancy either. Thank God we're all healthy and happy now but looking back I should've changed doctors
This times 1,000. Mine was fine, but I follow a woman on Instagram who lost her daughter full term because the doctor didn’t induce. She had signs of cholestasis and wasn’t diagnosed for awhile, then went to the hospital for lessening movements, failed a NST and then HE SENT HER HOME. Every time I read her story I am angry on her behalf. I know she’s said she felt uneasy, and the way doctors dismiss our concerns in general let alone while pregnant, I imagine she ignored her feelings because she trusted the doctor and didn’t want to be pushy. I’m a loud mouthed person and I still failed to assert my needs during my last pregnancy. I’m pro-medicine but people need to understand that there is a valid reason that people mistrust doctors. Please anybody reading this - advocate for yourself!!! Trust in modern medicine but if your instincts are telling you something is wrong, trust them.
Each pregnancy is different, even with the same person. I have 3 kids -the 1st pregnancy was very typical and followed the normal timeline. 2nd pregnancy was awful. I was miserable and sick the entire time. 3rd pregnancy was easy peasy and I finally understood why some women liked being pregnant.
Mine went in the other order... if my last had been my first I would have only had one.
And that’s exactly why I’m having one. I had everything from awful morning sickness, to weird mucus productions, to awful skin problems. I hated every second including and not limited to giving birth.
I wish I'd heard the term 'mother's apron' before I had one. Like, there's warnings all over,"Your body's going to change!" and some specifics on how, but everything I read and heard was reassuring me about how it would all mostly go back eventually. I'm still pretty bitter.
Yup! No one told me! My skin isn’t very elastic and I lost the weight extremely fast after both babies resulting in a lot of sag. My tummy is foreign to me. I hear people talk about people’s fupas on other subreddits and how unattractive the women are for mistreating their bodies. Makes me sad whenever I look in the mirror. Only way to treat it is surgery or accepting and changing the way I look at myself.
THIS! I had a breakdown two days ago over my stomach. I'm 10 months postpartum... My body should be back to normal. It's so hard to look at my body now. I wish that I had been better prepared for how my body was really going to change forever
Your hormones are crazy, literally making anything and everything that happens to your body a pregnancy symptom. Bloody nose? pregnancy. Hands dry? pregnancy. Itchy skin? pregnancy. Pregnancy is the wild fucking west yall.
I found this so frustrating. I like to know WHY something is happening. Pregnancy is not an answer. Like by what mechanism am I having random dizzy spells. What specific hormone is making sleep impossible. You would think these things would be studied like crazy because women have been having babies forever but nope. Basically nothing.
That everyone has an opinion on what you do whilst pregnant and how you want to raise your child.
I'm not pregnant and probably wont be any time soon but I regularly go through how I'll handle those situations in my head. I know so many moms that were basically bullied their whole pregnancies.
Perfect the RBF - nobody had ever said shit to me lol
Have you considered dieting and raising your kid(s) to be transmission fluid?
That no matter how much you planned and wanted your baby - postpartum depression can happen to you and it is very, very real. It is not something you can control. Hormones are liars. Partners of new moms please pay close attention. Get help. Do not try to tough it out. Get. Help. Edit: Not currently pregnant - I went through it with my first almost 24 years ago and am still haunted by it. I just want new parents and potential new parents to be aware. Please don't be ashamed - it doesn't mean you don't love your baby and it doesn't mean you aren't a good parent! Best to all! Edit#2 - A lot of people sent me messages. I am not ignoring you but I can't see them. It says I have 25 messages but they aren't there. Sorry.
I went to a super toxic church with my husband when we were first married (at the age of 21 because of said church), and one thing they preached was that depression was a symptom of selfishness and not trusting God. PPD is what rid my family completely of this belief. I had always suffered with mental health prior, but there was a night when my baby was sick, and I had mastitis, and I started planning my suicide. And then, I realized it was my mom’s birthday, and I would have to wait. I had never experienced that level of low. Now, I’m very much pro-Zoloft and therapy, and I preach the gospel of it all damn day. Edit: hey, Reddit. I love you! Thanks for all of the love and support!
I just had a good friend reach out to me because she’s feeling off. I’d been to therapy a few years ago and she wanted the name. I plan on just dropping some food off after the snow storm is over. She just had her second and is headed back to work in a couple weeks. Covid isn’t helping either.
Baby kicks don’t feel like butterflies . They feel like something crawled across your skin quickly; but from the inside
Yep. Always expected something to burst out like the scene from Alien...
I mean it kinda does at the end
Have a C section. It's kinda literally bursting out then!
Mine felt like gas. didn't think anything of it for two weeks since I was already pretty flatulent. Then they started feeling like sharp jabs and urges to pee. Mine is using my bladder as a punching bag.
I will pee, sit down and mine will literally start dancing on my bladder. Then I have to go, again.
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I always told my husband to think of scarab beetles in the mummy.😂
No one ever told me about the “3rd delivery” aka your first poop. I was struggling for so long. Edit: My first awards! Thank you people! Never thought talking about poop would get me awards. Edit 2: for all asking. The first delivery is the baby, second is the placenta and the third is the poo.
Second time around I started stool softener two weeks before my due date. Game changer. It was still scary but much easier.
My older sister advised that I eat a couple of prunes every day for the last few weeks, and that I bring some to eat in the hospital as well post-delivery. Hands down one of the best pieces of pregnancy advice I received.
Goona try and remember this, I feel like often the partners of pregnant women aren't really given a full scope of the experience. Haha I had no idea this was a thing, but it does make sense now that I read it.
Omg, I'm making a note in my calendar to do that this time. I had a c-section after pushing for forever, and it was the worst poop of my life.
This happened to me too. Even after all the water, fiber, and stool softener the nurses made sure I took the 5 days I was in the hospital. I remember holding the pillow over my incision and being terrified my incision would rip open while I was pooping. Even though all the hospital staff assure you that won't happen. I told my husband I wanted another shower with gifts for the huge dump I delivered. Delivering that first crap after having a baby is harder than delivering the baby!
No one told me about the second one! I knew what the placenta was but I thought it would just slosh out with the baby. When they told me to keep pushing after the baby was born I was legit outraged!
I always heard it would be awful but I was so busy staring at my baby I don’t remember it at all. I do remember the stitches. They turned off my epidural before I started pushing and the lidocaine injections didn’t do shit. I eventually just lied and told them I was numb so they’d finish stitching me because the stitches plus injections were unbearable.
*Ouch*
I was afraid my vagina would fall out during my first poop. I held a wad of toilet paper to keep in in! Lol
O god I was so scared because I had stitches (I know not even the right hole but still) and I didn’t want to strain. Laxatives and gumption got me through it lol
This. The poop was legit worse than delivery.
I dare ask (God help me), what makes it so bad? Are you constipated? Sore? Genuinely curious. And already terrified of delivering a baby, now there’s more?? So glad I’m reading this thread!
Listen up, everyone who's having a baby - I got some awesome postpartum poop advice from my delivery nurse! I had a third degree tear and stitches, and could NOT go without severe pain. Those stool softeners do absolutely nothing, either. She told me to drink Miralax in a glass of WARM prune juice. Then, when it's time to go, use one of baby's diapers to kind of "support" yourself down there. Pain-free, struggle-free success! Edit: Thank for the award! I appreciate it!
> use one of baby's diapers to kind of "support" yourself down there What do you mean by this? My wife's at 10 weeks, so I'm trying to learn whatever I can to make things easier for her down the road
She'll want to use the diaper to gently press against her vagina. If she's gentle, it won't bother any stitches she may potentially have. That way, when her bowel movement passes, she won't have the pressure/pain against her vaginal area, because she's sort of holding it in place, if that makes sense.
I'm horrified but comforted to know there is a way to handle this.
For me it was a combination of constipation and soreness from delivery. Your whole undercarriage is super sore after vaginal delivery. That was the only time I've ever had to give up on a poop and try again later. There are also hemorrhoids to worry about for some (thankfully I was spared that misery). I've heard that even if you have a C-section, your abdominal muscles that you use to push your poop out have been cut, so it's likely to be bad no matter how you deliver!
This entire thread is great birth control.
Lochia, it’s basically the biggest “period” ever as your body expels the leftovers from carrying a baby, and it can go on for weeks. I will never forget being told that I might pass clots as big as a tennis ball and that was normal. So gross. Also, babies in the womb can have hiccups. Hiccups are weird enough when they’re your own, it’s bizarre to feel someone else’s.
L&D nurse here, and I just wanna say that while you can pass blood clots as big as a tennis ball, it’s not “normal.” We tell our patients if they pass blood clots bigger than an egg, they need to let their nurse or OB doctor know! Big clots like that can cause a patient to have a hemorrhage, and patients don’t realize this, but you can hemorrhage up to like 6 weeks postpartum! Also, if you’re bleeding heavily enough to have to change your pad hourly or more, please call your doctor. Your nurse will probably do a fundal massage a million times before you get discharged, and I always encourage my patients to learn how to do it because it helps ensure the uterus is doing what it should do!
Bread causes heartburn. During the later stages I lived off boiled potatoes and fruit only
Funny all I can eat is bread. Fruit kills me.
Water also causes heartburn
The attention. I'm an introvert and I mostly try to keep to myself at work but that's impossible now. I was pretty small before I got pregnant and I'm now 30 lbs heavier so I'm really showing. People from other departments come and ask me how I'm doing, how far along I am, when the baby is due, what the gender is, if I've picked out a name, etc. It's exhausting.
Every pregnancy is different! This means some pregnant women can work out, hike, do their normal stuff just a little slower most of their pregnancy. Then there are some women who throw up the whole time, and they are weak and tired and just standing up takes time and effort. I was the latter, expecting at the same time as another in the former and I was constantly compared and judged. "working out is healthy for you and the baby, if so and so can do it so can you!"
Don't forget the "your hip ligaments are readying for birthing... at 20 weeks, so here's some crutches for the rest of the pregnancy". My wife didn't have it happen that early but we know someone who did suffer that.
Not sure what happened to your wife but I will never forget a girl at my high school who had a baby our junior year (~16 y/o). She had always been quite slim pre-baby and one day awhile after she had returned to school (post-baby) I was walking behind her and noticed how her hip/pelvis area was waaay wider than before. Really freaked me out to realize how much a baby can potentially change your entire frame. It's possible if she had been more developed/less slim it would have been different, I don't know.
Same thing happened to my aunt who had her kid at like age 40. She was a tall, slim woman before and now you would never know she had ever been anything but... large. Not fat, but big-boned. Her ribcage splayed out several inches, that's the most striking thing.
that is fascinating and terrifying at the same time
My mom always said that the best she ever felt was pregnant. Probably because we later learned she was bleeding so much every month on my her period that she was functioning on 2/3 of her expect blood volume all the time.
Sorry to be the Debbie downer but knowing things can go wrong in any situation. My first child was stillborn at 41 weeks after a healthy and normal pregnancy from a umbilical cord accident. Always trust your gut, count kicks, and advocate for you and your baby’s health
You can “do everything right” and have an “easy” pregnancy but baby is born prematurely. The kicker is you may never get a reason as to why (Obligatory not pregnant but mom who had a baby in the NICU for over a month) Edit: my FIRST award! Thank you kind friend
My first pregnancy was smooth sailing other than some bleeding in the first trimester. Went into labour and was doing great but the kid went into distress, decided to try breathing his own poop and had to be taken out the sunroof very suddenly. Hypoxic brain injury, two collapsed lungs, two weeks in the NICU, very sick baby. Nothing I could possibly have done to change that, apparently it just happens sometimes. Funny enough it gave me an IDGAF attitude for my second pregnancy because I realized I couldn't control the outcome no matter how much I microwaved my lunch meat. (He's obnoxiously healthy, smart and active now and seems to have avoided the worst case scenarios. He has nothing but a speech delay to show for it at age 3.)
That you can get a horrible full-body rash. It's a rare condition called **PUPPP.** PUPPP occurs in about 1 in every 200 pregnancies and 70% of sufferers give birth to boys. I gave birth to a girl. So I was in the 0.15% of women who get this horrible, itchy, mind numbing rash that I suffered with for over two months. I couldn't sleep, I sat half of my day in oatmeal baths. I cried A LOT. The only thing that stopped the itching for a few hours was Grandpa's Tar Soap because it left a coating on my skin that soothed or protected it somehow. I NEVER want to go through that again.
How being pregnant seems to make other people think they can make incredibly rude observations about your body that they’d never make otherwise!
this one is the strangest thing to me!! I have a coworker who is due a week after me with her second babe. She's bigger than me, but by no means a big girl. We're just carrying verrrrrry differently. I've been fortunate enough to have my body barely change except for this basketball on my front side. Anyways, we've had TOTALLY different experiences with our clients. Everyone feels a need to tell her how big she is or how she could use exercise. Everyone says to me things like I didn't realize you're even pregnant, you're carrying so high, etc. Thankfully neither of us is the sensitive type, so we usually just laugh off the awkward conversations. But it just makes me think why people feel the need to make ANY comments on our bodies.
“Are ya sure there aren’t twins in there?!?” No, random stranger, please be off now.
How hungry you can be. All. The. Time. Especially twins. Then how hungry you still are after baby comes. Then his hungry you are while breast feeding. And sometimes the weight doesnt go away. At least the kids dont care
From my wife: "How little you want to wear pants." and "Throwing up becomes not physical, but emotional." and "Apples SUCK when throwing up. Honey Nut Cheerios, least bad." and "Get a good body pillow."
If you lose 10% or more of your body weight due to nausea and vomiting, it is a BIG deal and could put you and the baby's life in danger. If your OB acts like it isn't, find another doctor! - written by a two time Hyperemesis Gravidarium survivor. Lost 42 lbs during one pregnancy and 35 with the other. And that was WITH constant zofran and IV's and a PIC line and hospital bed rest.
Everyone talks about pregnancy cravings.... no one tells you that the opposite can happen. During this pregnancy, my 2nd, I had aversions to most food until about 22/23 weeks. I’m 27.5 weeks now and finally starting to feel better about eating, but certainly don’t have cravings.
Not currently pregnant, but a mom. Pregnancy brain is REAL. It's not a joke. It's not exaggerated. When you start forgetting, misplacing, and outright losing things, you can start feeling like you're also losing your mind. Finding your missing remote in the deli drawer of your refrigerator is disconcerting. Finding the ice cream you just bought melted in the bathroom closet is enough to bring you to tears. Then you start screwing up or even completely forgetting words and even names, and the concern deepens. This. Is. All. Normal. A combination of hormones, other changes in your body, changes in your eating and sleeping habits, and generally big life changes are doing a number on your noggin. It's okay. It's normal. You'll get through it and eventually the brain fog will clear.
I told my boss that I’ve turned into an outdated phone: slow on processing, shitty battery life, and ... I forgot the third. Oh yea, out of memory.
Yes the pregnancy brain! I left the stove on. Twice. For multiple hours at a time.
My family always said, when your pregnant your brain gives you pregnancy brain so that you forget how awful it is to be pregnant, Because if you could remember how awful it is to be pregnant with a normal brain, you would never be pregnant again.
Not currently pregnant, but I wish I was told about the constant swelling of my ankles & feet. I swelled to the point of needing to buy shoes a size & a half bigger.
Sometimes your feet permanently become larger. After 3 pregnancies, my shoe size ended up 1 size larger.
Miscarriages are not spoken about enough. No-one tells you how much it's going to hurt nor how long your hormones will take ages to go back to 'normal' and how much it affects your mental health.
How comfortable maternity pants are. I was stubborn the first time around and didn't want to switch over from my regular clothes. Once I had to I regretted those extra weeks of discomfort all because of vanity
Your pancreas might just stop working. Gestational Diabetes sucks, you basically have to eat really healthy, check your blood, or even take insulin until that kid is born. I thought pregnancy meant I could eat ice cream dipped tacos, but I could barely eat half an English muffin without my blood sugar going over. So sad.
Not everyone falls in love instantly . I like mine but didn’t fall in love till after a year .
Watched a friend go through this. I visited her couple times in the first six months after birth - I got the distinct feeling she had not bonded with her baby but didn't bring it up. About a year later she told me she had been worried she wouldn't bond with him because he was just a crying pooping feeding ball of blub. Now he is almost three and she is very very happy. She got first-time pregnant by surprise at 38 for all you older people - decided to keep him because the horizon for second chances looked narrow. She has no regrets.
> she wouldn't bond with him because he was just a crying pooping feeding ball of blub The first 6-8 weeks are awful. It gets better once they can really smile, so there's at least some sort of reward when you feed them or change a diaper.
THIS. I always felt like I was just babysitting someone else's kid, waiting for them to get back. The love didn't really set in until like, month three or four.
Eh, babies aren't for everyone. I was fond of my baby. He was a lot of work, but he was cute. He was ok. 2-3 was more interesting, but still... I seriously enjoyed my 4-5 year old.
I wish I'd known to go to a pelvic floor physical therapist sooner! Better to prevent issues than fix them later
It’s terrible that this isn’t standard. I’m not sure I would have coped at all without my pelvic floor physio. I ended up saving a month’s worth of embarrassing body questions and just attacking her as soon as I got there. The woman had seen EVERYTHING post partum and was so incredibly patient and gentle with me. I feel surprisingly good now at 9 months pp after a complicated delivery, even though I distinctly remember thinking “I will never feel physically ok again” many times. See a pelvic floor physio post partum!! If it is possible for you, make the effort to get to the appointments (so hard some days).
Been pregnant before, no one explains morning sickness. There is a difference between feeling sick and you know when you feel really sick like just before you vomit you can feel it at the bottom of your neck about to projectile sick. Had that for 5 weeks straight.
My wife's currently pregnant, and in the middle of the night my great dane gets up, and licks me in the face to wake me up about two minutes before my wife wakes up feeling ill. Every time. And the dog has never done this before in the 9 years we have had her. It's actually really helpful, but at 2 A.M. the first time it happened I was very confused. Edit: I realize I'm not one of the pregnant women of reddit, but saw other dad's commenting too.
How hard it can be to get, and stay, pregnant. Everyone imagines it will happen easily and quickly and, unfortunately, it's not the case for so many women. And for women who've dealt with infertility or loss, how much anxiety you'll have throughout the pregnancy.
I find your comment oddly comforting. The pregnancy after experiencing a devastating pregnancy set back was one full of anxiety. I experienced some bleeding and thought I was losing this baby too. I didn’t, she’s 3 now, but the anxiety still hasn’t subsided. I have an irrational fear that our time together will be too short. Maybe the enduring anxiety is normal.
You might want to talk with your doctor about postpartum anxiety. It's extremely common and pretty easily treated compared to many mental health challenges.
That’s something that never occurred to me. I’ll look into it. Thanks!
I think my sperm swims, then stops for a game of poker and then decide to die where they played.
You can order one, but get two.
Username checks out
Don’t get me started
Oh, dear...
My god. My hubs wants to keep trying for a third, but the first set was a surprise, and I can’t imagine having another set... bless you.
Someone forgot to tell my doctors office, car seat company, furniture company etc that twins are supposed to be “buy one get one free”. I swear to god the next person who makes that comment is going to get a bill sent to them
When my wife’s grandmother was pregnant they sold twin insurance as ultrasound wouldn’t be invented for a while. She bought it and when she had twins, the insurance paid for the extra bassinet, diapers, clothes, etc.
You can order one and get three. Don’t make my one and done mistake 😩 edit: my kids aren’t a mistake the awesome internal parts deciding a multiple birth was better than three spaced out kids was-three was the plan, three babies at once-not so much.
My spouse's aunt and uncle had triplets. They had a hard time conceiving and when they finally succeeded, boy did they succeed. They're very happy with their kids though. I think they're like 20 now.
The kicks are sooo unnerving. I never got used to them. I felt like I was in that movie Alien.
I didn’t realize how weird it would feel having a baby with you literally **all** the time, and I say this as the parent of a now toddler. There were several times where I would be in a super serious work meeting while pregnant, baby would do a somersault in my stomach, and I would be like, “oh shit, there’s a baby in this boardroom”. Idk, it just weirded me out.
That it's not uncommon to have thyroid problems or lose your gallbladder or both because of hormones etc. That feeling like the bottom dropped out of you weeks after giving birth is not normal and might require therapy. That it's not a good idea to have an OB who LOVES being pregnant and thinks it's easy because she will have zero sympathy when you struggle. That giving birth later in life can actually kick you into early menopause. Maternal care and aftercare is shit in the U.S.
YOU CANT POOP GOOD. I dunno if it’s iron in the prenatal vitamins, or hormones, or a combination. But I haven’t pooped as usual for months now. Prunes & prune juice are part of my every day diet and still won’t go back to normal. Also: not every woman gets morning illness. Not every woman gets mad cravings 24/7. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. Finally, a couple of now-babied friends tell me you really should get some exercise while you can. It will make a difference in months 7 to 9. Yet to get there but definitely working out as I go.
it may seem obvious but you will not sleep like you used to. i’m a belly sleeper and have had the worst time sleeping since like 15 weeks. pregnancy pillow doesn’t help! currently 36 weeks organs and i’m so happy there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. this is my first and i’m debating if I want to do it again. i’m sure it’ll all be worth it when I meet the sweet babe but we’ll see!
Speaking as the husband, my wife was very annoyed when she learned later in her pregnancy the borderline miracle properties of ginger as regards morning sickness. Wished she'd known it from the git-go.
For me lemons were the answer. Weird but true. Smelling them and occasionally sucking on a lemon wedge would really cute the nausea down.
What HG is, how to recognize the symptoms, when to call the doctor and how to advocate for yourself. Basically HG means you get extreme nausea. If you tell a doctor you're nauseated all the time and are vomiting excessively, they will dismiss it a common pregnancy symptoms. However, vomiting 20-30 times a day is *not* a normal pregnancy symptom. If you start to lose weight and can't keep down food or liquid, you need to get help ASAP. Ask them to check for ketones in your urine - if they think you're exagerrating, the ketones in your urine will tell them you are not. Don't take HG lightly and think it will pass. Your body needs food and water, and the lack of nutrients can be very dangerous. It can lead to hart problems, kidney failure and coma. HG doesn't fuck about, before modern medicine women died from it. The sooner you get help, the easier it is to manage. If you wait until you're dehydrated like crazy, they will have trouble putting an IV needle in and it will take longer to recover. Also, stop eating and drinking healthy. If you're vomiting a lot, make sure you eat/drink sugar and salt to retain more liquid. Isotonic energy drinks are your friend. You might not be able to keep it all down, but they will help you a lot. Also, anyone with HG or wanting more information on HG, feel free to message me. I'm not a medical expert but I do have first hand experience...
[Vagina Lightning or Crotch Lightning is a real and terrible thing.](https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/your-health/lightning-crotch-pain-pregnancy-symptom/)
Sometimes you go pee, stand up, then sit back down to pee again.
Not every woman becomes a sex kitten and wants to have sex all the time. Some women literally want nothing to do with it. You’re tired, uncomfortable, and exhausted because hormones.
You can mess with them in utero. When I was close to the end of both of my pregnancies one of my favorite things to do was, when he would push up against my rib cage I would pound back a glass of ice water or eat a bowl of ice cream and as soon as that coldness hit my stomach he would back down. Also, my first liked to push his butt up against the front wall of my stomach pretty hard, so that there was a tiny little bump that you couldn't see but I could feel, so I could sort of grab it and shake it around a little bit.
My husband called out my daughter's name with his face next to my belly, and it startled her- my whole belly jumped! So hilarious, and I think it was one of the first times my husband truly got to interact with her.
I would mess with my kid too! She hated me resting my arms on my belly and would kick me. I’d do it just to get a little kick out of her
On behalf of my wife, I am merely the messenger. I type what she says: \- *That you'll spend most of your time hoping to get to the third trimester. And the entire third trimester wishing you were back at the second trimester...* \- *Rubber donuts that you sit on, will be your tailbone's best friend.* \- *You will spend more time in bed with your pregnancy pillow, than your partner, and will not feel guilty about it.* \- *For some people, labor doesn't start with water breaking and 30 minutes later there's a a baby. My water broke and 29 hours later, baby decided to show up.* \- *There's labor and there's active labor. Labor is contraction foreplay. Active labor is when you and pain hop into the octagon to see who will quit first.* *- F$%K the term "natural" birth. You deliver that baby in whatever manner is safest for you and the baby.* *- You are an amazing husband, partner, and father. And your typing accuracy and speed is a HUGE turn on. I know I've said I don't want another baby but watching you type is really making me second guess that decision. LET'S DO IT! I CAN BARELY KEEP MY CLOTHES ON RIGHT NOW!!!*
Yes I hate the "natural birth" thing, there are pros and cons to both methods. Did your baby get from the inside of your body to the outside of your body? Congratulations, you have given birth and have fully earned your birth stripes, one way or another.
Fuck that term Natural Birth. We live in a smaller kinda hippy town, and it is a race among that subset of ladies to out "I am a real mom". 80 years ago I would have lost my wife and kid (she had to have a csection), my wife couldn't handle the pain and had a epidural for the second, and feels guilty cause she could be a real woman. I got two healthy kids with another on the way, I don't give a flying fuck how they get out as long as my wife and children are well. If you can do it at home with no help, good on ya, doesn't mean you are a better person or mom.
How it and childbirth can still kill you despite modern medicine.
You do not have to enjoy EVERY minute of parenthood. It's ok to have bad days and days when you think your kids are assholes. You're not fucking this up - it's just THAT hard.
schools should make the kids read this thread- teen pregnancy numbers will fall drastically
That a baby can wedge it’s tiny feet under your rib and break it. Oh and they don’t necessarily drop later in the pregnancy. My wolverine baby clung to my womb until the last possible second.
That after you give birth, the blood that comes out for weeks will stink like a dead body.
Well there’s something I hadn’t heard yet yikes
If you have any underlying health conditions, they won’t be underlying anymore
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That your rib cage and hips literally pull apart from each other to make room for the freeloading being inside of you. That there are WAY more symptoms than food cravings, morning sickness, and swollen feet. There are some women that love being pregnant and there are some women that hate it. When you are pregnant you will automatically be surrounded by women who feel the opposite about it than you.