• Other people will feel they have the right to give you their opinion about everything. “You look so exhausted”, “You are gigantic”, “Are you sure you’re not having twins?”, “Oh…you want to have a natural birth??”, “Wow. You look miserable.” These are all comments I received while hugely pregnant, not to mention all the opinions about what to do when the baby actually got here!
• Round ligament pain feels like you are going to die. But you’re actually fine. Just breathe. You might think you’re having a miscarriage, but unless you are bleeding, everything is fine. Try not to move suddenly, as this can bring on intense pains. It’s all because your uterus is stretching in crazy amounts to hold this giant baby you are making – it will feel better soon!
• You will be constipated, have diarrhea, get some hemorrhoids, & maybe a UTI or two. Basically, pregnancy is a literal pain in the rear end. But at least you’re not having your period, so whoo-hoo.
• The heartburn is not just annoying – it’s downright painful. Think a sizzling fire that you cannot put out sitting in the bottom of your throat. It all began the day after I conceived, and I didn’t get a day of relief until that boy came out of me.
• You may become a completely different person for 9 months. It took my husband and me a solid two months to get used to the very emotional & grumpy woman I became at the moment of conception. Thankfully, things got significantly better in the second trimester.
• You cannot actually eat for two. Don’t do it. You’ll get fat fast. That baby doesn’t really help you out with calorie burning at all.
• You’ll grow hair in all the weird places. I heard all about women getting this thick, beautiful hair during pregnancy. Hopefully you are that lucky. The only place I grew thick, luxurious hair was on my stomach. Who knows what those hormones are going to do.
• You’re actually fully capable of doing (almost) everything you did before. Because the weight comes on so slowly, you really are able to continue with most of your daily habits. I cleaned houses for 4-6 hours a day until I was 8 months pregnant. At that point, I wasn’t able to work as long, but still able to do all the same jobs in my own home with more breaks. Don’t stop exercising or working hard just because you are pregnant. It is so good for your baby for you to work hard and it helps you sleep through the night.
• Your due date is just a guess. Just like periods are different between every woman, so your due date will be. It’s a general guess of the average woman’s body & baby, but yours may be off. Only 5% of babies are born on their due date, while 50% are born within 10 days and 90% born within four weeks. Your baby is considered normal if he comes anytime 2-3 weeks before or after your due date. So chill out & trust that your body knows what it is doing.
• If you go until your due date, you’re actually pregnant for 10 months…not 9. I’m sure you’ve heard it said that the last month of your pregnancy lasts forever. Well, that’s because it does.

And of course, I know it will all be worth it when this little nugget comes. Though it’s hard to go through all of it now, I cannot wait to squeeze his little cheeks.

My body will never be the same, my brain may be frozen in a permanent state of “pregnancy brain”, & my perfectionist tendencies may be at a stand-still for the next eighteen years (at least).

But I’m for certain that my heart will never be the same because of the little human that stole it, & that makes every last thing totally worthwhile.