Weird Pregnancy Symptoms You Might Experience

Ah, pregnancy symptoms: the necessary (but totally worth it!) side effects of growing your brand new baby. Before you even found yourself holding a positive pregnancy test, you have likely heard them all — morning sickness, fatigue, breast changes, swollen feet, bleeding, and pure exhaustion. But what about the weird symptoms? The symptoms no one talks about in public, and never wants to tell you about pregnancy! While they may seem a little more taboo to discuss, they’re just as much a part of pregnancy as the other more “well-known” symptoms. You may experience none, some, or all of these weird pregnancy symptoms. Here are the super weird, very embarrassing, and totally normal pregnancy symptoms you might experience.

Body Hair

Lots and lots of body hair! We hate to break it to you, but the extra hormones raging through your body can exaggerate the growth of hair in some…um…strange places. A lot of pregnant women report growing extra facial hair, hair on their bellies, and that it’s a struggle to keep their lady parts tamed. Wherever it seems to be growing like a fast weed, hang in there! It will all go back to normal after your baby is born.

Lightning Crotch

No, we’re not joking. And yeah, it feels a little like it sounds. Lightning crotch is a very sudden and sharp pain deep in your vaginal area and can sometimes feel like the baby has sucker punched you…ouch! Try taking a walk or investing in some compression wear to ease the sensation.

Constipation

Remember when we said these symptoms were ones no one ever wanted to talk about in public? This is definitely one of those. But part of the job of your hormones during pregnancy is to relax your muscles and prepare you for labor, which also makes it harder to, you know, go. Add fiber, grab a pregnancy-safe constipation relief over-the-counter, and just go when you need to. This, too, shall pass. (see what we did there?)

Leg Cramps

Charley horses…on steroids. Pregnancy leg cramps are no joke! They often strike in the evenings during your second and third trimesters, making it even harder to get those zz’s you desperately need. Our best suggestion is to stay active and try to walk each night, and make sure you keep up with those magnesium supplements.

Discharge

Feeling a little wet down there? Yep, it’s totally normal. Another great side effect of having excess amounts of estrogen in your body is that you’re going to see a lot of extra discharge. Stock up on panty liners and hit the restroom when you need to.

Wetting Your Pants

You might feel like you’re living your worst nightmare, but beware of laughter, coughing, sneezing, and, well, moving as all of these things can cause you to pee your pants! As you move through pregnancy, the baby grows and increased pressure adds to your bladder. See note above about stocking up on those panty liners.

Constantly…out of…Breath.

Are you trying to tell a story, and suddenly feel like you’ve run a marathon? Welcome to pregnancy, mama! With all the extra weight and work you’re doing carrying a tiny human, your body’s going to feel like it’s doing more heavy lifting than you think. Take pauses to catch your breath and don’t worry, everyone will understand.

Blue Vagina

You’ll notice that the down there area of your body becomes completely unrecognizable during pregnancy. And yes, that means it can turn a dark blue or purple hue. It gets better! Your hoo-ha can also develop swollen blue varicose veins as a result of the weight and size of your uterus causing an increase in blood flow to your nether regions.

Happy Trails to You

As if the belly hair wasn’t already bad enough, you might also experience a dark line that goes down your stomach. This is called linea nigrea and the unbelievable part is that’s always there but pregnancy makes it more pronounced and visible. A lot of women experience dark patches or spots on their face which is called melasma.

Vampire Breath

Another weird pregnancy symptom that makes people (potentially) not want to be around you is vampire breath. Pregnancy hormones can cause bacteria in your mouth to become inflamed and overgrown and the result is bleeding and bad breath. Garlic, anyone?

Brain Fog

Feel like you’ve forgotten your own name? You guessed it, brain fog is another normal (yet weird) pregnancy symptom a lot of women experience. In fact, a report in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology found that as many as 80 percent of pregnant women experience memory impairment.

Your Tootsies Grow

You know what they say about big feet? In this case, it’s that it’s normal for pregnant women to suddenly get huge tootsies. Sigh. Oddly enough, your feet can grow right along with your belly. This is shown to be a result of both the loosening of your ligaments and the extra weight pressing down on your feet. A large number of women report that their feet became longer and wider during pregnancy. Don’t get rid of your favorite shoes yet, this is another weird pregnancy symptom that should go back to normal after birth.  

The Good News

Just like the morning sickness and swollen cankles, most (if not all) of these weird symptoms should be temporary. After the baby arrives, your hormonal balances and body will begin to even out and find it’s new normal — and you’ll have that sweet face to remind you of why you endured all of those weird pregnancy symptoms in the first place.