Things I Wish I Had Known Prior to Pregnancy...

Like most people who are pregnant or considering getting pregnant soon, I'm sure you've read your fair share of websites/books that tell you what to expect while you're expecting. I know I sure did (and still do). I get daily emails about what is happening to my body and the baby this week. As I've gone through this process, I've compiled my own list of things I've learned and wished someone would have at least warned me about. Sorry if some of them are TMI, but I wanted to be honest and share all of my crazy pregnant thoughts. I still have 44 days til d-day so this list may continue to grow over the next month.

1. EVERYTHING is potentially harmful to yourself and your baby. Get over it, and don't stress about it. I'm sure our parents didn't take half the precautions they recommend these days and we all turned out fine, right? From my experience, it's a lot more dangerous to myself and the baby if we run out of milk when I'm craving that late night bowl of honey-nut cheerios!

2. At some point, you will pee your pants a little when coughing, sneezing, or laughing. There is nothing you can do to prevent this.

3. The most random foods will trigger the acid reflux in the 3rd trimester. For me, it is carrots.

4. When you hit the last 2 months, you are hungry, but after dishing up a huge plate for dinner you can only eat about 5 bites before you feel full because little baby is invading your stomach space. This just means you will have to eat even more often and will wake up even more starving every morning.

5. Caffeine free Diet Coke does NOT taste the same as normal Diet Coke. I never thought caffeine actually had any flavor, but I don't know what else can explain the difference in these 2 drinks.

6. You will never get tired of feeling your baby move, even if it's in the middle of the night and all the bumps and jumps wake you up. You will, however, not appreciate the times when your baby decides to see exactly how far she can push her foot out your side before you are forced to poke it back in for fear she might rip through your already tightly stretched skin.

7. You will grow out of your maternity pants and your maternity shirts will not be long enough to cover your large belly by the final month. Your butt will grow right alongside your belly.

8. At every OB appt you have to pee into a cup. Not such a big deal, except nobody told me peeing in a cup becomes very difficult to do the last 2 months. I haven't been able to see over my belly in quite some time.

9. Floating weightless in a pool is amazing, however before wearing a bathing suit a particular region usually needs to be shaved. Not something you want to do blindly!

10. Your spatial perception gets more and more off the larger your belly gets. I constantly have a wet line across my midsection because it hangs over the counter when I wash my hands. I have even heard of a friend who closed their belly in a cupboard.