Make a baby, they said. It’ll be simple, they said.
You’re a woman; it’s natural.
‘Cept, let’s be real … Some of the stuff that happens to your body during pregnancy definitely does not feel natural or normal (even if we promise it is).
And if you’re doing this baby-making business for the first time, there’s no doubt about it: Pregnancy can feel straight-out WEIRD on your body.
Heck, even if you’ve done it before, you’ll still be surprised by some of the stuff that happens to your body.
So, what can you expect to happen?
Here are five things you should *probably* expect when you’re expecting.
Five weird (but normal) things that happen to your body during pregnancy
Your voice might get deeper
If you’ve always dreamed of deeper dulcets; you’re in luck. During pregnancy, your body will be flooded with oestrogen and progesterone, which (in addition to impacting your lung capacity and muscle control) can make your vocal cords swell.
You might not be able to reach those pitch-perfect high notes anymore, but you’ll enjoy some low notes at the bottom end of the scale instead! But resist showing off; your blood vessels will be fragile and may tear during an impromptu karaoke session.
Your wrists will feel weird
As your pregnancy progresses, your wrists might become a bit swollen or hyper-mobile. This can cause aches and pains during weight-bearing through the hands, like when you’re doing exercises on your hands and knees.
(Don’t give us that look – we do mean exercises, you minx.)
You can solve this problem and save your wrists by coming up onto your knuckles (like a chimpanzee) during push-ups and the like.
Your arms will feel like lead balloons
Especially when you exercise! Why does this happen? Well, in order of blood flow hierarchy, it goes a little something like this:
- Uterus
- Uterus
- Uterus
- Uterus
- Other body parts
- Extremities
Which means when you challenge your arms with exercise, your guns will feel as weak as a kitten.
Hello hunka-hunka heartburnin’ love
The reflux is real during pregnancy for two reasons.
- Your baby is pushing your abdominal contents, including your stomach, upward into your diaphragm. This can squash the stomach contents up into the oesophagus.
- The abdominal sphincters (these are the circular little muscles between each part of your digestive system) have decreased tone. This allows stomach acid to gurgle up out of the stomach and into the oesophagus.
You can help manage heartburn by eating smaller meals more frequently and staying away from foods and drinks that ignite your heartburn. We’d also recommend limiting your food intake at least a few hours before bed. Yep, this includes those late-night cravings! Sorry, girl.
You’ll make cankles look cute
Hold up while we go all health nerd on you. Okay, so, during pregnancy, your circulatory system – in particular your lymphatic system – will be overloaded. This is because your body is unable to cope with the extra blood and fluid in your body and your lymphatic system becomes stressed and inefficient. This causes a pooling of blood and lymph in the extremities.
When you can poke your ankle and leave a divot, you’ve got “pitting edema”. It’s nothing fatal, ladies, but this swelling can be quite painful. Remember to put your feet up above your head once or twice a day for 15 minutes and wear enclosed footwear to prevent the pooling in your feet.
And finally, remember, during pregnancy your pelvis won’t be what it used to be. Make sure you follow pelvic precautions at all times.
“Wait, what the heck are pelvic precautions?!”
If you’ve got no clue how to take care of your body and pelvis (and what exercises you should – and shouldn’t – be doing) during pregnancy, make sure you check out our BBB pregnancy program.
We’ll walk (or waddle) you through everything you need to know and do to support your body beyond birth.
