Top 10 Secrets They Don’t Tell You When You’re Pregnant
My friend recently revealed her pregnancy and started asking all kinds of questions about what she was like when she was pregnant. I tend to be a very honest person, so when I gave him a little information about some ‘secrets’ he was almost horrified! So, here are the top 10 secrets people avoid telling you about pregnancy …
10. Hemorrhoids are a great possibility!
What more can I say?
9. Morning sickness doesn’t just happen in the morning
Not all pregnancies cause morning sickness, but if you do suffer from it, it can come in different forms and at different times. Some women get physically ill, while others (like me for about 5 weeks) liken it to the worst hangover you can imagine, all day!
8. It’s okay to exercise!
Some foolish people think that during pregnancy a woman should not do anything, lift nothing and be cared for hand and foot. Ladies! This is how you gain weight! Now if you’re in a high-risk pregnancy, don’t listen to what I’m saying. Your doctor will better inform you about your needs. However, if you are having a regular pregnancy and you are a healthy woman, do not stop what you are doing! I exercised for 7 months of my pregnancy. I DID tweak the fitness activities and intensity levels and THERE WERE things I didn’t do, but lifting, walking, and even running are not unhealthy things to do if you’re already in good shape and not high risk. However, always ask your doctor about any concerns you may have.
7. THE SWAB at 36 weeks
People like to skip this fun swab and you are unpleasantly surprised at 36 weeks when your doctor tells you you need a swab for group B strep. You may think, “What is that and how is it tested?” Well this very long cotton-tipped swab-like instrument is inserted into the rectum … that’s how! So don’t be surprised! It must be done because, although it is a harmless bacterium for the many women who carry it, if it is transmitted to your baby it can cause harmful effects.
6. You may have dark hair on your abdomen and your nipples may become darker.
It’s all about hormones! It will also pass!
5. Follow the advice with caution.
Everyone has an opinion on something and you will never please everyone! Strangers got mad at me because I didn’t want to know the sex of my baby, older family members told me to put honey on the end of a nipple (A HUGE NO-NO), and they all had something to say about the names. , programming and breastfeeding. The most positive advice for you … DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!
4. Your water may not break before the contractions start (or vice versa).
You can’t always believe what you see in the movies. It may work that way for you, but understand that it may be the opposite for you. My water broke at 4:30 am on a Saturday. However, my water did not come out with a large gush as I expected. It was a little trickle and I thought I had peed. I went to the bathroom, peed, cleaned myself, stood up and realized I had no control and peed on my leg (or so I thought). It was midnight and I was a month away from my due date, so I sat down, cleaned myself again, got up again, and guess what? It happened again! Then I knew something was up. Remember, this is Saturday morning. I called the hospital, they told me to come do a test to see if it was amniotic fluid. Sure enough, that was how I was hooked up to the contraction machine … no contractions … So they sent me home and told me to come back for dinner. Dinner time came and went, I was hooked on the contraption again and still without contractions. On the way home I went … and waited for the contractions to start. They asked me to come in at 8 a.m. M. For induction, as I was told that 24 hours after the water ruptures, if the contractions do not start, it could cause an infection and harm the baby. After an uncomfortable sleep, we headed to the hospital to begin induction. 8 in the morning came and went … 10 in the morning came and went … 12 in the afternoon came and went … still no one came to start the induction! Luckily FOUR women came that morning, naturally, so they left me on the back burner. I live in a small town where there were only four beds to accommodate labor and delivery, so I had to go and wait at the OBS. I was informed that induction would start at 4pm … still no contractions. Around 4:30 pm, a nurse came into my room to inform me that the doctor who was going to do my induction had decided that he was going home and that it was over. He would be there for more than 24 hours, he found out earlier that his dog had died that morning and since inductions often accompany 24 hours of labor, he was packing him up. I was stunned! My GP, who also gives birth to babies, arrived around 6pm, quite upset. She informed me that the choice was truly MINE, and that if he wanted the induction done, she would call him again. (The reason the decision was mine was because my water had broken almost 40 hours before and the risk of infection was high.) Although I would never do anything to harm my baby, I had a strong instinct to say it was okay. I thought: this man’s head is not inside. He is working to NOT sleep, he lost his dog and he will not be the happiest person if he is called to induce my labor. Not knowing what kind of labor and delivery he was going to have, I actually freaked out at the thought of him giving birth in that state! So, I agreed to wait and be induced the next morning (Monday) at 8am. They wanted me to stay in the hospital to check my vital signs (for infection reasons), so I sent my family home and decided to get some sleep. I started having contractions after midnight, although I had no idea what they were. I felt bad and threw up many times. I called a nurse to ask for gravol or something to make me feel better, but she didn’t give me anything. About an hour later, I called a nurse again. It was someone new this time, but she didn’t give me anything either. I couldn’t understand it! I was walking around my room trying to get away from the pain, pulling my guts out and no one would give me anything! Finally, around 5:20 am I called another nurse. I told him that my partner would already be awake because he had to work at 6 in the morning (at the hospital), so I could call him because he really needed him with me. Ten minutes later, he was there. I told him I didn’t know what to do with myself, the pain was so intense and he asked me what the nurses had been doing for me. When I didn’t say anything, I was angry as I could see that I could barely speak, I was in so much pain. So, he went to the nurses station and demanded that someone come in and check me (they hadn’t checked me internally because they were ordered not to because I might be at risk of infection as well). The nurse came into the room, looked at me, and called my doctor. The doctor told him to check on me and when he did he said, “Oh my God! It’s four inches dilated!” This was at 5:50 am. I wanted some drugs because the pain was intense, but they told me it was too late to take them; By the time they got into action, it would all be over. So, they called my parents and took me into labor and delivery. At 6:05 am my parents were there, at 6:10 am my doctor appeared and in three pushes and less than 10 minutes later I gave birth to my beautiful and healthy daughter. It was long, I know … but I know that anything can happen in any order!
3. Some women experience PICA during the pregnancy
This is known as a medical disorder in which you crave substances that are not nutritious. One of my friends was craving ice cubes. He ate so many that he lost 3 molars! Another became obsessed with sniffing markers, and another craved chalk. The pica subsided after giving birth.
2. Sorry ladies … most gender-related myths are just that!
PURPOSE … it’s a lot of fun to play. Although, to me, all fingers pointed to a boy, he had a beautiful girl. My instincts were the only correct thing in this case. However, I loved trying out the gender prediction table and other myth pages because they were so much fun to play with.
1. You may not love your baby right away!
I gave birth to my daughter a month before delivery and I loved being pregnant. I wasn’t mentally ready to have her yet and once she was born, I didn’t have that attachment to her that I thought I would have. Because I was so used to this little being moving inside of me, when it was in my arms, it didn’t seem like it belonged to me at all. It took a few weeks before I really fell in love with her and now my love grows stronger every day.
Remember … it’s okay to feel this way. People don’t like to admit it because they think it makes them a bad mother or possibly embarrasses them. But it’s important to know that your hormones are going crazy right now and that connection might not exist for a while.
Not all women go through the same things, so let’s let women know that the things they are experiencing during pregnancy are normal.