6 surprising things about pregnancy

This week marks my 20th week of pregnancy which, for those of you not versed (nay beat about the head) with the calendar keeping of an incubating human, is the typical halfway point before birth! Of course, that assumes that you deliver “on schedule”, or that the schedule is right to begin with, but who am I to nit-pick?

Anywhoodle, the point is I’m halfway through this pregnancy. I haven’t talked about it much on this blog, for various reasons, but I figured this was a good time to mention some of my observations about being pregnant. I’ve found pregnancy weird–not bad (really I’ve been lucky thus far to have a fairly easy go), just strange.

Oh sure, there were the things I knew to expect–bigger boobs, nausea, mood swings, exhaustion, backaches and the like. Those are the things that our culture readily talks about, be it in movies, tv, books, blogs or magazine articles. However, there have been some things I wasn’t as prepared for, some things I don’t recall ever being mentioned in my presence before, that have taken me by surprise. Hey look, what a great opportunity for a list!

1. I was well prepared for backaches–that particular affliction in pregnant women is well documented. What I wasn’t prepared for was the ungodly hip pain I’ve experienced. Did you know that your hips start to shift over the course of your pregnancy? Did you know this can, um, hurt?? According to everything I read, “most” women feel this kind of hip pain in their last trimester, as the body prepares for labor and delivery. Lucky me, my body is overachieving and starting early.
2. One of the biggest things I wasn’t prepared for was how EVERYTHING is apparently bad for pregnant women. Oh sure, I knew about the biggies: raw fish, undercooked eggs, alcohol, caffeine, certain OTC drugs, heavy lifting, etc. But the list of foods, drinks, activities, and items to avoid can literally be pages and pages long–if you follow every book, and every website* out there. Things I was unaware are supposed to bad for pregnant women: deli meat, mayo, certain teas, cured meats, steak, sausage, topical acne cream, Tums, among myriad others. Luckily, I have a great doctor who has talked to me specifically about some of these things, and I know where I stand, but if you just were following books and the internet, you’d think you couldn’t eat, drink, or do ANYTHING.
3. Of course, almost worse than the list of “restrictions” are the conflicting pieces of information. For example, make sure to eat fish, it’s good for the babies brain development. Oh wait, no don’t have fish, it’s got too much mercury/parasites/toxins. Oh, you should make sure to have peanuts and peanut butter, as it will help reduce the likelihood of peanut allergies in your child. Oh heavens no, that helps CAUSE allergies in your child. Have milk, it’s good for you and the baby. Don’t have milk, it makes it more likely that your child will be lactose intolerant. GAH!
4. We’re all well aware of food cravings in pregnancy. Well, I pretty much haven’t had those too much–maybe the occasional desire for ice cream, but not much beyond that. What I have had is food aversions. This symptom doesn’t get as much press, but let me tell you, it kind of sucks. There have been moments where I’ve had to move to another area of the room due to a particular food aversion (combined with the lovely increased sense of smell of being pregnant). Makes restaurants an interesting mine field.
5. Do you guys know about round ligament pain? I sure didn’t before getting pregnant (cuz why would I?). Here, let me quote: “Round ligament pain generally refers to a brief, sharp, stabbing pain or a longer-lasting dull ache that pregnant women commonly feel in the lower abdomen or groin, starting in the second trimester.” It’s another one of those things where your body is adjusting to make room for the baby. I wasn’t prepared for the constant barrage of this pain that I’ve had pretty much every day for the past few months–you’d think I’d be used to it by now.
6. Now this next one is more a shock at how soon this starts–the judgment from everyone else about every choice you make. I knew that as a parent, my choices would likely be judged, everything from vaccines to whether to work to whether we let our kids watch TV and on. However, I wasn’t prepared for how soon this starts. I’ve already faced this judgment from others on such topics as finding out the sex of the baby (we are) all the way to wearing maternity clothes (um, I kind of have to). I know that it will come with names, what kind of delivery I have, and whether/how I breastfeed. I’m just surprised at how pregnancy and childbirth seem to be topics that others feel they can opine about without any wariness, when the rest of our lives are pretty much kept free from that level of scrutiny and judgment.

Oh, I could go on and on, but I think that this list of pregnancy surprises is enough for now. Even with all this, I don’t find pregnancy BAD–like I said, it’s just weird, and frankly, I’m not sure anyone could ever be prepared for all that can happen to you during this 9 month time period. I’m glad I’m halfway there now–it seems to be going so slowly and so fast at the same time, but I am looking forward to meeting this little person. Now if only my hips would stop hurting enough to let me sleep while I still can!

As always, check out more lists over at abdpbt!

*This of course, brings up my point that the internet is the best and worst thing on the planet. If you are a pregnant woman, please for the love of all that is good and holy, don’t take your advice from the internet. Talk to your doctor, or call one of those nurse lines. You can find out on the internet that literally everything is bad for you if you know where to look.

Tagged as: baby on the way, lists