Bad Yogi Blog

Before I got pregnant, I had all kinds of invasive questions I was too embarrassed to Google and too polite to ask random pregnant women, haha. So I opened the floor on IG the other day and wanted to hear some of those types of questions YOU had about pregnancy so I could answer some!

I was laughing because I’m so relieved to see so many of the questions I had before getting pregnant, too.

This should be fun 🙂 Also remember that I’m speaking from my own experience, and depending on the woman, these answers may vary.

Enjoy!

1. Does being pregnant just feel like being super bloated all the time?
Someone else answered this and said “no, not at all!” but in my experience, I’d say YES, totally! It could be just because this is my first pregnancy, but man, by the evenings, I feel like my insides are SO stretched, it’s a little uncomfortable. It’s like, imagine the most bloated you’ve ever felt, and then add 30%. The good news is that this feeling doesn’t last all day (for me) and I have weeks at a time where it’s not as intense as others. So it’s really just your body prepping, but yeah, totally feels like being majorly bloated at times!

2. Can you still suck your belly in?
Yes! It doesn’t go as far in as it does when you’re not pregnant (duh), but you still have “access” to those muscles and can tense and suck in.

3. What do Braxton Hicks contractions feel like?
Not painful at all! Flex your bicep as hard as you can. Do you feel that muscular tension? It’s tense, but not painful. That’s pretty much exactly how these feel. It’s as if part of your abs/core was a belt, and Braxton Hicks feel like that belt just gets cinched in for 30-seconds to a minute at a time. It limits your torso’s range of motion a little too, so sometimes it feels like I have to bend over a little to give those muscles some slack 🙂 So not painful, just a little odd at first!

4. Can you still have sex & how is it?!
As long as you’re not high risk or your doctor doesn’t tell you not to, YES you can and YES, it’s still good! Actually, especially early on before your belly is huge, I think it’s even more awesome than usual. I think it must be the increased blood flow combined with the flood of different/extra hormones 😉 But have no fear– as long as you and your partner are comfortable with each other, sex is still awesome.

5. When do you feel movement & what does it feel like? Is it freaky?!
Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but at 9 weeks I had exactly two instances of movement that felt like a literal butterfly was inside my belly. It stopped me in my tracks and looking back, now I know that was baby. I didn’t feel anything discernible after that until about 18 weeks. Have you ever had a muscle twitch in your thigh where it starts twitching on its own out of nowhere? That’s exactly what those initial movements felt like to me. Like, EXACTLY. And YES, it’s so so so so freaky! And as soon as you get used to those little movements, they get even bigger and a whole new level of freaky feelings overtake you 😉 But as weird as it is, it’s super cool as you get used to it.

6. What’s the grossest part of pregnancy?
Hmm… I haven’t felt particularly “gross”, but I’d probably say just experiencing all this new stuff you’ve literally never experienced. For example, at some point the belly gets too big to really properly shave/wax your bikini area and you have to either go get it done, just wing it, or go all natural! I’m all for doing whatever you want, but I am *not* the natural kind of gal, so figuring that out has been interesting! There’s also just ALL the changes in your whole vaginal region, haha. From how it looks to how it feels to what it’s producing… it’s a whole new world, lol! Oh, I’ve been SUPER grateful to NOT have experienced this, but I’ve heard some women get hemorrhoids because they’re chronically constipated. So make sure you’re getting enough fiber & staying hydrated because THAT cannot be fun!

7. Does the belly feel heavy or supported?
This really depends on how much you gain, how you gain, and how quickly you gain it. Despite eating like a ravenous beast, my weight gain has been relatively slow, so for me, my belly doesn’t feel heavy at all yet (I’m writing this at almost 8 months pregnant). My abs still feel relatively tight and like they’re holding the baby in. One thing I do notice though, is if I’ve been on my feet for more than an hour or so, I feel like I need to sit down or just bend over to take some pressure off my back. But otherwise I don’t notice it.

8. “I hate getting sick so much I’m considering adoption. Does everyone have it?”
I laughed out loud at this because I CAN SO RELATE!!! I felt exactly the same way! I was honestly terrified of morning sickness… and I am one of the extremely fortunate few who didn’t experience it at all. I never once got sick and the only thing I experienced was nausea if I let myself get too hungry. So I had to eat immediately after waking up and make sure I had food on me at all times. If I waited too long to eat, I felt super nauseated and then couldn’t eat! In my case, the sick feeling was super easy to avoid!

9. Are you concerned with people/stuff bumping into you & does it happen?
The bigger I get, the more I think about this! Walking home from the gym the other day, someone opened their car door SO fast and almost hit me directly in the stomach. This freaked me out BIG time. I’m more alert for things I could trip on or fall doing, but overall, I wouldn’t say I’m very anxious about this happening… and it hasn’t happened unless you count when I’ve misjudged my size and run into doors and furniture at home, haha 😉

10. Are you afraid of your child having a disability?
Hmm, if I answer honestly, I’d say yes. But I think all parents have this fear… we all want our children to be born with as few obstacles in their path as possible. But that’s just one of those things we have no control over, so there’s no use in worrying about it too much. I’m not sure how to end this answer other than by saying I do worry and if you’re worried too, it’s totally normal!

11. How do you go about your normal life while you’re growing literal life inside you?!
Haha, it IS weird, right?! You just get used to it and it feels so normal until you stop to think about it! Then you totally have a moment where you go, “HOLY CRAP, this is really happening?!” I have those moments about once a day! I actually try not to hype it up too much in my head though. I mean, YES, it’s this huge thing but on the other hand, it’s so completely normal, you know? I could easily trip myself out by making it SO HUGE in my head, whereas if I normalize it a little, it makes the whole experience more accessible… if that even makes sense!

This was fun! Over to you! Did you learn anything? 😉 Are there any other similarly awkward/embarrassing questions you’d want me to answer about pregnancy? I’ll also do a birth edition when the time is right… anyway, drop your questions below if you’ve got ’em and let me know what you thought of this!

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