My Crazy (But Very Common) Pregnancy Symptoms
My pregnancy was more or less healthy/normal from the very beginning. I thought I had it especially good because I never vomited during my first trimester. I would get nauseous, yes, but no vomiting in those first few weeks of pregnancy. If it hadn’t been for the slight nausea and my positive pregnancy test, I wouldn’t have even known I was pregnant until I started showing (around 18 weeks or so). My second trimester wasn’t much more difficult than the first; the only difference was that I was showing quite a bit.
The first and second trimesters of my pregnancy played me for a fool. I assumed that because I’d had a good pregnancy so far, it would stay easy. And that was not the case at all. I thought my third trimester was going to take me out.
I don’t remember what order the symptoms came in, or if perhaps they all came around the same time. What I do know is that by the time I was close to my due date, I was beyond ready to never be pregnant again.
Below is a list of all the symptoms I had during my third trimester and what I did to alleviate the pain and keep myself comfortable (to the best of my ability):
Swelling. The swelling in my feet/ankles/legs was truly a sight to see. One of my coworkers at the time told me that I had Shrek feet, sadly. I thought about posting a picture of my swollen feet/ankles in this article, but don’t want to damage anyone beyond repair. Let’s just say that my ankles were completely non-existent when the swelling was especially severe. Even worse, sometimes my ankles were so swollen that they were actually wider than my feet and calves.
As far as a remedy, staying off my feet was the only thing that made the swelling go down. This could mean either lying down in bed or propping my feet up while sitting down in a chair. In the morning, after I’d been sleeping all night, my feet and ankles looked almost normal. If I tried to be active and spent a great deal of time on my feet, I knew my feet/ankles would be unrecognizable by the end of the day. I was told repeatedly to use hot and cold compresses on my feet/ankles, but these never did anything for me, honestly. The swelling continued until a week or two after I gave birth.
Lower back pain. During my whole third trimester (and more so in the last few weeks of my pregnancy), I had this terrible nerve-type of pain in my lower back, on both sides. Usually not simultaneously, though - the pain would move from right to left, back to right, and so on. Some people told me that this was sciatica and that it was common during pregnancy, but I was never formally diagnosed, nor did I take any medication for it other than Tylenol. This lower back pain made it quite difficult to walk long distances, get out of bed, sit up from a chair, etc. Sometimes I could even feel the pain radiating when I was lying down. I do not miss this symptom at all.
As far as a remedy, usually lying down and using a heating pad (on the hottest setting) did the trick, along with some Tylenol (which is considered to be safe to use during pregnancy, unlike Advil and Aleve).
Carpal tunnel in both arms. This symptom was possibly the worst and the most unexpected symptom I had during pregnancy. For those who are unfamiliar with carpal tunnel, Google describes it like this: A numbness and tingling in the hand and arm caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist. It started in my right hand/arm, which makes sense because that’s my dominant hand. Typing all day while having the numbness/tingling was a nightmare. The numbness became so severe that I could barely feel my hand at all. Eventually, it started to affect my left hand/arm as well. I was told that it was normal and would likely go away shortly after birth. It did go away after I gave birth, luckily, but it was horrible while it lasted and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
The only remedies that worked for this symptom were to stop doing anything with my hands (which is unrealistic most of the time) and to use wrist braces on both wrists. The wrist braces worked wonders - they were the only thing that got my hands/wrists to feel almost normal again (albeit not for long). Unfortunately, I could not use the wrist braces all day long since I had to type at work.
Fatigue. I am pretty sure that everyone who has ever been pregnant experienced fatigue at certain points during pregnancy, but just because it’s a common symptom doesn’t mean that it’s not worth mentioning. Fatigue during pregnancy made it hard for me to go to work every day, clean my house, be intimate with my partner, etc. It doesn’t help that caffeine is very limited for pregnant people - only 200 mg of caffeine per day maximum, according to most experts. Most days, I just wanted to lie down in bed and watch Netflix non-stop, while eating uncontrollably.
My remedies for battling fatigue were as follows: (1) using all 200 mg of my allowable caffeine per day; (2) delegating as many tasks as humanly possible, both at home and work; (3) staying in bed as much as I reasonably could; and (4) drinking lots of water and maybe trying to eat something kind of healthy once in a while.
As always, I am beyond grateful to have given birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl, but I don’t miss the journey. However, I am fortunate enough not to be experiencing any of my pregnancy symptoms any longer, unlike some. My sister, unfortunately, has had diabetes since her first pregnancy (she was only 26 at the time). I want the takeaway of this article to be: take it as easy as you can during pregnancy. I know it’s not always doable. Work, kids, marriage, etc. all get in the way. But do your best because before you know it, baby is going to come and you’re going to have months of sleepless nights ahead of you.
XOXO, Alexis.