Twenty-Five and What They Don't Tell You

Even before I got pregnant, there was a lot that I knew about pregnancy. I knew that I would probably have morning sickness, that my boobs would grow, and that might feet might grow—or more accurately—lose some of their arch. What I didn’t know was that morning sickness is a complete misnomer and that even the earliest stages of pregnancy can be fairly uncomfortable.

Within a month after I became pregnant, it became so uncomfortable to wear one of my old bras that I almost exclusively started wearing camisoles with built in bra tops when going out. I’m not a huge fan of bras anyways so that was a somewhat welcome change. I also—for the first time in my life—started noticing my uterus. Something I’d never given any thought to before now feels like the largest part of my body, even if it isn’t. Since my uterus feels so much larger, it is also uncomfortable to wear any sort of constricting pants for any period of time (subtext: I have been wearing yoga pants and sweats as much as possible for about 2 months).

One of the first questions that many people have started to ask me is whether I have cravings—what they generally mean is, “What combinations of weird stuff are you eating now that you’re pregnant?” Sorry to disappoint everyone—I haven’t craved any weird combinations yet, but most of the things I liked before, I like as much or more now. The only difference is that now if I feel hungry, I feel aggressively hungry. I also start to feel grumpy if I don’t eat immediately—which probably doesn’t make me very fun to be around, but I’d rather be grumpy and hungry than vomiting all the time.

What I do miss is being able to eat sushi or deli meat. Every time I drive past a Sushi place or a sandwich shop part of me gets a little bummed. Ironically, I didn't eat either of these things too much before getting pregnant, but I think that knowing that I can't have them makes me want them even more. Even though I doubt I'll be eating pickles with ice cream any time soon, I could go for a sandwich that isn't PB&J or grilled cheese. I'd also be down for a California roll (which I can't eat even though it doesn't have fish because of the risk of listeria!). 

Yet another thing that I wasn’t told prior to getting pregnant was that my skin would change. I went from having a fairly decent complexion to one that is much more similar to my complexion in high school than I’d care to admit. The worst part about that is that rather than having one consistent face problem, I have an ever-changing face problem—last week my face was greasy this week it is incredibly dry—and so it goes. Definitely not the “glowing” complexion I was promised at the beginning of this venture.

I’m sure I’ll notice more of these things as time goes on, but so far this pregnancy thing is by no means glamorous—especially at this stage. Since people can’t look at me and immediately tell that I’m pregnant, I just kind of look like a lazy slob wearing yoga pants—but then again who really cares at this point, I don’t have the energy to try and look like a supermodel.