As if the hyper simulation called life wasn’t hard already, if you’re a woman, Mother Nature throws you a real party to check how high your threshold is, and it lasts 9 months straight: with no breaks, no excuses, no emergency exit.
Yep, we’re talking pregnancy. While most people see only the happy side of this miracle, excitement, and anticipation that comes with expecting a baby, moms who’ve been there have experienced the other side of the coin, too.
From swelling up to the point that you no longer recognize your reflection to craving some genuinely weird food combinations, welcome to the mad land of pregnancy brain. Let’s take a look at all the crazy and unfortunate stuff that moms have been going through while pregnant, which surely makes them legit superwomen. Because if they survived this, nothing’s impossible for them.
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Stages Of Pregnancy
To find out more about pregnancy challenges, Bored Panda reached out to Amy Morrison, author, mom of two, and founder of Pregnant Chicken. Amy explained that pregnancy comes with a ton of treats that aren’t so pretty, like “swollen feet, heartburn, constipation, and weird hair growth, just to name a few.”
“Unfortunately, they rarely make for great dinner conversation so people stick to topics like picking names and getting the nursery ready over pregnancy ailments.”
But such an impression makes people mistakenly think the majority of pregnancies are easy, and as a result, “pregnant people think their pregnancy isn’t normal when often, it is.”
While Pregnant With My Second Daughter, I Could Rest My Pregnant Belly On My Countertop. People Thought This Photo Was Fake. It’s Real, And My Back Still Isn’t Right
I saw this poor mother to be when I went to the hospital for my checkup. She was pregnant with quadruplets and was wheelchair bound. I have never seen a more miserable looking person in my life. Her belly was destroyed with stretch marks. Her husband kept rubbing her shoulders; she was beyond any comfort. She was a true champ.
Amy said that when she herself was pregnant, her feet grew half a size. “It happened during my first pregnancy and never went back. I had no idea how common this was.”
To all the pregnant moms to be out there, Amy says that “building a person from scratch with your body is difficult, but some roads are definitely tougher than others. It’s not fair and my heart goes out to anyone who is having a challenging pregnancy.”
Hormones
As we are now living in unprecedented times of worldwide pandemic, being pregnant and delivering a baby now cause so many more challenges than they used to. In addition to all the other unpleasant (to say the least) pregnancy symptoms, women are dealing with even more stress.
In order to find out whether the risks that worry so many pregnant women currently are justified, the University of Florida College of Medicine’s department of obstetrics and gynecology chair Dr. John Smulian answers a couple of frequently asked questions.
Dr. Smulian said that even if there’s limited information regarding the link between Covid-19 and pregnancy, reports suggest that pregnant women are not more likely to become infected. Moreover, he confirmed that there’s no evidence that pregnant women who get infected with the virus are more likely to endure a severe course of illness than others.
The Major Swelling, Even Your Nose Can Swell Up
I had this too. Worst part is it swells inside too, so I couldn't breathe through my nose most of the pregnancy. And breathing was additionally compromised by enormous stomach which pushed into diaphragm. No one ever told me I will be gasping for air most of the pregnancy months. You never expect it.
My Daughter Was Always Over To The Right Side Of My Body (Which You Can See In This Pic). For The Entire Third Trimester, I Felt Like I Was Tipping Over
Weird Vaginal Discharge Can Happen As Your Body Changes, And So Does Your Discharge
When it comes to worrying whether Covid-19 can be passed on to one's baby, Dr. Smulian explained that from several scientific studies that looked at pregnancies affected by the coronavirus, “none of the babies appeared to have been infected, based either on the absence of symptoms or negative tests for the virus.”
However, Dr. Smulian also said that there has been one case reported in the media of a possible mother-to-baby transmission of coronavirus, but there’s not enough information to draw conclusions.
And as for visiting moms and their newborns in hospitals, Dr. Smulian believes it’s crucial to limit visitors to one single designated person that bears no symptoms or risks for having and transmitting Covid-19.
My Pregnancy Feet Versus My Normal Feet
Pretty Disgusting Food Cravings Can Happen
Experiencing Heartburn Is Also Very Common
The Veins In Your Legs Can Start To Protrude, It's Called Varicose Veins
My Face Broke Out With Hormonal Cystic Acne That Was So Bad. I Also Had Cravings For All The Worst Food...but I Got An Awesome Table I Got To Carry Around With Me For A Few Months!
This Is What Happened When I Wore Mid-Calf Socks!
Spent My Entire Last Trimester In Old Navy Flip-Flops Because My Feet Didn't Fit Into Anything Else. I Also Got Pregnancy-Induced Carpal Tunnel To The Point Where I Couldn’t Move My Right Thumb And Had To Wear A Brace. My Feet Also Went Up An Entire Size, So I Now Wear A Size 11. Totally Worth It, Though
Rash Life. Wanna Know The Kicker? I Can’t Take Anything To Prevent The Itchiness. I’m Surprised My Partner Stayed By My Side After All Of My Complaining Lol
You Need To Pee All The Time
My experience was severe vomiting 🤢 from 5am till 1 pm. Horrendous.😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😕
Stretch Marks Within Stretch Marks, From My Ribs And All The Way Down. It Was Incredibly Itchy And Painful
Eight Months Pregnant = Motorized Cart At The Store. Note My Swollen Ankles!
I Had To Cut The Ring Off Because My Fingers Were So Swollen
This happen alot.. Please save your ring start on 3rd month of pregnancy
Pregnancy And Puppp Rash. The Unglamorous Side Of Pregnancy
Pruritic Uticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy. Essentially breaking out in hives because you’re pregnant.
Load More Replies...TBH it looks like it's gonna pop! I hope she's alright! However the prize is that you get your child to love and cherish for the rest of your life, keep it up all those amazing women going through this!
Pretty sure i had the rash. My skin was so itchy was wanted to deglove myself for the last 3 months!
Your Hips Actually Get Looser And That's Why We See Pregnant Women Waddling
Your Boobs Can Grow Unevenly
Feeling Exhausted Can Hit A New Level
Bruh that's literally me every day lol.. no matter how much I sleep (and I sleep A LOT. my high score is 18 hours!) I feel like I'm running on 4 hours of sleep ;-;
You Become More Forgetful, It's Called Pregnancy Brain
She left out where they were found, in an area like in her purse or pocket, otherwise this story falls flat.
No One Tells You About The Road Map You Turn Into When Pregnant. This Was Me At 24 Weeks, And It Just Got Worse And Worse As It Went On
This is actually a relief to me. I'm not pregnant but I am overweight. I thought this was just how my breasts were supposed to look. It made me feel self-conscious. If I could get this excess weight off, these veins might not be as noticeable.
Many Women Face Constipation, Which Can Lead To Hemorrhoids
A brilliant midwife helped me with this one. Eat a handful of gummy bears and a banana. Wait 30 minutes and drink a cup of coffee. The gummy bears have glycerine to slick everything up, the banana has fiber and makes a nice mush and the caffeine in the coffee makes everything move along. Worked every time.
Gaping Shirt Because Of My Pregnancy Boobs, And No Good Place To Put The Napkin Because Something Will Be Left Uncovered
I remember to be full after 1 cookie but feel like I can die if I don't eat immediately.
Having Swollen Af Pregnancy Feet
This Is My Sister At 8 Months. She Woke Up With Her Feet Very Swollen, So We Propped Her Legs Up To See If It Would Help
More Than 50% Of Women Experience Morning Sickness
Wanted To Trim My Bangs Really Quickly Over The Sink Before My Sister-In-Law Came To Visit. This Was The Result
Thank you Bored Panda for further helping me decide if I would really want a child in the future.
That is what I was thinking the whole time I was reading this Me and by brother both decided that when we grow up and marry people we will try to convince our partners to adopt
Load More Replies...and this is all yet another bunch of reasons why I don't want to ever get pregnant. i will stick to adopting in the future thank you very much
It's a good thing that women point out how stressful and uncomfortable pregnancy is . A lot of men can't even begin to imagine what it's like. Educating us without any belegering, but with a sense of humor, will make men more receptive. No, we don't feel your pain and discomfort, but at least we can be more understanding and supportive, knowing what we've learned here.
This is why forced birthers annoy me. They're always asking why can't you just have it and give it up for adoption? Completely ignoring the toll it will take on a body and some women don't survive a pregnancy.
Load More Replies...See all this? That's why you have to choose your baby daddy very carefully. A lot of guys hate what pregnancy does to their gf/wife's body and start stepping out. They are usually the ones who strut around bragging that they impregnated someone.
With my sis, my mom gained 30 pounds; with me, 20. With my sis, my mom lost 16 pounds ina week from... peeing after giving birth. With me, she lost 10 pounds in a year. She's never forgiven either of us, btw.
To Hans... We were joking about the pregnancy "if you don't feel good and something really hurts badly, everything is alright". Pregnancy sometimes aren't fun, but definitely worth it. And women need to share what they experienced to know that they are not alone with their stretch marks and hands not working and forgetting everything etc. (nice things about my pregnancy - my hair and fingernails were great, I loved having a babybelly (startet showing really late) and of course my baby, didn't mind feeling the movement in the middle of the night, because I just loved for her to be there) - and all the rest was hurtful 😄
On the bright side, feet and leg swelling never happened to me. Also, I did not have any trouble getting up, even in ninth month, I would just jump up as usual. Also, no protruding veins, and I didn't get any stretchmarks. My hair was awesome during pregnancy but turned back to old self after. On the bad side, my nose was so swollen I couldn't breathe most of the time. My belly was gigantic so it pressed on my lungs and that suffocated me too. When I watch cute, lovely pregnant ladies on tv and magazines, sleeping peacefully, I never could do that. Most of the time, I would spend nights gasping for air. Also scar from cutting "down there" stays. But you get a child!
I really want to adopt one day, but consider having one biological one... It's good to know what can happen, makes me scared but also makes me aware of all the risks. Sugar coating the experience and keeping women in the dark can only make it a big terrible surprise making the experience awful, but showing everything makes the decision more conscious.
If men got pregnant someone would have invented a "uterine replicator" to house the fetus until birth. I had morning sickness all day and all night. The only thing I could keep down was p-nut butter and honey sandwiches. One child momma.
This has scared me. I shall never have a biological child... I'll adopt one.
This makes me want to call my mom right now and apologize for everything she went through to bring my sister and I into the world. She said that when she was pregnant with my sister, she had a craving for sweet potato pie and that with both of us she had really bad heartburn.
I'm starting to suspect I have been pregnant for the past 10 years or so....
I got pulled from work a month earlier than expected because of high BP & bad swelling. It got so bad my dr asked me when my next shift was (waitress at a restaurant) & told me i needed to tell my boss it was my last shift because (and I quote) "your toes look like sausages & you officially dont have ankles anymore". I also got a bad sinus infection like 3 days before i delivered. They cant give you most respiratory/cold meds while preggers & i was allergic to what they could give me. Very hard to breathe through labor when you cant breathe normally. Even harder to not pop stomach staples while trying to cough with no meds...
@Hans: sorry you got downvoted so badly. Firstly because you're a sensible guy (and not, as suggested, a sexist troll) and your opinion deserves respect. Secondly, because you have a point: Nothing is ever all food or bad, and a mentally and physically challenging experience like pregnancy certainly isn't. I've had four pregnancies, loved many aspects of them, but had the worst heartburn, feet-swelling, shortness of breath and general beached-whale sensation. Yet I feel very hurt by the many thank-god-now-I'm-sure-I-don't-want-children comments. I would really appreciate to read some of the positive aspects, too (even though I can very much relate to the negative ones). I know that being pregnant is no walk in the park, but then again, I doubt there is a better feeling than feeling your baby move inside you for the first time... except for holding her in your arms for the first time after birth. I cannot imagine anything more powerful and beautiful.
Yep I'm childfree for life. Stuff like this further reinforces my decision. Know the truth.
yet another ton of reasons I'm selling my eggs and uterus when I get to the right age lmao
My sister never got "morning" sickness with either of her 3 kids. With the first pregnancy I would often call her to see how she was feeling. One time she got very annoyed at yelled "if I throw up I'll call you", click (back when phones had separate receivers that clicked when you hung up. Helpful for making a point).
And my mom makes it look like its so easy...
Onion rings like to make your breath smelly love
Load More Replies...I am never going to impregnate a woman after this. I don't want to put them through that.
Unbelievable,many women here didn't know about pregnancy and just found out.And because of a bp article they decided not to get pregnant.
i swore to myself i would have kids but this article has made me sure i dont want kids EVER
Good grief. This is what happens if you ban sex education from schools.
Load More Replies...I both have greater respect for women who have children and want children even less now. Thanks for the info!
After having 4 kids, I can definitely speak about this topic... Most of these are prevebtable cause it has a lot to do with your diet. The swelling feet and face has to do with mostly of diet. Preventable. Yes, hormones are crazy and wild during pregnancy and it is very annoying as hell but a lot of other stuff too is from so many other things too
I must have been born under a lucky star. No morning sickness, no swollen ankles, no problems except heartburn and peeing. My daughter, on the other hand, threw up after every meal. All three pregnancies.
I miss to be pregnant, but I now understand the woman's that hate to be pregnant. WOW, never imagined that could be so bad.
The amount of swelling shown here is very concerning. You have to cut out salt from your diet and see your doctor.
Im a pretty healthy person and I exercise often. before and after pregnancy. I stayed active as much as i could during those 9 months. I ate healthy. No fast food. No soda. Etc. I had a lot of these issues so I don’t know what lifestyle choices you’re referring to. But you’re making it seem like these women are bringing it onto themselves.
Load More Replies...There are enough posts on the internet that celebrate it, lets throw some realism in for a change.
Load More Replies...Thank you Bored Panda for further helping me decide if I would really want a child in the future.
That is what I was thinking the whole time I was reading this Me and by brother both decided that when we grow up and marry people we will try to convince our partners to adopt
Load More Replies...and this is all yet another bunch of reasons why I don't want to ever get pregnant. i will stick to adopting in the future thank you very much
It's a good thing that women point out how stressful and uncomfortable pregnancy is . A lot of men can't even begin to imagine what it's like. Educating us without any belegering, but with a sense of humor, will make men more receptive. No, we don't feel your pain and discomfort, but at least we can be more understanding and supportive, knowing what we've learned here.
This is why forced birthers annoy me. They're always asking why can't you just have it and give it up for adoption? Completely ignoring the toll it will take on a body and some women don't survive a pregnancy.
Load More Replies...See all this? That's why you have to choose your baby daddy very carefully. A lot of guys hate what pregnancy does to their gf/wife's body and start stepping out. They are usually the ones who strut around bragging that they impregnated someone.
With my sis, my mom gained 30 pounds; with me, 20. With my sis, my mom lost 16 pounds ina week from... peeing after giving birth. With me, she lost 10 pounds in a year. She's never forgiven either of us, btw.
To Hans... We were joking about the pregnancy "if you don't feel good and something really hurts badly, everything is alright". Pregnancy sometimes aren't fun, but definitely worth it. And women need to share what they experienced to know that they are not alone with their stretch marks and hands not working and forgetting everything etc. (nice things about my pregnancy - my hair and fingernails were great, I loved having a babybelly (startet showing really late) and of course my baby, didn't mind feeling the movement in the middle of the night, because I just loved for her to be there) - and all the rest was hurtful 😄
On the bright side, feet and leg swelling never happened to me. Also, I did not have any trouble getting up, even in ninth month, I would just jump up as usual. Also, no protruding veins, and I didn't get any stretchmarks. My hair was awesome during pregnancy but turned back to old self after. On the bad side, my nose was so swollen I couldn't breathe most of the time. My belly was gigantic so it pressed on my lungs and that suffocated me too. When I watch cute, lovely pregnant ladies on tv and magazines, sleeping peacefully, I never could do that. Most of the time, I would spend nights gasping for air. Also scar from cutting "down there" stays. But you get a child!
I really want to adopt one day, but consider having one biological one... It's good to know what can happen, makes me scared but also makes me aware of all the risks. Sugar coating the experience and keeping women in the dark can only make it a big terrible surprise making the experience awful, but showing everything makes the decision more conscious.
If men got pregnant someone would have invented a "uterine replicator" to house the fetus until birth. I had morning sickness all day and all night. The only thing I could keep down was p-nut butter and honey sandwiches. One child momma.
This has scared me. I shall never have a biological child... I'll adopt one.
This makes me want to call my mom right now and apologize for everything she went through to bring my sister and I into the world. She said that when she was pregnant with my sister, she had a craving for sweet potato pie and that with both of us she had really bad heartburn.
I'm starting to suspect I have been pregnant for the past 10 years or so....
I got pulled from work a month earlier than expected because of high BP & bad swelling. It got so bad my dr asked me when my next shift was (waitress at a restaurant) & told me i needed to tell my boss it was my last shift because (and I quote) "your toes look like sausages & you officially dont have ankles anymore". I also got a bad sinus infection like 3 days before i delivered. They cant give you most respiratory/cold meds while preggers & i was allergic to what they could give me. Very hard to breathe through labor when you cant breathe normally. Even harder to not pop stomach staples while trying to cough with no meds...
@Hans: sorry you got downvoted so badly. Firstly because you're a sensible guy (and not, as suggested, a sexist troll) and your opinion deserves respect. Secondly, because you have a point: Nothing is ever all food or bad, and a mentally and physically challenging experience like pregnancy certainly isn't. I've had four pregnancies, loved many aspects of them, but had the worst heartburn, feet-swelling, shortness of breath and general beached-whale sensation. Yet I feel very hurt by the many thank-god-now-I'm-sure-I-don't-want-children comments. I would really appreciate to read some of the positive aspects, too (even though I can very much relate to the negative ones). I know that being pregnant is no walk in the park, but then again, I doubt there is a better feeling than feeling your baby move inside you for the first time... except for holding her in your arms for the first time after birth. I cannot imagine anything more powerful and beautiful.
Yep I'm childfree for life. Stuff like this further reinforces my decision. Know the truth.
yet another ton of reasons I'm selling my eggs and uterus when I get to the right age lmao
My sister never got "morning" sickness with either of her 3 kids. With the first pregnancy I would often call her to see how she was feeling. One time she got very annoyed at yelled "if I throw up I'll call you", click (back when phones had separate receivers that clicked when you hung up. Helpful for making a point).
And my mom makes it look like its so easy...
Onion rings like to make your breath smelly love
Load More Replies...I am never going to impregnate a woman after this. I don't want to put them through that.
Unbelievable,many women here didn't know about pregnancy and just found out.And because of a bp article they decided not to get pregnant.
i swore to myself i would have kids but this article has made me sure i dont want kids EVER
Good grief. This is what happens if you ban sex education from schools.
Load More Replies...I both have greater respect for women who have children and want children even less now. Thanks for the info!
After having 4 kids, I can definitely speak about this topic... Most of these are prevebtable cause it has a lot to do with your diet. The swelling feet and face has to do with mostly of diet. Preventable. Yes, hormones are crazy and wild during pregnancy and it is very annoying as hell but a lot of other stuff too is from so many other things too
I must have been born under a lucky star. No morning sickness, no swollen ankles, no problems except heartburn and peeing. My daughter, on the other hand, threw up after every meal. All three pregnancies.
I miss to be pregnant, but I now understand the woman's that hate to be pregnant. WOW, never imagined that could be so bad.
The amount of swelling shown here is very concerning. You have to cut out salt from your diet and see your doctor.
Im a pretty healthy person and I exercise often. before and after pregnancy. I stayed active as much as i could during those 9 months. I ate healthy. No fast food. No soda. Etc. I had a lot of these issues so I don’t know what lifestyle choices you’re referring to. But you’re making it seem like these women are bringing it onto themselves.
Load More Replies...There are enough posts on the internet that celebrate it, lets throw some realism in for a change.
Load More Replies...