5 Pregnancy Symptoms That Surprised Me

So there are about a billion articles that are clicked on every time a girl misses her period or thinks for even a millisecond that she might be pregnant, right? So you pee on a stick and you find out that you are in-fact pregnant, and there are even more articles containing warnings about your potential morning sickness, sore breasts, fatigue, heightened sense of smell, cravings, aches & pains, mood swings, etc.

I feel as though there is a text book definition of pregnancy symptoms out there that everyone feels like they will go through at some point or another. -- But there are also parts of pregnancy symptoms (in my experience) that aren't really touched on or highlighted as much as they should be. If you don't know they're going to happen to you, it can kind of catch you off guard and make you wonder, "Is this just me orrrrrr is it the pregnancy..."

Now having entered my third trimester, I've collected a list of things that have completely caught me off guard and will hopefully come as a nice forewarning if you have a bump on your horizon! -- If you've already been pregnant and have experienced these things as well, can I get an "Amen."

1. Memory Loss
For a little while I just thought I was being exceptionally ditsy or absent minded. I couldn't remember to do the simplest tasks around the house, to the extreme of things that just don't make sense. 
Such as:
- trying to place the refrigerated items back into the pantry instead
- standing in line at the bank trying to recall my social security number for the bank teller (seriously, who forgets their social?)
- forgetting to take your hand out of the front door when you close it behind you, thus slamming it into the door frame

This bout of behavior honestly comes in waves and is worse some days than others. Due to this lapse of memory, I've now had to create daily task lists that contain reminders for things as simple as "wash laundry" or "iron clothes" -- all the way to, "Don't be such an idiot, Katie."

2. Sneezing
It's still so bizarre to me that this symptom is as common as it is among pregnant women. I'ts just not something you would associate with a bump, right? Yep. Sneezing, runny nose and congestion. After being plagued with it in the beginning of my pregnancy, I googled it to see if I was losing my mind. Turns out I wasn't totally nuts. Because of the extra estrogen in your body, it causes your nasal passages to swell and creates a ton of extra mucus.

I actually ended up with an ear infection because of all of the additional fluid rolling around in my head. Despite taking antibiotics for it, I still have moments that I notice extra fluid sloshing around in there as my hearing will drop in and out at times in one ear. It's not painful, it's just really annoying to deal with at times!

3. Burping 
My God, the incessant burping. It just happens involuntarily and you come to accept it as a part of your life. I have so many irrational moments that I talk myself into Mexican food, pasta/pizza, or anything acidic and I live to regret every moment of it... and then do it again in a week.

​Because you can't control it, you suddenly disregard how gross it might be to others because you're so uncomfortable that you don't even care. Try having all of your organs playing musical chairs inside of you and you wouldn't care either, okayyyy.

​P.S. - Date night just got really cute.

4. Itching
There's no amount of lotion that brings me relief from the itching. Itchy breasts. Itchy stomach. Itchy back. I'm plagued with it in every direction!
Which I suppose makes sense because you're growing in every direction, right? Hah.

5. Sleep? What is sleep?
There are various things that contribute to the massive lack of sleep that leaves you staring at the ceiling all night long. All of mine consist of:
- restless leg syndrome (which conveniently happens as soon as you're getting comfortable)
- overthinking everything about your impending future that is so up in the air and unimaginable. Burning questions like -- "would I be a bad parent if I tested the range of my baby monitor to see if I could make it to a coffee shop or not...?" -- I'M KIDDING.
​But couulldddddddd I?
- vivid dreams -- I recently had a nightmare that I woke Eric and myself up from whilst screaming, "BARB!" very loudly... and no it wasn't Barb from Stranger Things. I still don't like her for some reason and am low key kind of glad that she was 'voted off the island'...

And I say voted off the island because it's not socially acceptable to say you're glad that someone died... whoops. LOOK, if it's a fictional character it's not cruel okay?

​I'm sure there are a ton of other "symptoms" I've typed into google along the way as I stumbled onto them -- but these are the things that have definitely stuck out in my mind of things I never really thought about dealing with. Being that I've only just begun the third trimester, I imagine I have a lot more things I will be finding in the coming months! I hope that these were helpful for someone and as for my fellow expecting mamma's, at least you're not alone! HA!

It is a fun little journey, this pregnancy. Though there are a handful of things that make each day an extra struggle, there are so many things that make every day that much more of a blessing to us!

- xx
​Katie