Pregnancy Facts Every Expectant Mother Should Know

First off, congratulations on your pregnancy! It's going to be long, fun, sometimes difficult ride over the next few months. Enjoy it while you can, because you even if you don't think so now, you will miss it when it's over.

If you're in your First Trimester then you may be experiencing the joys of nasuea. Some women are lucky and have very little or no nausea. But for most women, it's a very real part of the pregnancy. In fact, nearly 80% of newly pregnant women experience nausea. Nausea starts around 4 to 6 weeks and lasts until 14th to the 16th week of pregnancy. From my experience, saltines do help. It sounds cliche, but it worked for me. They also recommend Ginger capsules to help alleviate some of the symptoms of nausea. You may also experience strong aversions to certain food, even if you liked the food before you may find you can no longer stand even the thought of it. This happened to me. All of sudden the mere mention of mushrooms made gag. I never had problems with mushrooms before and even liked them on certain things such as pizza. But during the first trimester, I could not look at them without running to the bathroom. Your sense of smell will likely be heightened at this time as well. And yes, it can add to the nausea. I remember being able to smell the Pam my Mother In Law used to grease a baking pan and being incredibly nauseated by that smell. Finally, you will most likely find yourself becoming more exhausted than usual. I remember falling asleep on the couch every evening long before bedtime and needing the occasional nap in the afternoon.
So you're suffering through these symptoms in your first trimest take heart, because it does get better!

The Second Trimester for me was a great time. I was feeling better, the nausea was gone, I had energy again and the baby began to make her presence known. Around 17 weeks I first felt the little flutter of my baby. At the time I wasn't positive it was her or not because I didn't know what I supposed to be feeling. After talking to my doctor, I learned that I had indeed felt my baby moving. It's a wonderful feeling and a very exciting moment for me.
It was around this time that I was finding myself thicken up and needed to start wearing maternity clothes. This was also exciting because I was finally visibly pregnant! It sounds crazy but as a first time mother, I was looking forward to showing and being able to wear maternity clothes.
As far as symptoms go, I had very little at this time. I was feeling good, looking good and enjoying my baby.
You might find yourself becoming more hungry than usual. While I don't necessarily buy into the "eating for two" philosophy, your body does need more calories to keep you and your baby healthy. I tried to stay relatively healthy but I defintely indulged from time. The way I see it, if you want to eat a whole pan of brownies go right ahead! When else are you going to have excuse to pig out without feeling bad?
However, there is one thing that you hear about that is not necessarily true. They tell you in the second trimester that you will have an increased libido. This is not true for every woman, or even most women. It happens and some women experience this fabulous symptom. But I did not. I kept waiting for it, and it just never happened for me. I went online and did a little reading. It was then that I realized that this is not something that every pregnant woman experiences and to not be upset if it doesn't happen for you.

The Third Trimester things changed a bit. I was still feeling okay but I found myself becoming tired again and would often need little naps in the afternoon. I had a harder time sleeping at night because the weight of my belly made finding and staying in a comfortable sleeping position difficult. I was often waking up to switch from this side to that side or onto my back, trying to make myself comfortable. I was up more at night because I had to go to the bathroom. You'll find yourself taking frequent potty breaks throughout the day. One surprise for me, was that my nipples would leak. Maybe I should have expected this, but I did not and was surprised the first time I looked down and saw a little wet spot on my shirt. This continued throughout the rest of the pregnancy. It's not a big deal and it's never very much. If it becomes a problem you can slip one of those disposable nursing pads in your bra to help absorb the leak.
You may experience Braxton Hicks Contractions, these are normal uterine contractions that every woman experiences, although some women never feel them. Some women say they just feel a tightening sensation but no real pain and some say it feels like a menstrual cramp. I'm part of the last group. When I experienced my first Braxton Hicks around 30 weeks it felt like a menstual cramp. I remember thinking "ow!" I had a few more of those over the next 10 weeks and I made sure to check with my doctor that it was in fact Braxton Hicks. I was told that it was and not to worry unless you get more than 6 in an hour.
Your baby is getting big at this time and has less room to move around so you may not being feeling the flips and the position changes you were feeling before. You will still feel those kicks, though! And sometimes they hurt. My baby was high and she liked to kick me in the ribs. Sometimes that really hurt, other times I would just feel one of her limbs up under my ribs and that wasn't real comfortable either. Some ladies experience sharp kicks to the bladder, this only happened to me once and it resulted in me rushing to the bathroom.
Towards the end of your pregnancy you will be tired of being big and you will be tired of those cute maternity clothes you bought. You will be ready for that baby to make his or her entrance into the world. When that happens you will be elated. Everything you went through will be worth it.

Enjoy your pregnancy!