ParentingDEC 4, 2023

"Your Nose Grows": 30 Women Share Pregnancy Side Effects They Had No Idea About

Needless to say, no two pregnancies are the same. While some women get to enjoy only the glow and all the beautiful things it entails, others might have to deal with quite a few unpleasantries, such as fatigue or morning sickness.

But these two are just a couple examples—and rather common ones, too—of things that soon-to-be-moms have to endure. Apparently, the pregnancy can also affect their vision, breathing, even shoe size, as members of the ‘Ask Women’ subreddit pointed out. They shared their insight after one user asked the mothers in the group what side effects of pregnancies don't get talked about the most that surprised them. Scroll down to find the rest of their answers on the list below, where you will also find some of the OP's thoughts that she shared during a recent interview with Bored Panda.

#1

"Your Nose Grows": 30 Women Share Pregnancy Side Effects They Had No Idea About

Lightning crotch.

Due to the relaxin hormones opening the hips, I had EXCRUCIATING pubic symphysis starting in 2nd trimester. SHOOTING nerve pains throughout the vaginal/pubic bone area. Impossible to get comfortable.

I told my OB in tears and his response was to laugh.

MzzKzz, djoronimo

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66points

#2

What happens in the days/weeks after birth. Everyone is so excited to teach you about the actual birth and how to raise a newborn, but zero on how to care for a mother’s body after birth.

Maybe it’s because I’m surrounded by aging women who don’t speak about bodily functions, but I was horrified to find that I was incontinent for the first time ever. When my nurse had to literally kneel next to the toilet to check things out while I urinated and help me prep my diaper. My first shower when I felt my deflated stomach. The liberal amount of blood, sweat, and tears shed (the sweating was really bad for me). How through all of that you have to keep yourself nourished enough to keep a tiny human alive. And in time, my body wished to do it all over again.

FeFiFoMums

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65points

#3

Being so out of breath during third trimester. Everyone talks about baby pressing on your bladder but it was her taking up all my lung space that got me. Shivering uncontrollably a few days after birth. I think it was the amount of blood I lost/my iron levels. It was crazy and scary!

ShallotZestyclose974, Julia Larson

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56points

The 22-year-old redditor told Bored Panda that she started the thread after having a conversation with her grandmother. “That day I was out with grandma and she was asking me if I'm still sticking to my plan of having kids by the age of 30 and I said I moved it to 31 or 32 to put my career and financial independence first,” she shared.

“I started thinking about what my mom told me she went through as she got pregnant with me at a young age and other things I have noticed during her pregnancy with my brothers. My grandma would also tell me her own story and I noticed there were differences other than those side effects you would normally relate to the generational gap.”

“I also thought, doctors have their own opinions on pregnancy other than the normal, traditionally heard of experiences,” she added. “I wanted to know other women's experiences since I didn't have friends who are currently or were pregnant. I knew the best way to ask was anonymously through Reddit.”

#4

People talk about cravings but no one talks about the food you used to love that you now can’t stand. I used to love everything Italian and now it’s a foggy memory.

reddit.com, Ivan Samkov

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53points

#5

That your immune system is lowered so you catch every cold known to man. Also because of this, I got a bunch of warts and I’ve never had them any other time in my life. They were gone quickly after giving birth.

Other bodily changes like hair/nails being stronger (but weaker after birth), skin tags, darker skin patches and more freckles, swollen and bleeding gums, larger feet, sweating, heartburn, snoring, back pain, muscle cramps. Your body changes so much, it’s insane!

ollie_adjacent, Polina Tankilevitch

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50points

“A lot of the responses surprised me and some even got me second guessing my ideas on getting pregnant myself,” the OP admitted, discussing the response she received from the online community.

“There were a lot of things there that I have never heard of. Feet growing, hating food you used to love, eyesight getting worse, and the worst out of all of them… pubic symphysis. These are the things my mom and grandma never experienced, or didn't bother telling me.”

The redditor pointed out that there were some common side effects among the redditors’ responses, too. That might come as no surprise considering how many women have to deal with the common ones, such as nausea and vomiting, for instance, affecting roughly 70–80% of pregnant women.

“Others were more personal, or something that just entirely depended on the person and their body,” the netizen said. “This helped put my mind at ease, but I must say that even with these negative side effects, I still can't wait for the day a little bundle calls me mom.”

#6

Milk Fissure. My boobs swelled up in the last week or two of pregnancy. They started to leak some. All of a sudden my shirt was soaked. I ran to the bathroom and discovered a hole in the side of my boob about 2 inches away from my nipple. I stuck a kotex pad in my bra. It filled up. I switched to an overnight kotex pad. Explaining that to my doctor was fun. He sent me to a breast surgeon who diagnosed me with a milk fissure. He said the pressure was so great that my body found a way to get rid of the fluid (i.e like a boob volcano). I thought for sure I’d be an awesome baby feeder but alas, I struggled to breast feed.

theWolverinemama, snegok1967

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48points

#7

It's not just morning sickness. It's all-the-time 40 weeks of sickness.

an0nym0uswr1ter, Engin Akyurt

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46points

#8

Increased shoe size.

Edit: For those wondering, the hormone that gets released in your body to spread your bones apart and shift things around to make space for baby, it doesn’t just target your torso to work. It gets released throughout your whole body. So your pelvis and ribs spread, then settle back to normal, because there’s no pressure on them now that baby is out.

Meanwhile, the bones in your feet spread apart because they’re carrying your entire hundred to two hundred plus pounds around all day, but they keep doing that after pregnancy too. It’s not like you stop walking around after baby is born, so the size increase is generally permanent, and usually happens again with more pregnancies. I went up a half size with each kid. Once you get to 3 or 4 it seems like the bones don’t spread any further apart. I know one lady who had 15 kids and her feet grew a size and a half, then quit.

SnoBunny1982, Liza Summer

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46points

The OP told Bored Panda that even considering the possible side effects, she finds the entire journey of pregnancy an intriguing experience. She also shared that one of the things she finds interesting about this time in a woman’s life is the hormone activity, especially that relating to forgetting the pain of childbirth.

However, the thing she was referring to is known to be a popular myth. The idea that women are biologically programmed to forget all about the pain of giving birth is not true, but many moms say that holding their child for the first time does make them forget about the hardships they went through before that moment.

#9

How suddenly complete strangers are now your doctor and tell you that you shouldn’t be drinking that one latte you treat yourself to a week lol

somethingsimple6, Yan Krukau

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43points

#10

Hemoroids

OnehappyOwl44, Miriam Alonso

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39points

#11

I had a superhuman sense of smell. One day I came home from work and my husband had already starting making a stew. I asked him, “Why did you decided not to peel the carrots?” They were already in the pot and I couldn’t see them. How did I know they weren’t peeled?!?

Another time I was at the extreme opposite end of the house from the kitchen — up the stairs, through a door, and across a large room — and I could tell he was slicing a cucumber.

BrackenFernAnja, Monstera Production

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39points

“I'm pretty sure the sample I got from my post wasn't even a sliver of the population of mothers but they were very interesting and insightful,” the OP said, adding that she hopes those taking care of moms-to-be raise awareness for these body-altering side effects, as they can be heavy both mentally and emotionally.

#12

To start with, my vision is terrible under normal circumstances, but during my pregnancy, I had to go to a retinologist every month and a half or so. I started seeing glowy things in my peripheral vision, and iirc he said that the pregnancy put extra pressure on my eyes, and my retinas were already at higher risk of tearing due to my eyeball shape. Once my son was born, things went back to normal.

It was my optometrist who made that referral. My OB had never heard of nor seen it, and none of the pregnancy books brought it up.

SilentSerel, Almada Studio

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34points

#13

I’m pretty sure my rib cage is wider.

kang4president, Mălina Sîrbu

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33points

#14

How even perfectly normal, uncomplicated, “easy” pregnancies can absolutely f*****g SUCK. I have 2 kids and I love them endlessly, but being pregnant just f*****g SUCKED. I was always crying, barfing, hungry, aching, burping fire, about to pee on myself, waking up every half hour—at any given point during my pregnancies, something just sucked.

feline_0verlord, cottonbro studio

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33points

#15

That you don't get stretch marks until AFTER the baby is born. Like shrinkage marks.

funky_mugs, Jan Canty

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30points

#16

Look after your teeth!

Dramatic_Prior_9298, Caroline LM

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28points

#17

THE INSOMNIA

skinflutecheesesalad, cottonbro studio

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27points

#18

Breathlessness, especially after eating. In later pregnancy I felt like my lungs were compressed which they obviously were. Had to talk myself down from so many panic attacks because I thought I couldn’t breathe.

palexander_6, Alexander Dummer

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25points

#19

Nobody really told me that I was going to be living off of Tums because of the heartburn.

sunshineandcats21

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24points

#20

The vivid a*s nightmares!! The whole time I was pregnant I was constantly having nightmares about my home being broken into or someone was trying to [hurt] me.

SagexxxSummers, Gregory Pappas

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23points