What You Don't Expect When You're Expecting - My edition

Thank you to the movie, "What to Expect When You're Expecting" for the blog title idea :)

Before I found out I was pregnant, I like to believe I was pretty educated when it came to the whole pregnancy/children world.  Ha! Maybe taking care of kids and the general idea of pregnancy and childbirth.... But lawwwddd, was I wrong. There have been so many things that have happened where I've thought, "I didn't think this should happen so early/late!" or "no one warned me about this!"

Ahem, dear friends of mine... WHY didn't you tell me all the "ugly" when you were telling me all the "pretty" parts of pregnancy?! Just sayin' could've helped a girl out. Haha... Kidding.  But seriously... ;-)

Here's what I would like to add to Google search results (because I google everything! Don't do it.. I'm telling you, it'll put you into an anxiety attack quicker than you can say "give me a brown paper bag!"). :-D

Here we go:

- Dear first time moms of the world, the whole "implantation bleeding only lasts a few days and is light bleeding/cramping"is CRAP!" Everything online, in books, and what some doctors say is that it's very light bleeding that only lasts maybe 3 days. Lies. Maybe for some girls. I bleed (like on my period) for 2+ weeks with severe cramping.  I'm talking curled up in the bed at night cramping and bleeding just like I'm having a normal period. Yes, the nurse at my ob/gyn was surprised.

- While I'm on the topic of cramping/bleeding, I never knew how closely early pregnancy can mimic your (upcoming) period.  I was convinced I was going to start any minute. In fact, I can't tell you how many times I ran to the bathroom thinking, "Aha! FINALLY!" But no, it never happened.  I had already told my sister, mom, and husband that there was NO WAY in the WORLD I was pregnant b/c I had every.single.symptom that I have right before I start my period.  Cramping? Check. Insomnia? Check. Waking up in the middle of the night burning hot? You betcha.  Cranky? YES! Spotting? Yup.  Headaches? Oh yeah. The only reason I ended up taking a pregnancy test was because my sister convinced me to :-D Yes, Steven and I were trying but we never, ever thought it was would happen so fast due to opinions of my doctors so floored doesn't even begin to cover how we felt!

- I knew after birth your hair can fall out but man, I wasn't expecting to start going bald at 5 weeks! Heck, I think I started losing my hair a week or so before 5 weeks.  I'm talkin' hair falling out in lumps. It wasn't pretty folks. I had to start parting my hair in the middle just so it wasn't obvious how much the sides were thinning.

- Also, morning sickness ='s nausea and vomiting, right? Yep, for the most part. I never threw up and had nausea at times. But, what I didn't expect was to just have severe stomach aches and that was still considered morning sickness. Not nausea, just the worse stomach pains and cramps.  Oh, and I never realized that instead of throwing up, one may just gag repeatedly off and on all day, every day. I lived on carbs for almost a month straight since it was the only stuff I could eat without gagging.... which is probably why I gained more weight than usual but hey, my doctor isn't concerned and in her words, "it's all about survival!"

- Holy cow! No one warned me about the intense hunger feelings I would have from about week 5.5 to 9/10.  I was ravenous all the time. To the point that I remember crying on the couch one Saturday evening because I had just eaten dinner and was starving 30 minutes later. There were times that I would have to eat every 30 minutes because I would be so hungry and could never stay full.  I hated it. So much.  So glad those feelings went away.

- I always thought people were playing it up with the whole, "Your nose is more sensitive when you're pregnant." Oh no. Man, were they right! I'm not even going to get started on how many times I ask Steven if something smells bad and he can't even smell what I'm talking about, haha.

- Lower back pain...in early pregnancy. Thought that was what women in their 3rd trimester experienced. Uhhhh...

- Never, ever knew that you can cramp all throughout pregnancy and sometimes, that's okay. I've had more days cramping this pregnancy than not cramping. Apparently, all is well but yes, it still freaks me out at times.

Whew, I'll add to this list as the pregnancy progresses. I can only imagine the things that will be added :-) I think it's so interesting to hear all the different things my pregnant friends are experiencing as well because the biggest thing I've realized is that no pregnancy is the same!