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Pregnant Women Break Down Which Things They Wish They Knew Before Getting Pregnant

Pregnant Women Break Down Which Things They Wish They Knew Before Getting Pregnant
Manuel Alejandro Leon from Pixabay

Coming at this as someone who will never personally experience the wonder of childbirth seem rather difficult.

While not every woman will be, or even wants to become, pregnant, there is a universal fascination with the process. You're growing something in your belly, after all.

It's something those who haven't experienced can only dream about, and even then it's a stretch, as women who've gone through it wish they could warn their younger selves about what it's like to create life.


Reddit user BonkBoi_TacoFace, wanted to hear firsthand when they asked:

"Pregnant women of Reddit, what is something you wish you knew BEFORE you got pregnant?"

To get this topic out of the way, there are a lot of changes and trials you might experience that people outside would find "gross." It's all part of the amazing life-making process, but surely in the moment it doesn't feel that way.

You Still Don't Understand What You're Dealing With, Do You?

"Baby kicks don't feel like butterflies."

"They feel like something crawled across your skin quickly; but from the inside"

chrisP__bacon

"Yep. Always expected something to burst out like the scene from Alien..."

Lets-B-Lets-B-Jolly

A Lot Of Inside Changes

"The insane amounts of uncontrollable gas"

throwaway_643

Uncontrollable Release

"During labor the "water breaking" is not one rush of liquid. it's continuous and can occur for several hours. it's horrendous and messy and incredibly awful to deal with. it feels like peeing but you have zero control over anything and if you tense up then everything is much more painful and weird feeling."

"nobody ever told me that and i was VERY surprised to find out for myself."

notgrass87

It's The 3rd One That'll Get Ya'

"No one ever told me about the "3rd delivery" aka your first poop. I was struggling for so long."

"Edit: My first awards! Thank you people! Never thought talking about poop would get me awards."

"Edit 2: for all asking. The first delivery is the baby, second is the placenta and the third is the poo."

MomOfRPM31

A Balloon?

"Your uterus can change shape after baby. With my first I had a perfectly shaped uterus. Went for an ultrasound with my second and they had to use the wand because my uterus had become a deflated balloon."

"The body odor. Oh God the body odor. I swear I smelled so much worse while pregnant and breastfeeding. Deodorant wouldn't even touch it."

"You will pee, get up, wash your hands only to turn back around and go pee again. It was so f-cking annoying."

kittykate1991

Of course your body is never going to be the same. That's science.

What happens during those radical changes, however, can be some of the most physically and mentally taxing experiences you've ever encountered.

How About Instead, "Sleep When You Can?"

"The sickest joke of all: you stop being able to sleep way before the baby gets here."

"Everyone loves to tell me to "sleep now while I can" but pregnancy leads to unexplained insomnia and I'm a total wreck already."

tibbymoon

Beyond Sensitivity

"My boobs hurt so bad. I hit one in my sleep and woke up in excruciating pain. Like...wtf. I knew they got bigger, but the pain was a surprise."

cat_romance

"I was told by my sister about boobs hurting in the first trimester from growth, she forgot to mention my nipples would feel like they were burning in hell."

smallhardseed

It's All On The Table

"Your hormones are crazy, literally making anything and everything that happens to your body a pregnancy symptom."

"Bloody nose? pregnancy. Hands dry? pregnancy. Itchy skin? pregnancy."

"Pregnancy is the wild f-cking west, ya'll."

ninten-dont

All The Little Things Stack Up

"Finally one for me. I’m 18 weeks."

"Getting health insurance is stressful during a pandemic. The nausea is like a hangover at first but mine got to the point that I couldn’t function. My hormones make me act out in ways that make me feel like I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’m ashamed of myself a lot lately. I have to eat every two hours or else I feel sick and this includes the middle of the night. Peeing when I cough or sneeze.......... it’s so annoying. Out of nowhere I started getting out of breath doing stuff I used to be able to do with no problem."

pirate_for_life

3 Hours Later...

"No one and I mean no one told me how long I would have to push for. My labor progressed super quickly I got checked in at 6 or 630pm and was pushing by 9 or 930 and didn’t have the baby until almost 1 am the next day. I was actively pushing for at least 3 hours. It kinda shocked me. The nurse said oh that’s normal for first births. If it’s so normal why didn’t anyone tell us not even in our birth class."

mydoghasafluffybutt

However, the one thing most common among every woman's pregnancy experience is how not every woman's pregnancy is the same. What you go through may not be what everyone else goes through, and sometimes that can be the scariest part.

I Can Sympathize Greatly

"You can order one, but get two."

YourAverageTiredDad

"Username checks out"

suburban-dictionary

Hopefully They Tell You

"After you give birth the nurses press the shit out of your stomach to get all the blood out of you. They literally wring you like a sponge. It was the most horrifying part because no one ever tells you about that. And the drugs wore off so my wife felt everything. Why did no one tell us? We tell this to everyone."

Voltairus

Jumped Up Another Decade

"I felt like I aged a decade overnight. I’m 27 and almost 8 months post partum. I feel like pregnancy ravaged my body, even though I had a very normal pregnancy and recovered without any major issues. But I have aches and pains all the time, I look much older, and I can’t move as well. It’s a huge trauma on the body and I’m lucky I recovered as well as I did."

CalamityTat

The Healing Is Mental And Physical

"I wish someone had told me that no, your body does not magically go back to normal once the baby is out. You have weeks of healing, your boobs are still on baby mode and have a whole new set of problems now, pooping will be terrifying lol depression risks are higher, just a lot of stuff continues on after the baby."

"I don't know WHY people insist on visiting right after delivery. I am tired, I am busy with this baby, I am tore up from the floor up, please come in a month when I can at least have some sort of a routine."

Davis1511

Things Are Never Really The Same

"The stuff that stays with your body afterwards. I developed allergies after I had my second. My feet definitely got bigger. Hormones are no joke."

Shakenbake1811

"My feet grew half a size and my hair got curly. It was wavy before, but now I get ringlets. It also made my fingernails stronger. Also I developed an aversion to beef that never really went away. I only eat it like once a month to this day, and my youngest is about to turn ten. It's like a second puberty...what the hell is happening to my body???"

MargotFenring

You're Creating Life. You Are A God.

"That it is possible to enjoy giving birth. I am not saying it is a gentle ride in the park, but I would have liked to know more positive stories. I have had four natural births, each different in nature and context, and I have never felt as powerful. As powerful as a mountain, as powerful as the world, as powerful as a... mom. Whichever way you had to give birth, by choice or by imposition, you are so freaking strong. Be proud. Also, I wish I knew people always want to tell you how to do things when you are pregnant or giving birth, or trying to be a mom... Just do your best, it's already enough."

"*The purpose of my comment is not to exclude all women out there struggling to have a child, or all women who just don't want to have kids. You guys are badasses too <3"

NorthMamabear

The Thing That Happens More Than You Think But No One Talks About

"Miscarriage is ridiculously common."

"I say this as someone currently carrying a dead baby waiting for the NHS to give me a surgical removal."

rexrat

"I second this. I was absolutely SHOCKED when my first pregnancy ended in miscarriage. I thought that I must have done something to cause it. When my second pregnancy ended the same way I started to think that I had some kind of physical malfunction. Only after talking to several other women about it did I realize how common it is. Still heartbreaking though."

Raisin-Weak

When you feel ready to bring life into the world, know that things are never going to be the same. Your sleeping patterns, your daily routines, and even your body are all up for offering on the altar of baby. It's amazing when it's over, because you have something there for you to love and raise and protect, but be prepared for what's coming before that.

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People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.