Pregnancy Isn’t Always Glowing: Women Share Awful Things They Endured

It’s no secret that bringing a child into the world can be incredibly tough. But many people don’t realize just how much women have to endure along the way. There’s far more to it than morning sickness, hormonal changes, and painful contractions. Far, far more.

One Redditor asked mothers to share the most horrible things their bodies went through during pregnancy and while giving birth, and they didn’t hold back. We’ve rounded up their answers below. Scroll down to read them.

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I stopped sleeping through the night at 8 months pregnant and I've never slept well since.

My son is 20...

During: endless vomiting.
After: the most intense sadness I’ve ever felt.

Wouldn’t do it a second time, but so glad I made it through once. Because she’s also made me feel joy at life again.

My feet changed shape. None of my old shoes fit properly afterwards.

After - the huge clumps of what looks like liver that falls out for a good week

It also messed up my teeth pretty bad. I’m still struggling with that and I’m terrified of dentists so it’s just an ongoing issue

Edit: I had no idea the teeth thing happened to soooo many women!! It’s just another of those things they don’t tell you or don’t account for hey? I wish someone had told me at the time because I spent so long being terrified and ashamed. I’ll be brave and try and make an appointment with a dentist when we get back off holiday.

Iron depletion. Take your iron levels including ferritin more seriously or it will cause a lot of damage later on. I refused iron infusions during both my pregnancies and post birth. That was so stupid of me.

First pregnancy was golden. Second one wrecked me. Ended up dilated to 4cm for over a month. Hemorrhages after birth. Because of that second pregnancy I developed a severe bladder and uterine prolapse at 28 and had to have a repair and hysterectomy at 29. Also developed cyclical vomiting of sorts and vomit about 1-2x/month for no good reason. Probably will have a rectal prolapse with how things are going but on the bright side by that time if will likely be time for my bladder repair revision so I can do them at the same time!

Injectable b***d thinners for 9 months plus 6 weeks after. Cervical incompetence so had to be stitched together and bedrest for 4.5 months. Pre-eclampsia. Crash c-section. These all happened in various pregnancies.

Multiple pregnancy loss. I’ve been pregnant 10 times with 3 living children.

They are worth it though!

Do you know what happens if during c section they can’t get the baby out still?

They page orthopedics and open your pelvis like a book.

How quickly things can turn during childbirth and become life threatening. I was well aware of the risks and had friends who'd come up against things like preeclampsia, breach babies, etc. With one of mine it seemed plain sailing and I was due to have a home birth but then he changed position in labour and got stuck face first. I had to have an emergency c section and we both almost perished - they started cutting before I was knocked out. Everything changed within minutes, it was insane.
Really made me rethink my views on the importance of good pre and post natal healthcare even in a country like the UK!

I had a placental abruption, uterine hemorrhage, and lost almost 1/3 of my body's b***d.

Sweating like a stinky old goat to get rid of all the extra fluid in your body after giving birth.

Did you know that pregnancy can trigger your body to develop allergies? I didn't know that either. I am now allergic to cats and I have an oral allergy to kiwi fruit, raw bell peppers, raw green beans, cashews, and walnuts. I had no allergies prior to my second pregnancy.

Sepsis 5 days after giving birth and being almost 2 days in labour and difficulty delivering. The nurses said I should be able to be up and walking in no time after being discharged the day after giving birth. They did not account for the missed placenta pieces that were slowly infecting me from the inside. 5 days after giving birth, I suddenly couldn’t get up and walk. It was a whole ordeal getting back to the hospital with a newborn and getting the proper treatment. 0/10 do not recommend.

Parts of my feet and legs are still totally numb almost 4 months postpartum. It started in my hands during pregnancy and eventually hit everything below my knees.

I basically labored so long (26ish hours after my water broke) and got stuck at 9cm so they made the call to do a C-section. The epidural wore off halfway through them “putting me back together”. My husband says I went from totally chill to loosing it in the blink of an eye. The anesthesiologist knocked me out and I woke back up a few minutes later being rolled out of the OR. So needless to say I’m a one and done mom 🤣.

Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex (D-MER). I had never heard of it before experiencing it. Basically, every time you breastfeed or pump, your dopamine plummets. This causes a sudden and severe depression. I compared it to what I imagine the Dementors in Harry Potter felt like. So, that feeling 7 times a day while pumping, combined with sleep deprivation and trying to navigate having an infant.

Extremely rare, but your [private part] can fuse together after birth due to low estrogen from breastfeeding. Don’t ask me how I know that lol.

No one told me that once your waters break, they just… keep going.

I had a pretty terrible labor. I was 16, the doctor who delivered me for my Mom ended up being the same doctor to deliver my son for me. 

The epidural didn't work but my legs were numb and heavy and they made me hold my own legs and I couldn't focus on pushing. I pushed for 2 hours without success. My Midwife didn't know my son was faced the wrong way which put us both in danger. I had to get TWO episiotomies and felt it because the epidural didn't work and my mom screamed at them that I could feel it so they only number me after the fact.

They used suction and forceps to get my son out because I was going into shock after 3 days in labor. My son's cord was wrapped around his neck, they took him out the wrong way out, when they broke my water there was meconium in my water so it was in his lungs. When he was born the doctor said 'sunnyside up!' and then just plopped him onto my stomach. And he wasn't crying. I remember laying there saying in my head please cry over and over again. 

He finally cried and I got to look at him for 2 seconds and kiss him before they took him for X-ray and suction for his lungs. He was kept on an IV and incubator for 3 days. I only saw him to feed him. Poor guy was born with a cone head.

The nurses laughed at me when I screamed and cried in pain.

After I gave birth his biological father tried to compete with me over who has been through the most pain which he tried to say him breaking his collarbone (which never happened, he's a compulsive liar) was more painful than what I just went through. I said mmm no, giving birth to a human without any numbing is pretty much more painful than anything you'll experience shut up. 

He's not been in my kids life for 15 years, he's a deadbeat and doesn't pay court ordered child support. The government doesn't care.

I was sewn together down there with internal and external stitches and basically was like a bad basket weave pattern. It was bruised badly and it was agony to walk. Had to have my parents help me in and out of the tub. Couldn't wipe with tissue for a month and had to use a squeeze bottle of water. Stairs were horrible, the healing itchy stage was horrible, bowel movements were horrible. Lack of sleep, being in pain and having a kid that you g was hard but I wouldn't change anything.

Moral of the story is be careful who you have kids with. I'm done having kids 


TLDR: Epidurals can not work, you might have to be sewn together down there, you can have your kids first p*o inside your waters before they're born, don't rely solely on midwives, don't have babies with jerks.

I had not one but two full reconstruction. One right after my son was born and a second three days later. The damage was so extensive the first reconstruction failed.

From what I've been told less than 1% of births results in as much damage as I had.

The best part is that they refused to give me anything stronger than Tylenol.

Both of my children got stuck in my pelvis and I had an uncontrollable urge push that never stopped. It went on that way for hours in both cases. First was born via forceps with only a partially working epidural, the second was emergency C-section that I could also feel and which required a vacuum. Childbirth is no joke. I am grateful every day for modern medicine and also that I will never need to deliver a child again.

SPD: symphysis pubis dysfunction.

Aka your pubic bone and pelvis are shearing apart thanks to relaxin (hormone that loosens stuff). Had it with all three babies, starting earlier and becoming more severe each time. By the time I was 24 weeks with my third baby, I needed crutches to get around. It still aches when I get my period, and if I do lunges. The epidural wasn’t for the contractions, it was for my broken pelvis.

During pregnancy would be hemorrhoids, sudden mood swings, peeing myself and not being able to eat what I wanted. The most serious was post partum depression. Wanting to end it all just to get some sleep was horrifying. Honorable mention would be not being able to breast feed.

An hour or so into pushing (before they finally gave me an epidural that didn’t work), they realized my baby was turned the wrong way and kinda stuck at my hips. Not upside down, just rotated wrong. So they reached their hand inside my body and rotated my baby the right way. I will never forgot that horrible feeling of having someone’s hand in my body like that.

Also, I got an episiotomy. And after, it didn’t heal right, and I got granulation tissue that didn’t heal for a full year. Eventually I had to get a surgery to cut the “scar/wound” out and resew it all.

When people say “but omg you’re such a good mom, have another”, I always want to tell them to go to h**l.

Hyperemesis.

I would rather go through pitocin induced labor with no epidural than deal with hyperemesis again.

And almost even worse was the way people waved it away as normal morning sickness.

“Oh, I was really sick too. But some ginger helped. Have you tried ginger?”

“Yeah, my sister was sick but some Pedialyte and crackers got her through.”

No. If you have hyperemesis none of that helps in the least. You need IV hydration and medication just to keep the slightest bit of food down.

If you’re lucky you won’t need extended hospitalization and a feeding tube.

I have never been so sick in my life. If I didn’t know I was pregnant I would have thought I was just dying.

For 14 weeks every second was just severe nausea and gagging.

Thankfully from 15-27 weeks or so the nausea became just moderate and then the ginger and crackers helped.

From 28 weeks to labor I had mild nausea.

The extreme exhaustion is unreal. I would have dreams about being asleep in my dreams.

Post partum psychosis .
It kicked in mental health issues for about 5 years after my second . I am now finally feeling human . It was terrifying because I had no idea what was happening. Very thankful I have a wonderful family who stepped in and helped me out . It wasn’t until years later I realized what it was. Doctors kept telling me it was normal. It was my own personal h**l.
The giving birth was easy compared .

Manual removal of the placenta. There was a medical resident with her hand in my uterus.

I hemorrhaged during birth and needed two b***d transfusions. They kept me prepped for surgery in case it didn’t stop and needed a hysterectomy. This was after I had the balloon in place too. 

During, I had choleostasis, which was just incredibly stressful as I was so scared of losing my baby. The hip pain was unbearable. I could not walk. This continued for months after. I feel like it will never be the same. I also had arthritis in my hands. Went away right after birth. 

Honestly don’t know if I can do again. .

Developed an Umbilical Vein Varix, super rare, that led to an induction at 37 weeks. After 22 hours on pitocin, turns out baby was sunny side up and had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck three times. I was finally able to get him out, but every mm HURT even with an epidural.

He didn't cry at first, and suddenly the room was filled with 20 people resuscitation him. He was cooled down to prevent brain damage for days in the NICU while they assessed the situation. We couldn't hold him until they warmed him up, and once they did they were able to get him in an MRI. He had a stroke, possibly from the UVV.

He is 3 now, and a happy, healthy, clever boy who I am so thankful to be mother of. Everything turned out fine, but definitely have PTSD from it all. Expecting my second any day now.

My first pregnancy I was terribly sick the whole time. HG and nothing would touch it. Got induced at 37 weeks due to preeclampsia. Gained a TON of weight. 4th degree tear 😭

My second ended in miscarriage

My third, I’m currently pregnant with, I’ve been hospitalized 3 times, severe HG, SCH, 7cm cyst, developed MCAS, and haven’t been able to keep weight on. I’m being induced tomorrow and I’ve gained 2lbs 🥴.

My first pregnancy, the dr did an episiotomy without explaining what it was. This was right before all the studies came out saying women healed so much better with a natural tear.

It was horrific. I could barely sit and would just cry while learning how to breastfeeding. It took a good 12 weeks to heal. Finally aloe gel helped me over the hump. My subsequent recoveries from childbirth were night and day better.

I got cholestasis at 35 weeks which is basically your liver poisoning you and the baby. The main symptom is intense, miserable non stop itching. I was up all night every night scratching for two straight weeks before they could induce safely. When I went to for inducement they found I had Covid so I had to give birth in a mask. I always wondered if the Covid was related to the cholestasis.

No one warned me of the horrendous pain that comes after your milk comes in and your [private parts] get engorged.

Having 2 miscarriages at home then being terrified to be pregnant again.

Unbearable lower back pain towards the end of my pregnancy. Got worse afterwards, couldn’t sit for more than 30 minutes a day without being in agony. Randomly went away 18 months later.

I didn’t get the epidural, the pain was unbearable.

My ligaments got really loose around my hips, I got general hip area pain from about 22 weeks and was on crutches from 32 weeks. If I laid on my side it felt like my hip was popping out the joint. .

Mechanical dilation of my cervix.

Early into my 2nd trimester I started suffering from restless leg syndrome. Couldn't sleep at night. Sleep deprivation during that 1st year was more horrific than the physical pain during L&D.

Epidural only worked on one side, helped when pushing actually. Tore from v to a so…using the toilet had me in tears. C-Section was the easiest for me really .

Uncontrollable shakes once my baby came out. I wasn’t cold but my body wouldn’t stop shivering.

Postpartum knee joint weakness/pain. Started getting better around 3 months PP, but really struggled to bend down for a while.

Also lower back pain for about 6 weeks pre baby and 6 weeks post. It was my spine adjusting one way, and then having to adjust back again.

I didn’t get morning sickness, but I got what I call “metal mouth“. Basically everything in my mouth tasted like burning metal and lemon for the entire first trimester into the second trimester. I’m not sure if I would’ve preferred morning sickness to that because no matter what I ate, I could taste it, and gum and mints did not help whatsoever. It just mixed with the taste. 0/10 would recommend.

During pregnancy - intrahepatic cholestasis
After - recovery from emergency GA section

0/10 would not recommend.

For my first two epidurals failed, had to do it unmedicated.

For my second the spinal failed during an emergency c section.

50 hour labor, tearing, stitching, the absolute lack of information or education given to expectant or new mothers about what their body is going through. Oh and being gaslit by doctors. Real good time 👍.

Having it start out so weirdly easy until I was about 7ish cm dilated that when it started to hurt it was too late for an epidural, and when it began to hurt it more than made up for the hours prior that it didn’t. Then I had an episiotomy, still got a bad tear, and then proceeded to severely hemorrhage, which resulted in some b***d transfusions and then completely forgetting that I’d just had a baby, which my mum reminded me of when she asked where he was and I said “who?”.

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