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For some reason, women really only talk about the good parts of pregnancy. They downplay the bad stuff everyone knows about, like the body changes and the weird cravings and the throwing up on a daily basis and focus on the beautiful ending to what can be an arduous process.
Deciding to gestate and birth a child is really something people should go into with eyes wide open, though, so if you’re considering it, you might want to read what these 13 women have to say.
13. Sleep deprivation helps it along.
“Pregnancy brain takes years to get over.”
—clmcrb
12. There really is no rhyme or reason.
“The cravings! I craved pickled cucumbers in garlic and sour cream while carrying my girl.
I craved ripe tomatoes with my son.
I ate a whole bushelful in one day and would have eaten more, but they were all gone.”
—sandyra
11. Every single movie. What the heck?
“Water breaking as the first sign of labor (like in EVERY movie) only happens like 10% of the time.
My water didn’t break until I was about 15 hours into my labor with my first.
Then, with my second, it only broke when I was ready to push.”
—Nameless
10. The nightmares were a surprise.
“The strange, sometimes frightening dreams.”
—brandystump87
9. Awkward if you’re not aware it’s coming.
“When you go in for an emergency C-section, they tie your hands and feet to the operating table.”
—gracieappelt
8. Definitely unexpected.
“My second pregnancy messed with my vision. Caused such dry eyes that things were blurry.
It started to clear up when I started nursing less.
Started about halfway through the pregnancy and didn’t fully clear up until after baby’s first birthday.”
—barbaras4cf94437c
7. Sounds like a nightmare.
“After the C-section is complete, they administer Pitocin to start contractions to bring down the size of your uterus. And contractions, when you’ve just had major surgery on those muscles, are incredibly painful.
No one, not even my OB-GYN who did the cesarean, told me ahead of time!”
—andbritt
6. Just another decade.
“Around the seventh month, I developed ‘pregnancy-induced asthma’ and I was told it would disappear immediately after birth, but it stuck around for almost 10 years.”
—kelmeister1013
5. Giving birth is exhausting, but you don’t get a break.
“It took 43 hours after my water broke before labor started, and I had contractions for those whole 43 hours, too. T
he contractions were minor in intensity for most of that time, but still painful enough that I couldn’t get to sleep at all for 43 hours straight.
I fell asleep literally as soon as I had finished passing the placenta and they handed me my baby.”
—l4d615bb5a
4. The anxiety is real, and it starts early.
“Babies go for long periods of time without moving while in the womb.
I have made so many trips to the emergency room, just to find out that my little darling had been sleeping for 12 hours.”
—aMOM3xs
3. Absolutely horrifying.
“I had a rare reaction to my epidural where my bladder just stopped functioning for a month.
I had to spend a full month with a catheter, and my doctor and urologist had no idea if it would go back to normal.
It did, but I’ve never had complete control of it since.”
—taylora4e62a0521
2. Just preparing you for that 4th trimester.
“I have restless leg syndrome that got 100 times worse during pregnancy.
I got maybe four to five hours of sleep a night in the third trimester.”
—taiyohikarihatsuden
1. Recovery is not usually a snap.
“I would sob every time I had to pee for two weeks after giving birth because it would make my tear sting so badly.
And I used just about every remedy imaginable to mitigate the pain.”
—acc_126
Preach, is what I say. Education is key.
If you’ve had babies, what would you add to this list? Drop it in the comments!
