"WHAT?!?!" Those Things Nobody Warns You About.... - Page 2

[kimberlylibby]

Two things:

I actually knew ABOUT them, but didn't realize how much they'd freak me out.

My dd had a little mini-period after birth and had TONS of witches milk for a few months.

So, I guess I was just unprepared for my dd to be leaking from all orifices of her body!

[CraftyMommaOf2]

The hospital I gave/will give birth at offer you an enema if you haven't pooped that day. When I asked my nurse why, she said that alot of women get so embarrassed and upset about the pooping that it's just a service they offer :LOL
No one told me that little boys get erections for the first few months for no reason. Talk about freaked out! :LOL The pain of the uterus shrinking back down and the clots you can pass after birth. I'm sure this is waaaay tmi, but I had a clot pass that was the size of a softball and I was positive I was dying!

[Eustacia]

Puking and pooping? Me!!! I forced dh to go out and buy me a mango fozen fruit only to yak it all up shortly there after.

[Lousli]

Oh, the night sweats after she was born. Like soak through your pajamas and the sheets kind of sweating. I thought I had malaria or some other weird postpartum infection!

And shaking during labor uncontrollably. That sucked.

The pooping I didn't even notice. Dh told me about six weeks later, when I remembered to ask him. That was a funny conversation!

[Past_VNE]

Dang, with all the surprises I'm hearing about here, I will be one well-prepared mama.

Oddly, I've actually heard of all of these things at one time or another...I guess that is what happens when you hang around with tons of different people, move around the country a lot and know mostly Europeans and South Americans with whom NO topic is considered TMI.

The only two that are news are the BIG clots and the evil OBs who think it's important to clean you out. EEEEE! Thank God for homebirths!

[plantmommy]

Oh, another one that's not directly related to labor, but...

milk letting down when you orgasm! although I had actually read that somewhere.

[ChasingPeace]

This is one that I was really upset about not knowing--for me, it was the labor that hurt, not the pushing. I was terrified of the pushing, so I got IV pain meds, thinking "if the labor is this painful, how will I handle the pushing?" The pain meds did nothing for the labor pains, just made me feel really out of it, and had worn off by the time I was pushing. The pushing was great! It's really like a power surge--this immense power inside you. Just surrender to it. If I'd known this, I wouldn't have gotten the pain meds (however, I'm not sure if this is every woman's experience).

[Artisan]

I had puking as well -- I threw up four times in a 20 mn period, and then that was it. It's most common during transition.

[4under6]

1. Afterbirth pains. Holy crap, when I got them for the first time with #2, I thought for SURE I had a twin in there and was in labor again! It got worse with #3.

2. Shaking after the birth.

3. I did not know that the post-partum bleeding was from the placental site....I always assumed it was just one big long period after all those months of not having one!

[gristastic]

:

[nikirj]

I was really well-exposed to pregnancy and childbirth before the birth of my first, and still a couple of things caught me unawares (from both births, in no particular order):

Passing a softball-sized clot, right into my hand in the shower (it was such a weird feeling).

My arms and legs ached, not just my midsection and bottom (1st birth only).

Contracting during nursing can HURT.

Other than that, I was pretty much prepared. My mom had us at home and I'd seen birth - and seen postpartum - we'd even had a couple of women stay with us for a week or so postpartum, so I was familiar with the care involved. Most of my problem came from things that I thought were pretty normal but that nurses or whoever freaked out about (mild jaundice? I thought some sun would do the trick, but this freaky old nurse was totally flipping out about it).

[linnea]

Oh! Here's something I didn't know, and my Mom didn't either - my Mom and sister both attended me during the birth and helped hold me while I was pushing. They told me later that the intense hormones they were exposed to caused them both to start their periods that night! I later read somewhere a doula writing that she has experienced that at almost every birth she's attended. We were all pretty amazed at the power of hormones!

[Milkymommi]

Originally Posted by mum2tori

Tag MOLES!!! : :

Ugh would have been nice to know that those are normal from the hormones. Especially on my neck... and my breasts. Used one on the areola with DD to know if she was latched on properly. :LOL :LOL

:LOL Yeah me too!! Only I got these in a most UNLIKELY place TMI ...I know but I couldn't help myself. I've never met anyone else with that so I always thought I was wierd.

[Past_VNE]

Originally Posted by linnea

...They told me later that the intense hormones they were exposed to caused them both to start their periods that night! ...

NEVER heard that. How cool! Gotta love our bodies.

[plantmommy]

So... it's more than a coincidence that this ds was conceived the night I got home from attending a dear friends labor and birth?!

Actually, I "knew" at the time of conception "We just made a baby" despite it being an untypical time in my cycle for me to ovulate. I've always o'd on day 17, and this was day 14.

[Jennifer H]

Nobody ever told me about pregnancy:
~ That I would wake up every hour with pain in my hips, my pubic bone or my back all night long. On the half hour I wake up to pee, but I'd heard about that.
~ That getting out of bed would be excruciating (labor is honestly easier).
~ That the baby's movements could actually HURT sometimes.

Nobody ever told me about birth:
~ That I might throw up in labor (only twice with my first and once with my second thankfully).
~ How long it takes for the placenta to come, to have my tear stitched, etc.

Nobody ever told me about post-birth:
~ After pains. Like someone else said. All natural birth, but I couldn't cope with the afterpains without medication (partly due to bleeding so bad that I had to have meds that caused my uterus to really contract).
~ How messy birth and the days that follow are. I was dripping like crazy and was happy to be at the hospital so I wasn't dripping on my carpet!

[wtchyhlr]

:

Loving this thread....

Question tho.... little girls have milk when they're born? And periods? And boys have erections?
That is *so* not in any of the books.

[captain optimism]

Mine is boring compared to yours.

I didn't realize that I would be so incredibly tired through the whole pregnancy. Even in the first trimester, I was tired. I actually felt less tired after the baby was born, even though I was getting no sleep and was exhausted. I think it was the hormones.

After I was already pregnant, my aunt said she remembered sleeping through many fun and interesting events during her first pregnancy. I used to conk out at my desk at work, with my fingers on the keyboard.

[jecaly]

this is the best thread!

the thing that surprised me was:

laying in the bathtub a couple of days after giving birth, pressing on my belly, and being able to press all the way in to the other side because my organs hadn't moved back into place yet. in retrospect, my abdominal muscles had probably split, too, so there was just the skin of my front touching the muscles and skeleton of my back, with nothing in between. weird!

*j

[SamuraiEarthMama]

Originally Posted by wtchyhlr

Question tho.... little girls have milk when they're born?

the boys can, too. it's from all of mama's hormones. totally harmless, honest!

i wasn't ready for the extreme case of baby acne my dd got... she was born in july, so her little glands had a heckuva time with all the sweat. she was a total pizza face at one month, and i thought it was gonna stay like that forever! it cleared up in a few weeks, but until then... her's was a face only a mama could love, and even then...

(btw, she has fabulous skin now)

k