Okay, so I’ve done it three times now and you may call me an experienced baby popping mama, but there are some things that were different and some things that were constant during my pregnancies. The constant? I ended up large and in charge and feeling pretty miserable by about the eighth month but the end result ended with a beautiful bouncing baby who would wake me up every two hours for at least the first month or two. But that was okay for my sweet baby to wake me up because I looked forward to holding and snuggling that little thing, as sleep-deprived and disheveled of a zombie I became.
So what are 5 things that I wish I knew when I was pregnant? A couple of these may surprise you, but a couple others you might be nodding your head in agreement.
1. You don’t ALWAYS have to have morning sickness to be pregnant.
And morning sickness is not just present in the morning. With my first, (now 12 year old Autumn) I had the nausea and dry heaves with that fun little bile projectile. And interesting enough, I started kneeling before the porcelain god almost immediately after I found out I was pregnant. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was all mental. Like, oh my gawd, I’m pregnant..I need to have morning sickness because that’s what happens when you are pregnant. Um, yeah.
With my second baby (now 7 year old Carter), I had morning sickness for MONTHS and it wasn’t just in the morning. My nausea and other nonsense carried on so bad that I ended up losing weight in the first and second trimester instead of gaining weight. While pregnant with Lola (my now 4 year old), I did not get the morning sickness at all.
I did come to one solid conclusion though…morning sickness is no picnic.
2. Pregnancy can be VERY HARD on a marriage, partnership, or whoever is on the other end of the baby making situation.
Let’s face it, when we get pregnant, our hormones do get whacked out every once in awhile. Communication can get difficult because quite frankly they don’t know what we are going through. Our body is going through some big time changes, guys!
3. I would pee my pants on several occasions.
Even after attempting kegal exercises to keep my vaginal muscles strong and tight, you cannot escape the power of a sneeze or a big belly laugh. I’ve went through many changes of panties because of accidents. I should have invested stock in Depends at that time.
4. False labor can trick you on more than one occasion.
There were many times I thought, “okay, it’s time”. With Autumn, my water broke so that was a no brainer but with my other two, I started having contractions (or so I thought). Those damn Braxton Hicks are confusing and annoying. I often thought there was something was seriously wrong with my body! I don’t know how many times I was sent home even on my THIRD pregnancy. Even though it is your body and you think you KNOW your body, you really don’t.
5. Use a mirror during childbirth.
I don’t know why I didn’t do this and I’m kicking myself to this day. How great it would be to watch the baby be born with a mirror? While everyone else can see what is going on down there, all I could see was my legs up in the air and the nurses’ nose hair all up in my face. I would have LOVED to see that little baby face come out and look at it for the first time. Those are memories that a lot of mamas just don’t have!
What is one thing you wish you knew during your pregnancy or beyond?
I agreed with you…right up to the mirror part. There’s NO WAY I’d want to see all that. To each his own. 🙂
I never had morning sickness during either of my pregnancies. Actually, I felt amazing during both of them.
I did not have morning sickness with my first one but did really bad with the second one. I can remember my husband and I worked together and I got to the office one day and looked awful, he laughingly in front of his co-workers said -“I wish I could help you” and I said “Great, here are my keys I did not get the door opened in time this time and the pocket in the door is full”. He never offered to help again after that!
These are very true. Being pregnant is a beautiful experience but it is not always peaches and cream. It can be a stressful and difficult time for some.
I hated sneezing during pregnancy! Glad to hear that I’m not the only person who had issues with that.
That I go from 130 to 195 and forever be stuck in 160 land no matter how hard I worked out. Those 30 pounds don’t always go away and my skinny friends I now hate with a passion lovley of course that they bounced back and were skinny mini’s and here I am still stuck in 160 land I am only 5 feet two. I tired so hard and now that I have health issues I have no hope until after I have surgery.
But it’s all work it in the end I havea 6 year old girl who lights up my world and any room she enters.
I only had one pregnancy but it was pretty easy for the most part loved every moment of it.
There are alot of things during my first pregnancy that I wish I knew. The strain it can put on a marriage is definitely one of them.
I actually had morning sickness very bad with my first three pregnancies, all of which were boys. On my forth pregnancy I only experienced morning sickness a few times, and I had a girl!
My mother told me exactly all this stuff about when she was pregnant; I guessed and know that it must not be easy to deal with. I respect woman for the fact they go through such a thing; though I’m happy to be a man and not have to.
I used a mirror and it was amazing!! Apparently, I am the only one that asked for it in a LONG time bc they had to dig it our of storage and clean it for me! It was amazing to see!!
I went through the same thing , for example I wanted my husband to video our first sons birth but he kept saying he couldn’t do it (I had a Cesarean) however he did do it for the second son and now I feel bad because we have that video of one but not the other.
I had morning sickness with both of mine. But if we have a third I really hope that like you, I avoid morning sickness. I love your list and agree with everything that you wrote!
I have had three babies and with both my boys my morning sickness started at 7 weeks and lasted till 14 weeks, but with my middle child, a girl I started feeling sick just before 4 weeks, before I even knew I was pregnant! and it lasted until week 11.
I also got SPD with my all 3. it only lasted the last few weeks with the first two, but with my third it started at 20 weeks and got worse every week!! my pelvis felt like it was in bits!! I could hardly walk I was in so much pain. That’s what puts me off having any more.
I’ve not heard of anyone using a mirror during birth. Wow.. I’ve had 2 c-sections and I don’t imagine the Dr would let me watch. Natural birth though… I’d totally watch that!