As any mother will attest, being pregnant is no bed of roses, despite the huge joy we experience from the birth. The fact is, our bodies change drastically during pregnancy, and many bodily functions go out of whack. You might think you know a lot about being pregnant already, but here are 6 things no one ever told you could happen to you during your pregnancy.
Pregnancy can cause you to scratch all the time, everywhere
1. Itch, itch, everywhere
You’ve heard about how our breasts swell and we get stretch marks all over our stomach? Did you also know that these areas get really itchy as the skin stretches to accommodate our changing body?
We also bet you have never heard about obstetric cholestasis.
We are not talking about that itch you had when you ate too much seafood. It’s a mad crazy itch that never ever stops. And it’s everywhere – your armpits, your soles, your palms and even your scalp. You can’t stop scratching when you go to sleep, in fact, especially when you go to sleep. And you know you didn’t stop scratching because you wake up with painful ugly fingernail marks on your body.
Just to put the icing on top of the cake, there’s no cure for it, except to somewhat alleviate the symptoms with cream. Not until the little one makes his grand entrance anyway.
Thankfully, this is not a common condition and only affects one out of a hundred. The milder itch around the chest and stomach areas though are pretty much a foregone conclusion.
2. Incontinence
Yes, you know that pregnant ladies need to pee more often. Everyone’s too polite to tell you though that we need to go so often and so badly all the time we pretty much become incontinent in our last few months of pregnancy.
Peeing in our undies is part and parcel of our daily lives. Truth is, we usually can’t hold it in no matter how often we go especially when our bellies swell in the last trimester. When you see a heavily pregnant woman sneeze, you can bet your last dollar she probably peed a little bit right there and then in front of you.
Morning sickness can happen at anytime of the day any number of times!
3. The Morning Sickness myth
Ok, we have all watched enough movies to know that nausea and full-scale regurgitation is to be expected. But it’s usually only confined to certain times of the day.
Or is it?
Morning sickness doesn’t just happen in the morning. It can happen any time of the day. Or for some women, it can happen all day.
We also know from the movies that we pregnant ladies have these cravings that usually the people around us will pander to and go to all sorts of length to procure for us. That might be true.
But, did you also know that we are usually too sick to eat anything anyway? It all just comes right out shortly after. It’s not that we don’t appreciate the effort, our bodies just aren’t keeping the food down. Sorry guys.
Uncontrollable release of gas, especially in public places can be very embarassing
4. The walking gas machine
Now you know we puke a lot and we pee a lot.
The story does get worse: pregnant women also fart a lot.
Basically, our hormones screw up our digestive system and we are just a lot more free with our gases. It’s not something we can control and it’s definitely super embarrassing especially when we accidentally let loose in the workplace or in a public area!
5. Ballooning
It’s not just your tummy that balloons. Everything swells as the baby grows within us. Our feet, our arms, even our noses and our face.
Forget pregnancy glow. If you look normal, and only your tummy looks bigger, be thankful.
6. Or it could be really underwhelming
Here’s some good news for you though, if you are looking to get pregnant.
For some women, nothing happens.
Yes, their tummies grow with the baby, but other than that, nothing else changes. They never feel nauseous, their complexion remains as clear as it was pre-pregnancy and they get no cravings nor mood swings. In fact, if they hadn’t peed on a stick a few months ago, they would probably never even have realised they were pregnant.
For these women, their pregnancy becomes distinctly underwhelming, especially if they proceed along with their pregnancy with expectations of signs and symptoms that they had heard or read of.
This is by far, the happiest of problems though!
The journey as a mother from conception to birth are different for different women. And even for the same woman, each pregnancy’s symptoms could vary wildly from each other too!
Bottom line is, however many of these you experience, or none whatsoever, the little bub makes everything worth it all as you gaze upon his wrinkly face upon birth and the cycle of life repeats itself in that little bundle of joy.
Mummies, what other pregnancy symptoms did you go through that you were never told about? Share with us in your comments below!
