Things you didn't know happened during pregnancy
For those of us who have never done it before, pregnancy is something of a mystery. Sure, we all know our body cooks up a baby over nine months, hence the large bump. We've all heard about the tiredness and the swollen ankles, too. But despite this, pregnancy will still likely be full of surprises.
Pregnancy is different for everyone, but these women took to a Reddit thread to share the one thing nobody told them could happen to their body during pregnancy or just after childbirth. And now we're sharing them with you, so you can mentally prepare for what might just happen one day:
1. Occasional bladder accidents
"Sometimes the baby WILL kick your bladder and you WILL piss yourself, no warning at all... Also in the last trimester sometimes the baby will seem to flip around and throw you off balance. My last month I had zero balance and randomly pissed my pants...awesome."
[Via]
2. Leaking nipples at the sound of a crying baby
"In the first few weeks of lactation, hearing a baby cry would trigger my breasts to leak. Not just my baby, any baby. Made for some really awkward moments in public."
[Via]
3. Incessant itching
"33 weeks pregnant here... My boobs and tummy constantly itch and its driving me crazy. Also when you get to 30+ weeks, sit on the edge of the couch if you want to be able to get off of it by yourself."
[Via]
4. Post-birth constipation
"Despite all the bran flakes, I'd be severely constipated afterwards, a condition worsened by being torn up down there. The midwife had to administer more gas and air at home 3 days later as having a poo was so unbearable."
[Via anonymous]
5. Sex life benefits
"It wan't all bad. Orgasms were way better while pregnant. Around the second semester, after the morning sickness fades, sex just gets more intense, and I was horny ALL the time."
[Via]
6. Your baby can hiccup inside you
"Baby hiccups. Completely infuriating but utterly funny. Like someone tickling from the inside."
[Via anonymous]
7. Blood, and a lot of it
"The bleeding after having your baby. I had a c-section, the first time I went to pee the pan looked like a murder had occurred. I pulled the emergency cord, thinking oh my god my insides are falling out. The nurse who came to see me gave me the best WTF look ever and just said 'you just had a baby, that's totally normal'."
[Via]
NB: bleeding is totally normal after giving birth, but if you experience bleeding during pregnancy, make an appointment with your GP.
8. Morning sickness doesn't just happen in the morning
"Nobody ever warned me that 'morning sickness' is a total misnomer. I worked up until the later stages of pregnancy and had to take lengthy afternoon breaks, because that's when my 'morning sickness' would strike. A friend of mine had it in the evening through late night, but never thought to warn me until I brought it up with her after baby was born."
[Via]
9. The pain
"One of the things I was not ready for is in the later months, when the baby doesn't have a lot of room and gets all up in your ribs. It gets PAINFUL beyond belief. It's happened in two of my pregnancies."
[Via]
10. Intense emotions
"You are going to have a lot of feelings. A lot of things that don't usually make you cry may make you weep buckets. It's okay though. You aren't crazy or losing your mind. You are just so full of hormones the only way they can escape is through feelings. I was a bit irritable, but I've been much weepier than usual for sure. It's like having PMS feelings all of the time. But people are very understanding in my experience thus far.
[Via]
And one woman had one other, very important thing to remind people of:
11. Pregnancies don't always work out
"I wish someone had told me how common pregnancy loss is. No one talks about miscarriages until you have one. Then all of a sudden absolutely everyone has lost a pregnancy. I think it would have hurt less if I had known that it was a very real possibility."
[Via]
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