The Ugly Truth About Pregnancy

Okay so your friend is pregnant. She tells you all about how great and magical it is. Feeling the baby kick, the idea that you’re creating another life, I get it. I get it. This is my second pregnancy and I agree. It is magical. It is amazing to think that I can make another human being without really putting much thought or effort into it. Without thinking about it my body is creating another heart, a pair of lungs, etc. It is cool. But. what most pregnant women won’t tell you is the embarrassing truth of what it’s like to be pregnant.

[WARNING: If you don’t want to read a pregnant woman’s complaints, don’t continue!]

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and it’s really more than just weight gain and not being able to sleep on your stomach. There’s embarrassing and weird side effects–think GAS! BLOATING! NOSE BLEEDS!

Also, there’s a lot going on with your hormones. It’s a big adjustment.

I find my self constantly second guessing whether or not I would legitimately feel as annoyed or frustrated with my husband if I wasn’t pregnant. Is it just the hormones? or did he really do something as dumb as I think he did? It’s really just crazy.. One time I literally started bawling because I thought I pressed the button to unlock my car, but when I went to open the door it was still locked.

A lot of it is really out of your control. You will sit there crying thinking about how ridiculous it is that you are crying but for some reason you can’t stop.

Here’s my long list of NEGATIVE pregnancy side effects (because everyone already knows the positive):

• Gas

• bloating
• weight gain- gaining weight just sucks. period.
• back pain
• constipation
• incessant crying…over NOTHING

• increased urination-Honestly, one time I started crying because I had to go to the bathroom 5 minutes after I just went! Such a pain!
• cravings & justifying eating for two which leads to more weight gain
• working out– all that extra weight makes your work outs 10x harder, not to mention you’re so tired it is hard to get to the gym in the first place!
• shortness of breath
• tiredness
• no comfortable sleeping position–even sleeping on your side won’t help. Your stomach pulls down on you unless you have pillows propping it up.

• shaving/basic grooming becomes difficult
• cramping during sex
• yeast infections
• having to take prenatals DAILY-I’m not a vitamin person, so having to remember to take this every day is just annoying to me
• having people constantly give their input on your diet and whether they think you should be eating more or less
• baby in your ribs
• sore nipples- this is the worst when the weather gets colder! I’m in physical pain every time I step outside!
• sore breasts
• random bloody noses
• heart burn

• itchy skin

The list goes on.. Just be prepared. It will suck. There will be times when you wonder why you wanted to get pregnant in the first place. You will be so fed up with everything and will feel like no one really understands what you are going through. But, there really only is one way to end all the madness and for me it takes place in 3 1/2 months after I somehow manage to push out an adorable baby girl. Until that day, I will be trying to focus on the positives and if I randomly start crying because I ran out of oreos or, more commonly, because I was fake crying as a joke and it turned real, well my husband’s just going to have to deal.