Pregnancy is a wild ride but here are 13 pregnancy facts you might never have heard before!
Pregnancy comes with its ups and downs, unpleasant pregnancy symptoms, changes to diet and all the things. This post covers a wide range of pregnancy facts – some you may already know and some you may not.
With Google and your doctor at your fingertips, it’s extremely easy to get information about a particular trimester of pregnancy or pregnancy symptom, but I thought this would be a found roundup-type post that summarizes everything in one place.
This post is all about pregnancy facts.
Pregnancy Facts
You will need to alter your diet slightly.
Cravings are hard to avoid no matter who you are or what stage of life you’re in — but do you know there are certain foods you should avoid during pregnancy?
It’s definitely important to be aware of potentially harmful foods but there’s no need to freak out.
The top foods to avoid during pregnancy include:
- Alcohol
- Caffeine consumption over 200mg per day
- High mercury fish
- Raw eggs
- Raw meat
- Raw seafood and sushi
- Deli meat
- Unpasteurized cheeses
- Prepared foods
You can check out this post for more details about each category of food and drink.
You will need to cut back on caffeine.
Caffeine doesn’t need to be completely avoided but the recommended amount of caffeine during pregnancy is 200mg. This is equal to about two cups of coffee and might be significantly less than what you consumed pre-pregnancy.
When you drink caffeine during pregnancy, it passes through the placenta to your baby. You may actually feel more sensitive to caffeine in pregnancy too and it’s surprisingly a drink most women end up avoiding during the first trimester. Some can’t stomach it while others can only tolerate a small amount only after they’ve eaten.
If you’re looking for alternative options with less caffeine, try drinking decaf coffee or tea. There are lots of options when it comes to tea and if you’re experiencing morning sickness, ginger tea may help you!
| FOOD / DRINK | AVERAGE AMOUNT OF CAFFEINE |
|---|---|
| Brewed Coffee (8oz) | 95 mg |
| Black Tea (8oz) | 47-90 mg |
| Green Tea (8oz) | 20-45 mg |
| White Tea (8oz) | 6-60 mg |
| Soda (12oz) | 30-50 mg |
| Dark Chocolate (1oz) | 12 mg |
| Milk Chocolate (1.55oz) | 9 mg |
You may or may not experience morning sickness.
Morning sickness is the nausea and vomiting that occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy due to the increase in hormones in your body. It is usually one of the first pregnancy symptoms starting around the sixth week of pregnancy.
Nausea usually occurs during the first trimester and seems to stop around 12 weeks pregnancy. But some expecting moms experience it throughout the entire pregnancy.
Morning sickness is extremely common but it doesn’t necessarily hit just in the morning. Some women experience nausea all day long or even at night. It really depends on you and the pregnancy.
If you are experiencing constant vomiting and are unable to keep any food down, it is important to talk to your doctor because you may have hyperemesis gravidarum.
Normal morning sickness is not usually harmful to your baby but hyperemesis gravidarum comes with a lot more risks due to the lack of nutrients, dehydration and weight loss. It is extremely important to work with your doctor to determine the best possible treatment options.
You can read about the top tips for morning sickness relief here.
Your body will change and you will gain weight.
Weight gain and body changes can be some of the tougher pregnancy facts to accept.
You can try all you want to minimize weight gain, but know that gaining weight is a necessary and important part of pregnancy. Your doctor will help you determine a healthy targeted weight gain but overall, you will gain weight and that is good.
With weight gain also comes changes in your body – heck you’re growing a little human!
But with that said, it’s incredibly important to avoid comparing yourself to others. Your bump will grow and look different than your best friend’s and even from another future pregnancy. Try to embrace it, buy maternity clothes that fit whenever that time comes and continue to eat nourishing foods no matter what the scale says.
You will see your doctor frequently.
Between prenatal appointments and ultrasounds, it can feel like you see your doctor quite a bit during pregnancy.
Prenatal Appointment Breakdown:
- Weeks 1 – 28: 1 visit per month
- Weeks 28 – 36: 1 visit every two weeks
- Weeks 36 – 40: 1 visit per week
You can expect to have about two to three ultrasounds during pregnancy. Usually there is a least one in the first trimester of pregnancy to check for abnormalities and any complications and a second in the 2nd trimester which is called the anatomy scan.
If there are any complications found in ether scan, you will most likely be seen for additional ultrasounds.
Sleep will probably become more difficult.
You’re probably expecting to lose sleep once your baby is born but have you thought about how pregnancy and sleep will mix?
Unfortunately sleep can be so hard for many pregnant women. So if you’re experiencing it, you’re not alone.
Not only are there physical changes but your hormones are changing, there is a lot of new excitement and anxiety and so many other discomforts throughout pregnancy.
A variety of factors can impact your sleep during pregnancy such as frequent urination, hip pain, body aches, restless leg syndrome, leg cramps, your expanding belly and heartburn.
Despite this, sleep is extremely important. It’s beneficial for you as the mom so you are less fatigued and sleepy during the day. Plus, more sleep leads to a better mood, controlled appetite, improved memory, and decisiveness. You also have so much work to do including growing a placenta and carrying a heavier load around so you will feel tired more easily during pregnancy.
Sleep is important for your baby too. Not only can lack of sleep impact your labor and delivery but it can lead to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and high blood pressure which can be dangerous for your baby.
It’s very important that you talk to your doctor if you’re not sleeping well. You can also try a pregnancy pillow and see if that helps too. Unlike regular pillows, pregnancy pillows are specifically designed to provide extra support in the places most commonly affected by your growing belly (and baby).
Click here to read about how a pregnancy pillow might help you get more sleep at night.
Pregnancy mocktails still taste amazing.
I personally don’t usually miss wine or alcohol too much during pregnancy but for some moms, it’s a concern for them. Well I’m here to reassure you that mocktails can still look and taste amazing. They can also be made with minimal sugar too if you are looking for a healthier drink.
I have compiled a bunch of recipes and tips that you can check out here:
- Insanely Good Healthy Mocktails To Try Right Now
- 4 Easy Pregnancy Mocktails For Any Season
- 9 Best Mocktails You Need to Make Tonight
- 4 Ways To Make a Cranberry Mocktail for the Holidays
There are pregnancy apps that help you understand the pregnancy week by week.
If there is one thing I did every single day during pregnancy, it was checking my favorite pregnancy app. There are so many pregnancy stages that you go through in nine months. Plus, I was extremely interested in knowing about all of the baby development happening too.
Pregnancy apps break down your pregnancy week by week, help you identify symptoms of pregnancy that you might be experiencing, provide you with tons of support during pregnancy and so much more.
You can learn about the four best pregnancy apps here.
You can (and should) still exercise.
Exercise is so beneficial to you and baby! If you were already an active person, then keep it up! If you weren’t as active pre-pregnancy then now is the time to start some light activity such as walking.
The key here is to perform moderate activity and listen to your body. Now is not the time to take up running or another strenuous routine and if something doesn’t feel good then you should absolutely stop and either modify or skip it entirely.
Also, a good rule of thumb is to cut out the ab exercises and by the second trimester you should not be doing any movements while laying on your back.
There are tons of prenatal workouts out there but this is my favorite program!
Your blood volume doubles during pregnancy.
Your blood volume increases significantly during the first few weeks of pregnancy and continues to increase throughout pregnancy. This is to help support your growing uterus but also requires additional iron and folic acid.
Pregnancy lasts ten months.
Did that just blow your mind?! Forty weeks is equal to TEN months. And sometimes moms go a week or two past 40 weeks.
But the reality is that pregnancy really starts at the first day of your period so the clock is already ticking during the first two-ish weeks prior to conception.
Your organs will shift around to make space for the baby.
It’s no surprise that you will grow a pregnancy bump but as your baby grows, your organs actually shift and squish together to make room for your baby and expanding uterus.
It’s crazy but miraculous when you really think about it. But, it can lead to some unpleasant pregnancy symptoms such as heartburn and indigestion.
Thankfully as your uterus shrinks after birth, your organs will shift back into their normal places.
This post was all about pregnancy facts.
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