5 Symptoms That I Did Not Expect While Expecting (or After!)

A second pink line has appeared on your home pregnancy test and a range of emotions set in: happy, scared, excited, and apprehensive—just to name a few. As the days turn into weeks and months, your body begins to change and new symptoms may emerge. Perhaps it begins with morning sickness or nausea and then escalates to bloating and exhaustion, and did I mention STARVING?! If you are like me, you have Googled the phrase, "symptoms of pregnancy" far more than you are willing to admit, so at this point you will be well versed in what to expect—or so you thought. How about some symptoms you weren't expecting? Below are some wacky examples of what you may experience:

When I heard the doctor utter the words carpal tunnel to me at the urgent care,I was surprised to say the least. In my head, I immediately connected the condition to old age. He explained to me that due to the increase of fluids in your body, (from your tiny growing human) these fluids can build up in your wrists and hands, causing the painful aches up to my elbow that I was experiencing. Not only was I embarrassed for rushing to an urgent care late at night, I was shocked that after all the time spent scouring websites and books about what symptoms are normal, that this was casually left off each and every list. I was given an RX and sent on my way, the carpal tunnel cleared up after the first pill.

What is this weird sounding rash you may ask? Let me tell you, this was by far the worst part about my pregnancy (excluding labor and delivery, obviously). Although this occurred to me the week after giving birth, it typically begins during pregnancy and clears up within a week of delivery. This rash can sprout up anywhere on the body, but usually starts in the stretch marks on your skin, and it can spread. The PUPP rash is caused by your hormones (what a surprise) and will be so itchy you would rather peel your skin off then spend one more second scratching. Each rash can present itself differently for each woman; the rash I suffered wasn't raised and spread to most of my body after beginning in one area of many that have stretch marks. No amount of cream would simply do, and after it appeared there would be no clearing up in sight—another trip to the urgent care and another RX did the trick.

This term makes me giggle, so I had to add it to the list. In my second trimester I began having issues getting out of bed; my bump had not grown a terrible amount yet, so I knew I could exclude the extra weight as a possible cause. Each time I spread my legs open to change, get out of bed, baby dance with the husband, etc. I was greeted with a sharp and sudden pain in my pubic bone, similar to if someone was punching me in the crotch. After a quick Google search I seemed to have found the culprit, dubbed "lightening crotch." There are multiple factors that can cause this, one being due to your pelvic joints becoming looser preparing for birth. It can also be caused by pressure on your cervix from your dear baby who is happily swimming around above, without a care in the world. And it is because we love these little leeches so much, we deal with the pain. If you do experience this pain and it becomes more and more severe, it is important to follow up with your doctor to rule out any injuries or pelvic joint conditions that sometimes occur during pregnancy.

This one took me by surprise. Nearly three months after my daughters grand introduction to this earth, I began losing my hair. After all the sleepless nights and projectile vomits, I thought my body might be signalling to me that it simply had enough and decided to fall apart. However, a dear friend of mine, who recently gave birth, informed me that she had several bald spots from postpartum, so perhaps I got out luckier than others. Yet again, our wonderful hormones are the main cause of our new, suddenly lighter head of hair.

You may be muttering to yourself, "Um, Yes Britta we are well aware of this one." Well, I am not talking about pickles and peanut butter here; I am talking about clay, rocks, or even charcoal. This symptom isn't quite so harmless and should be reported to your doc asap. The condition is called Pica, and typically Pica is caused by a lack of certain vitamins or minerals (something you need in high numbers while pregnant). So, if you are pregnant and have the sudden urge to down a tube of toothpaste, give your doctor a call.