10 Weird Things They Don’t Tell You About Pregnancy 

Not too long ago, I was sitting down with a friend who had just found out she was pregnant and she asked me if there were any things that she should expect; things that they don’t tell you about pregnancy. Girl, yes! I found myself spewing out all kinds of things! But then I realized that I might be making her a bit nervous but she assured me that she wanted to hear them. Good thing she did because I’m pretty sure I would’ve told her about them anyway.

When I was pregnant, my friends shared with me some of their weird experiences, just in case they happened to me, and I was so thankful for that. Though, there were still things that I found myself asking my doctor if they were normal and she would go, “Oh, yea…that happens.” Well thanks for the heads up, sheesh! So just in case your doc withholds information like mine did, I’ll share with you ten weird things they don’t tell you about pregnancy.

10 Weird Things They Don’t Tell You About Pregnancy 

#1) Your partner may have pregnancy symptoms, too.

In my first blog post, I mentioned how my boyfriend was actually the one with the morning sickness. He hates when I tell people that but I think it’s the funniest thing. Besides, he wasn’t complaining when he got to reap the benefits of my random cookie baking sessions at 1 AM. Which leads me to number two…

#2) Food cravings might not get weird, but they will get specific.

I know my boyfriend only misses the pregnant me for one reason: I wasn’t indecisive when it was time to eat. He would ask me what I wanted and I would tell him exactly–from entree to sides and dessert, from what restaurant, and at what time I wanted it. Now I’m back to, “I don’t know, but not that!”

#3) You will feel (and might see) the flip.

I remember exactly when it happened! I was laying in bed watching Bob’s Burgers (Ok, it was watching me) and I felt this stretching pain that immediately woke me up. I looked down at my belly at it was like an alien was morphing inside of me. It only lasted for about a minute but with it came the worst case of heartburn!

#4) Everything will give you heartburn, even water!

I enjoyed being able to eat what I wanted until everything started to give me heartburn. And that only started once the baby flipped head down and decided to play soccer with my organs. I had it the worst at night so I kept a giant bottle of TUMS on my nightstand.

#5) 3D ultrasounds are accurate AF!

We wondered what our tiny little human would look like from the moment we found out we were expecting. I even did one of those silly mashups that combined our facial features. It was completely inaccurate. But I will say, the 3D ultrasound blew us away, especially when he came out looking almost identical to the image. I remember laughing when my brother joked about not having that when his kids were born. 

#6) Your fingers might go numb.

This was one of the things that my doctor failed to mention beforehand. The first time it happened I just thought that maybe I was laying on my hand wrong and it caused my fingers to fall asleep. But when it continued to happen, and wake me up in the middle of the night, I thought that maybe something was wrong. The doctor said that the positioning of my baby was probably pinching a nerve but that it would go back to normal eventually. Well “eventually” didn’t come until about a month after giving birth!

#7) Your baby will get the hiccups.

When I started counting my baby’s kicks, I was caught off guard when he started this rhythmic motion. Is he bicycle-kicking in there? I asked my doctor about it and she said that it’s common for babies to experience hiccups in utero. It makes sense; they are gulping down tons of fluid while they’re in there. 

#8) You will cry for no reason or for all the reasons.

It didn’t help that I was pregnant during most of the second season of This Is Us. But at any given time I would just bawl out of control for no reason at all. I’m sure that’s one thing about my pregnancy that my boyfriend doesn’t miss. I did find it to be therapeutic to just let it all out—whatever “it” was.    

#9) You will have the urge to watch graphic birth videos on Youtube.

Ok, when I tell you I made this a nightly ritual… I don’t see how some of these videos weren’t banned from Youtube for all that was being displayed, but I didn’t mind one bit. Watching various types of births: water births, at-home births, car births, etc. mentally prepared me for almost any scenario. I knew what to do and what not to do when it was time to push. For example, one mom clinched her thighs together because she said the pain was unbearable but the doctors urged her that she could hurt the baby if she didn’t loosen them. I knew that no matter what, the mission was to get my baby here safely.   

#10) Your dreams will get weird.

I promise the closer I got to delivering, the crazier my dreams got! Maybe it had something to do with those graphic Youtube videos. I had one dream, in particular, that happened every night—it had sequels! In it, my baby was born, I was running around the hospital with him in my arms—still connected to the umbilical cord—and I was fighting the hospital staff. Thank goodness that never happened!   

I hope the weird things that I experienced don’t make you nervous if you’re pregnant or thinking about conceiving soon. It was just nice to have my friends tell me the things they went through so that I knew I wasn’t alone. I’m sure there are much weirder stories out there!

Lead photo by Umanoide on Unsplash