There’s really no way to know what your pregnancy will truly be like. There are so many resources for expecting mothers – websites, books, classes – but all the preparation in the world won’t dissipate those wonderful, and perhaps not-so-wonderful, stages of a pregnancy.
Yes, you might experience morning sickness early on. And you might develop a few food aversions. But what about all the things they don’t tell you?
We asked mothers to tell us something they didn't know about being pregnant and wished they had known.
“A few things I was not prepared for was that meat made me sick my entire pregnancy, how hard it would be to shave, and that by the end I couldn’t put on my own socks or shoes!” said Amanda, whose little one is now 8 months old.
“One thing that every woman looks forward to is feeling her baby kick for the first time. Let me tell you, it was a precious and special moment I will always cherish,” said Francesca, mother to a 1 year old. “What no one tells you is, that precious kicking? Yeah, it gets old. QUICK. Especially because, as they start growing, they have less room to wiggle around. One minute you’re napping, and the next - your baby is chilling in your ribcage taking a kickboxing class! It’s such a difficult subject to complain about, because if your baby is moving - that means they’re healthy and well. So of course, you don’t wish for your baby to stop moving. You do, however, wish for people to stop telling you to get lots of sleep before the baby arrives. Because, guess what? A pregnant woman hardly sleeps, thanks to their tiny dancer doing pliés, among the other hundred sleep-disrupting factors they face every night. At the end of the day though, you just have to embrace it and know that all the karate chops will be worth it once you get to hold your little babe in your arms!”
"What no one tells you is, that precious kicking? Yeah, it gets old."
According to Kate, a mom of four, “Pregnancy can be wonderful, but I always thought that the last few weeks of it, the final stretch, can be so uncomfortable that it actually made you look forward to labor and delivery – endless trips to the bathroom, sleeping just isn’t comfortable anymore, nothing fits, not even maternity clothes, and yes, you will get hemorrhoids.”
“With this third baby, I was really surprised how often people asked ‘was it planned?’ It seemed like such a personal question!” said Kara, a mom of two with her third on the way. “Another thing that surprises me about pregnancy is that people are really convinced they can tell what gender your baby is based on cravings, but each of my pregnancies have had really similar and dissimilar elements, even with the same or a different gender. (This baby is a boy we were told by the genetic blood test). For example, with each I had pretty bad morning sickness that lasted through week 18-20. With each I also had different cravings (jalapeno poppers with my first, lemonade with my second, and hummus with the third). I've also carried each baby differently.”
According to Julie, a mom of two, “Things I wish I had known about being pregnant: I would pee a little bit every time I sneezed; I would get easily irritated when anyone asked me how I was doing/feeling, because I felt awful. I dreaded when anyone asked or commented about my weight or how big the baby is, etc.; I would feel naked without my pregnancy Spanx; I would randomly misplace my keys … on more than one occasion I found them in the trash; that any smell on the subway would make me vomit; I would be so grateful for slip-on, flats/shoes & prenatal yoga; my breasts would leak a lot after having the baby, and I needed pads for my bra.”
“Things I wish I had known about being pregnant: I would pee a little bit every time I sneezed."
And Lily a mom of 1, said “Sleeping with a pregnancy pillow is a game changer! But your spouse will hate it.”
-
Photo credit: iStock.com/Saso Novoselic
Previous
