17 Feb Things Nobody Tells You About Being Pregnant
Preparing yourself for this exciting period in your life can be quite intimidating. You may experience some unusual symptoms nobody tells you about, but never fear, we’ve compiled a list to best prepare you for this uncertain time.
- Nesting Instinct
When you are pregnant, you are likely to get into a cleaning and organising craze, without even noticing. In your subconscious, you want to prepare the house so it can be as welcoming as possible for the new member of the family, just like a bird preparing its nest for its chicks. Some women even start organising objects around the house by colour.
- Negative Thoughts
Pregnancy is not all about excitement and happiness welcoming the new member to the family. During your pregnancy, you are likely to have thoughts you didn’t imagine would ever cross your mind. Fear and doubt become close companions. Worries about your relationship with your partner, your future baby’s health, and your capability of being a mother start keeping you up at night.
Remember to try to take time out for yourself every day. Talk to someone you trust. Stay active but get that much deserved rest when you need to. If you feel overwhelmed, ask for practical help from family, friends or even reach out to other pregnant ladies (you are all in the same boat). Be realistic about how much you can do (whether at work, at home, or in your social life) and remember to eat well. Don’t believe the hype!! It may seem like everyone else is happy and coping all the time, but everyone will be facing their own challenges. Lots of women feel low in pregnancy or after the birth.
- Apathetic Husband
For women, the pregnancy is a romantic and emotional period, and they usually expect their husbands to feel the same way. But unfortunately, this is not always the case. Your husband might not be as enthusiastic as you expect him about feeling the baby kick, he may not always remember to ask about each and every detail of your routine doctor checkup, and he may forget what week of pregnancy you are in. Do not take it to heart; behaving apathetically does not mean he doesn’t care; he may simply be stressed out or forgetful. Talk to him and tell him how you feel and include him in your adventure. We recommend that you definitely make him rub those swollen feet!!
- Hair Behaviour
Because of increased hormonal activity, your hair is likely to grow faster, and become somewhat oilier. In some cases the hair can even change its form; for example, if it was smooth, it might become wavy. You might start growing hair in a number of unwanted places, such as your belly, your chest or your face. Although many women have changes, these hair changes usually aren’t permanent. Many women lose some hair in the postpartum period or after they stop breastfeeding, so if your hair starts falling out (sometimes in clumps) don’t worry either – it’s completely normal!! These symptoms are expected to go away shortly after you give birth.
- Concentration Problems
The ability to concentrate and remember things may decrease, especially during the first few months of pregnancy. This is due to hormonal changes as well as your subconscious telling you that everything apart from your pregnancy is insignificant.
Along with many things to remember, try taking your daily dose of Preggy prenatal vitamins that typically contain more than 20 vitamins and minerals, including vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, C, D, E, K, folic acid, iodine, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc and selenium. These vitamins aid you during your pregnancy and help with concentration, strong bones for you & your growing baby, fetus development and if you are anaemic it may be important to take an iron supplement too.
- Things Can Get Really Weird When You Are Pregnant
We know our bodies are going to have weird things happen to them, but your brain gets weird too. Ridiculous crazy dreams, craving odd food, super smell powers, going from ‘I love you’ to ‘I want to stick a fork in your eye if you look at me again’ in the space of 30 seconds. Wanting to sleep but not being able to sleep are just some of the fun thoughts that may run through your mind. Remember this is completely normal and these heightened emotions will subside – for now, lets blame it on the hormones!
There are so many wonderful coping mechanisms that you can do on your own, with your partner, friend or a family member. Be informed and if something’s worrying you, talk to your midwife or doctor. Meeting with other pregnant women allows you to share your feelings with other people having similar experiences and can help you feel less isolated.
- What Is That? Am I Growing A Third Leg?
You are not growing another appendage, they are skin tags – tiny bits of overgrown skin that can pop up in the most awkward places during pregnancy. They are supposedly due to the extra hormones, so not only are you growing another human, you are growing extra, useless, bits of skin too. How awesome. Below we have created a step by step process which you can follow to help improve the healing process:
- Rib Crackers.
You will probably have some back pain from carrying around that huge stomach, and maybe, towards the end have some pelvic discomfort as things move around down there. They don’t tell you that babies might take up residence in between your ribs and shove your rib cage apart at every opportunity. Remember to breathe, try some stretching exercises or even preggy pilates is great for strengthening your core muscles and aids in the birthing process.
- People Think They Can Touch You.
Yes, random strangers will walk up to you in the supermarket and touch your pregnant belly. They’ll also ask personal questions and offer advice that will vary from rude, ridiculous, to helpful, but you’ll have no way of knowing which category it falls into until your baby is at least two years old.
We hope these tips will help prepare you a bit more for when you start noticing some unconventional symptoms during your pregnancy. Any, or all, or none of these things might happen, just be prepared for weird!
