Pregnancy books will tell you all about the "symptoms" and "side effects" of pregnancy, but until you experience them yourself, you have NO CLUE what you are getting yourself into!!! I have been so shocked at how I've felt since early December.
Here are the things I wish the pregnancy books described more accurately:
Here are the things I wish the pregnancy books described more accurately:
Morning Sickness - More like ALL DAY sickness. I've thrown up too many times to count and I'm nauseous almost all day long. I've tried a few remedies (ginger tea and gum, some homeopathic stuff, B-6, eating dry cereal in the morning etc) and they help... for a bit. This is just something I will have to ride out until the second trimester.
Exhaustion - I struggle with being tired (due to work or going to bed too late) anyways, so pregnancy has not helped. Even after something simple like cleaning the kitchen or bathroom, I feel tired. The last week and a half of December I took off from work and I swear I could have slept all day!
Bloating - All of my work pants, which are mid rise, didn't fit within the first few weeks after we found out I was pregnant. I wish someone had told me how quickly you lose your flat stomach! Thank goodness for the Belly Band and the hair-tie trick otherwise I'd be wearing maternity pants already.
Food Aversions - Just the smell or sight of some foods make my stomach turn! Anything like raw meat, uncooked veggies and savory smells makes me so queasy. I've lived on Cheerios, green apples, bananas, Greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, ginger ale, fizzy water, protein shakes and crackers the last month because those are the best items that don't turn my stomach. Thank goodness for my girlfriends who are mothers - they have all made the BEST suggestions to combat this and the nausea so I don't starve my kid!
Uterine Cramps - Every couple of days I get these strange cramps - they feel like period cramps, so at the beginning I'd get completely freaked out thinking I was having a miscarriage. My nurse-midwife informed me it was just my uterus growing. So strange!
Thankfully I have not had the "crazies" or terrible digestive issues as some of my girlfriends experienced... yet!
Any thing that you wish pregnancy books (or your friends) had told you?
Oh there is so many things! Like the "preggo glow" yeah just sweat from throwing up all day! That you can have "morning sickness" well into your second trimester. Mine didn't go away this pregnancy till 23 weeks. I pray your doesn't do that! (side note: there are these things called preggy pops, its like a hard candy that actually really helped me. Nothing else helped not even meds!) Wait till you feel the baby moving, its alittle freaky at first!
ReplyDeleteOh, I feel you with the endless nausea... Sometimes I felt like being pregnant was another full-time job I added to my already full plate!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that caught me off guard at the end was being hungry and not having room to eat because my stomach had run out of room. It's a strange feeling being simultaneously full and wanting more.
I hate to scare you but have you had an ultra sound to determine if you are having twins? I was so sick and had the smell adversions and found out I was pregnant with twins....just a thought! Also to maybe help you have you tried taking a sleeping pill- unisom with the vitamin b-6 before you go to bed? I did that my entire pregnancy per my OB and it really helped with the sickness and the exhaustion.
ReplyDeleteIt probably says it somewhere but my SKIN is so freaking horrible this time around! With my son 4 years ago my skin was just fine- and before this pregnancy I had had MAYBE 3 pimples in my entire life. This time my forehead looks like a teenage boys. And its ridiculously dry. But apparently it means I'm having a girl since my daughter is 'stealing my beauty' and they have confirmed twice that is indeed a girl giving me this nasty skin.
ReplyDeleteI've been a reader for awhile, but this is my first time commenting. I just found out I'm pregnant at Christmas but I have the all day nausea too. And NOTHING helps. I'm hoping it only lasts the first trimester, but my mother had it her whole pregnancy (3 times). Congratulations though! And I hope you start feeling better!
ReplyDeletePraise the Lord I didn't have morning sickness. But I'm with you on the loathing and food aversions. Metamucil...just like my grandma used to dink has been my constant companion! Digestive issues are from the devil :)
ReplyDeleteMy nausea started as afternoon/evening nausea. No vomiting and eating can help but it quickly returns!
ReplyDeleteYes the the bloat and pants not fitting like immediately!
And the cramps/twinges! Holy anxiety!
I loved your post. I had always wanted to write a post saying what those books never fully explained. So here is one. You pee on yourself after you deliver. UM yup. You do. So be prepared to feel totally embarrassed by wetting yourself after you have a vaginal birth. They really didn't explain to much of that and or about doing your kegals!
ReplyDeleteMolly B -that doesn't scare me! If it's twins then we'll be twice as blessed. My first ultrasound is this week (I think)!
ReplyDeleteSo true about all day sickness... My doctor gave me zofran to help. But for the past ten weeks at every appointment they tell me "it'll pass soon.." Haha! Doesn't happen :)
ReplyDeleteWith my second child I was nauseous all day until the day our boy was born. I threw up several times a day.
ReplyDeleteWhat helped a little in the morning was, if I ate some crackers before I even got up, I ate them in my bed, waited a few minutes and got up. But for the rest of the day, nothing helped, no meds, absolutely nothing.
I was tired, exhausted and my back was hurting and I couldn't eat / smell half of what I usually love to eat.
The only thing that kept me going was the thought of the gift I was carrying in my body. The thought of what I would get in reward gave me the strength I needed for my everyday life and my other boy. It was a tough pregnancy, tough.
I hope it gets better with your nausea in a few weeks! And congratulations on the pregnancy! :)
Congratulations Kara, I've been a silent reader for a year now.
ReplyDeleteThere's a great book written by an Australian Comedian Kaz Cooke called "Up the Duff" (Aussie slang for being pregnant). She goes through all the things proper pregnancy books don't talk about, it's informative and makes you laugh as well. I recommend it.
Well if you are pregnant with twins it is double blessings for sure! Such blessings. I will be anxious to hear....
ReplyDeleteI'm just adding what helped for my morning (all-day) sickness, in hopes that you find something that works! Preggie pop drops & protein. Literally every morning at 5am, Chris went downstairs and made me chocolate milk or a protein shake. Just a few sips before I got out of bed seemed to help, and I sipped on the rest while I got ready for work. The best part is, it's easy to throw up. It doesn't burn or gross you out! I was sick for 20 weeks with both pregnancies, but it eventually just became part of my routine. My midwife told me pregnancy is like your liver trying to metabolize 100 birth control pills a day!
ReplyDeleteThe fatigue was the worst at the beginning for me. Hopefully, you'll feel a burst of energy after you get into the second trimester!
The cramping is also your uterus contracting. It does it throughout your entire pregnancy. Eventually, they'll be strong enough to bring baby into the world! I think it's so cool, the way our bodies work to build and nurture life even before babies arrive!
Congratulations again. So excited to share in this journey with you.
I had the uterine cramps too. I told my friend who had 4 babies and she was really worried so then I got worried about them. Went to the Dr. and he said some women are more sensitive to feeling the uterus stretching and growing.
ReplyDeleteI had all day sickness too. And gaged really easy. I don't think I cooked dinner the first three months of being pregnant because I was so tired all the time.
I am so excited for you and to share in this special time with you. Its fun, huh?!
Rach - you're right about the protein (and throwing up milk). I need to do that daily - drink protein not throw up! Great advice!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness my sickness didn't go away till month 7 and it went away for a month then came back worse than ever my last month, Thank goodness I had Judah almost a month early.
ReplyDeleteBut if I stayed up super late (I am a night owl) I would puke till I would fall asleep :-(
I hope it gets better for you!
Hi :) I'm just a week or two ahead of you, but some of the digestion issues caught me off guard. I did not know about pregnancy gas ... oh my gosh! I'll leave it at that :)
ReplyDeleteI've also heard that keeping a cut orange or lemon around to sniff can help with nausea. Also, sucking on hard candies.
So excited for you!!
I won't lie. I've had it pretty easy for my first pregnancy. No morning sickness, still a pretty good amount of energy. I did have the uterine cramps.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I definitely didn't get the "pregnancy glow." Instead, I got pregnancy acne.
Also, there are all sorts of creams and lotions out there to keep you from getting stretch marks. People will swear by them and tell you that you MUST have them. You can spend a fortune on them. However, I found no matter how much lotion you use, you still might find yourself getting stretch marks. And ya know, in the end, that's okay.
Really, it's all okay, because I know this sweet baby will be so worth it in the end.
Congrats on all of those yucky symptoms, just more proof that there really is a baby in there!
I had terrible morning/all day sickness with this pregnancy. I found some little suckers at Babies R Us called B Natals. They are cherry suckers with B6 in them, and they helped me more than anything else did. Ugh. It's hard, but here I am at 16 weeks, and it is slowly going away.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to try the sea sickness wrist bands for your all day sickness. You can buy them at Target or Walmart. They aren't cute, but if it helps it would probably be worth it. Hope it eases up soon.
ReplyDeleteI echo what Jenn says.. SEA-Bands have been a LIFESAVER for me.. especially at night when my M/S is horrible!
ReplyDeleteAll of these are such good signs of a healthy pregnancy! It means your hormones are right on track, and statistically, women with morning sickness/food aversion are more likely to carry to term. Time is really the only thing that helps morning sickness. The exhaustion also gets better around 14 weeks. Let yourself lay down or even sleep from the moment you get home from work. Don't feel guilt if you're eating dinner in bed!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently 3rd trimester and still get crampy at least once a day. You may also feel sharp pains down the sides of you stomach soon as the ligaments holding the uterus begin to stretch.
Oh, and the crazies could still be on the way (for me it's always a 2nd trimester thing). Welcome to the ride :)
I was sick until 20 weeks. So don't believe the "Oh it will go away at 13 weeks." It will go away when it goes away. Acupuncture actually helped some, but then I ended up in the hospital from dehydration and Zofran was a lifesaver. Ask for it if you need it - no point in throwing up multiple times a day if you don't have to. It didn't make me feel any less sick but it did help me keep food down. Also - hip pain. This hit me almost right away and I don't have narrow hips to begin with. I ended up getting one of those U-shaped pregnancy pillows and it helped tremendously.
ReplyDeleteWith all three of my pregnancies I cramped so badly during the first trimester. It always freaked me out but it is just the body's way of getting ready for labor. None of my pregnancy books addressed an issue I had with my third. Sub chorionic hemorrhage. I thought for sure I was losing the baby and if I had even a small notion of what was going on I wouldn't have panicked so! Hope that all day sickness eases up for you soon but it is a nice reminder that your hormones are working as they should be. (I told myself that every time I puked just to try and make myself feel better)
ReplyDelete