Speaker 1: Oh baby, my baby, I need you, Oh how I
Speaker 1: need you? What do you expect? As a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, I'm your host, Heidi Murkoff, and I'm
Speaker 1: a mom on a mission, a mission to help you
Speaker 1: know what to expect every step of the way. Are
Speaker 1: you expecting? Then you're probably expecting morning sickness, a craving
Speaker 1: for pickles with or without ice cream, to do more
Speaker 1: than your fair share of peeing, assorted aches and pains,
Speaker 1: and though you'll hopefully learn to wear them proudly, stretch
Speaker 1: marks and puffy ankles. But we're not here today to
Speaker 1: cover what you already expect to expect, those standard symptoms
Speaker 1: exhaustively covered in movies and books and TV commercials. We're
Speaker 1: here to talk about what you might not expect when
Speaker 1: you're expecting, symptoms that might take you by surprise, but
Speaker 1: that are actually more common in a normal pregnancy than
Speaker 1: you might think. Because Mama, trust me on this. You
Speaker 1: are not alone, and I'm not alone either. I'm here
Speaker 1: with Emma, and we're going to talk first about our
Speaker 1: strangest pregnancy symptoms. Now, for me, that's easy because I
Speaker 1: was surprised by absolutely everything that happened to my body
Speaker 1: because I hadn't written what to expect when You're expecting yet,
Speaker 1: So if anything, I stressed more about those classic symptoms
Speaker 1: that I expected but didn't have, like mourning sickness. They
Speaker 1: didn't have mourning sickness, So I assume something was terribly
Speaker 1: wrong with my pregnancy. I didn't, you know, have constipation
Speaker 1: or heartburn. You're basically a unicorn. That's what they call me. Unicorn.
Speaker 1: Here I am with the constipation. I didn't prove my
Speaker 1: entire pregnancy. Insomnia, metal mouth, food aversions, exhaustion, anxiety. Where
Speaker 1: do I stop? And that was just the first day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was the first day. You had me on speed dial,
Speaker 1: but you still had symptoms that took you by surprise. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It keeps you on your toes, it really does. It's
Speaker 1: the gift that keeps on giving, at least for nine months.
Speaker 1: And then we got postpartum symptoms. That's another day. Hemorrhoids
Speaker 1: coming back. Because between us we only have four pregnancies,
Speaker 1: and we we wanted to cast a wider net, so
Speaker 1: we went straight to the source to find out what
Speaker 1: you didn't expect when you were expecting, and we got
Speaker 1: on earful from the mom's on what to expect, including
Speaker 1: some symptoms that I actually don't currently have, and what
Speaker 1: to expect when you're expecting, but that I'm going to
Speaker 1: have to ask. How you are you guys are writing
Speaker 1: this book for her? Yeah, work in progress. So we
Speaker 1: got a variety of cravings that went way beyond the
Speaker 1: pickles and ice cream. We had a mom craving peanut
Speaker 1: butter and jelly and tuna so p B J and T.
Speaker 1: A mom who literally blended v H juice with Rocky
Speaker 1: Road ice cream, hot cheetos dipped in a tella which
Speaker 1: sounds curiously weirdly good. Um, ground black pepper, and coffee,
Speaker 1: and also on her cereal. We also got a versions,
Speaker 1: um you know. Of course the usual suspects like I
Speaker 1: had a terrible chicken aversion. I think you did too. Um,
Speaker 1: coffee erasion is super common, even for moms with with
Speaker 1: a coffee jones. And then we got some strange ones
Speaker 1: like Rice, Who's going to argue with Rice, but this
Speaker 1: Rice suddenly couldn't eat Rice. One mom actually told me
Speaker 1: that she was repulsed by banana peals. She could handle
Speaker 1: eating bananas, but her husband had to peel them for her.
Speaker 1: And then hides the peel immediately, so that was very
Speaker 1: sweet of her husband. I have to say, Gramatic, let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break and when we come back, the
Speaker 1: most surprising pregnancy symptoms. You don't expect, why they happen,
Speaker 1: and what you can do about them. So pregnancy doesn't
Speaker 1: number in your body in expected ways like you're growing belly,
Speaker 1: and in not so expected ways like that backney. So
Speaker 1: many random symptoms, but they all have one thing in common. Emma,
Speaker 1: what do you think that thing is? Hormones? Good guess,
Speaker 1: shot in the dark. Hormones. So many random symptoms, one explanation, hormones.
Speaker 1: I feel like for me, it was almost like puberty again.
Speaker 1: Like I had a lot of acne. I had a
Speaker 1: lot of backney. It's almost like you're going through puberty again,
Speaker 1: but not the period part, not the period, just the PMS.
Speaker 1: Let's break down symptoms by trimester, so you know what
Speaker 1: to expect, even with the most unexpected symptoms. In the
Speaker 1: first trimester, you know to expect. You know, sore breasts, exhaustion, nausea,
Speaker 1: food aversion, lots of emotions. But there are some surprising ones.
Speaker 1: So Mom, tell me more about metal mouth because I
Speaker 1: had it. I feel like a lot of people have
Speaker 1: experienced it. If you're not expecting it, it's very um surprising, yes, unsettling,
Speaker 1: to say the least. Moms have described it to me
Speaker 1: as if you're sucking on loose change, so it gives
Speaker 1: all your food kind of a flinty flavor. It's usually
Speaker 1: limited to the first trimester. Some moms have said they
Speaker 1: had it throughout their pregnancy. It's often associated with morning sickness,
Speaker 1: so if you're extra queasy, you might have more metal mouth.
Speaker 1: Some things that can help, or brushing your tongue or
Speaker 1: scraping it now, that is if you don't gag when
Speaker 1: you're scraping your tongue and throw up. Also, because throwing
Speaker 1: up while brushing your teeth, that's another unexpected pregnancy symptom
Speaker 1: but common. Changing your prenatal vitaminute. Talk to your doctor
Speaker 1: about changing your prenatal to one that's more absorbable, because
Speaker 1: otherwise it could be those heavy metals that are in
Speaker 1: the prenatal supplement like copper and chromium that are giving
Speaker 1: you that That makes sense that aftertaste, rinsing with a
Speaker 1: mixture of baking soda and water neutralizes pH levels that
Speaker 1: could help, and anything acidic can help, Like those lemons
Speaker 1: and those pickles you were craving anyway, That steps up
Speaker 1: saliva production and that washes away the metal taste. But
Speaker 1: on the flip side, when you're making extra saliva anyway,
Speaker 1: it could be too much of a good thing. That
Speaker 1: could make you gag and throw up. Emma, you were
Speaker 1: this spit girl, right, I was this spit girl, okay,
Speaker 1: and no place to put it. Stop. You're triggering me
Speaker 1: to make puns and jokes. I can't stop this. Move along.
Speaker 1: So um one thing that helps. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you try this. Actually you took gum a lot. I do,
Speaker 1: because whenever I get like queasy, I have issues with that.
Speaker 1: Um gum actually really helps. It does help with the
Speaker 1: metal mouth as well, truly helpful. It can help with
Speaker 1: constipation too. Doesn't help me, And chewing gum can help
Speaker 1: dry your mouth out when there's too much spit in it.
Speaker 1: Um the same, brushing with a minty toothpaste can help
Speaker 1: with that too. Okay, But what about that? Like incessant
Speaker 1: pounding in the ear is okay, So it's another unrelated
Speaker 1: part of the body, your ear, Like you don't give
Speaker 1: birth through your ear. Baby doesn't grow inside of their thankfully,
Speaker 1: but some moms actually get a pounding feeling in their ear,
Speaker 1: almost like their heart is beating in their ear, or
Speaker 1: they might get Tonight's you know, that ringing sensation in
Speaker 1: your ear, And it's super common during pregnancy, and that's
Speaker 1: because of the increased blood fall of pregnancy. It's also
Speaker 1: due to guess what, hormones. I love a good hormone.
Speaker 1: It can also be related to ear infection and sinus infections,
Speaker 1: which are more common during pregnancy, especially because you're extra stuffy,
Speaker 1: but because it could also be a sign of higher
Speaker 1: blood pressure, you should always report any kind of pounding
Speaker 1: or bringing in your ear to your doctor or midwife.
Speaker 1: What about heart palpitations, Like I have that in my
Speaker 1: normal everyday life because I'm just a stress case. But
Speaker 1: like when you're pregnant, well, just like with the ear pounding,
Speaker 1: your blood flow is increased and there are changes in
Speaker 1: your circulatory system. Your blood volume actually increases almost fifty
Speaker 1: when you're pregnant, and your heart rate goes up about
Speaker 1: and you become kind of hyper aware of it, and
Speaker 1: some people become more hyper with it than others, and
Speaker 1: you might feel like a fluttering or extra beats, or
Speaker 1: or your heart is always pounding or racing, or or
Speaker 1: sometimes like it feels like you you're skipping beats. Now,
Speaker 1: first thing, I hear this from so many moms and
Speaker 1: they get panicky and stressed out about it. Always check
Speaker 1: with your doctor. It could be a sign of anemia
Speaker 1: if it happens in the second half of pregnancy. That's
Speaker 1: from an increased need for red blood cells. That's common.
Speaker 1: Um it could be anxiety, Like you said, I'm an anxiety,
Speaker 1: panic attacks, you get the pounding heart. That could be
Speaker 1: a sign of a thyroid condition. Less likely something something Yeah,
Speaker 1: something else that you have. Um or it could be
Speaker 1: something else that needs further investigation, and that's why you
Speaker 1: should always speak to your doctor about it. Okay, So
Speaker 1: let's scedattle to the second trimester, because you know that's
Speaker 1: kind of like the Golden age, right right, which is
Speaker 1: also known as the best trimester. Women often get their
Speaker 1: energy back, the nausea hopefully settles down a little bit,
Speaker 1: your appetite comes back, you're a whole new woman. But
Speaker 1: there are new symptoms that are common in that second trimester. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are lots of new ones. And most of them,
Speaker 1: you know, you probably expect. Most of them are keepers.
Speaker 1: You've got your heartburn, your extra gas, sometimes smelly leg cramps,
Speaker 1: had a lot of leg cramps, growing pains. You've got
Speaker 1: the round ligament pain. It's that tugging pan on either side.
Speaker 1: And I got freaked out about that and I called you.
Speaker 1: I was like, why is my stomach her? Everybody gets
Speaker 1: freaked out about it. It's just not a great place
Speaker 1: to have pain when you're pregnant, you know, just not Yeah,
Speaker 1: but there are a lot more symptoms that you probably
Speaker 1: didn't expect in this otherwise awesome trimester. Your nose goes
Speaker 1: through a lot. Your nose does know that you're pregnant.
Speaker 1: All those mucous membranes all over your body swell and
Speaker 1: that includes in your nose, and it makes your nose stuffy. Um.
Speaker 1: It makes you more prone to post nasal drip, and
Speaker 1: that's especially at night, to that post nasal drip cough,
Speaker 1: and even to snoring that can happen to um. You
Speaker 1: should always talk with your doctor if you're snoring, because
Speaker 1: sometimes it is something that needs to be monitored. For
Speaker 1: the most part, it's just part for the pregnancy course.
Speaker 1: That and the increased blood flow makes nosebleeds more common
Speaker 1: as you experienced emma and harder to control. One thing
Speaker 1: that could help is using sailings right and also eating
Speaker 1: more vitamin sea rich foods because that strengthens your capillaries. Also,
Speaker 1: sleeping propped up, that helps for hartburn, it helps for
Speaker 1: stuffy nose, and it's just play more comfortable. Now, this
Speaker 1: one sounds bad, But pregnancy tumors in your mouth, what
Speaker 1: what's happening with up? Yeah, it sounds terrible. It's easier
Speaker 1: to pronounce than pyogenic grand new loma's um They are
Speaker 1: red raw bumps, kind of an overgrowth of tissue that
Speaker 1: can show up on your gung sometimes between your teeth,
Speaker 1: and yes, you can thank your hormones. These little pregnancy
Speaker 1: tumors in your mouth can bleed. They're completely harmless. They're
Speaker 1: super annoying, and if they're really bothersome, then you can
Speaker 1: check in with your doctor or your dentist because it's
Speaker 1: possible to have them removed. But that's actually another good
Speaker 1: reason to see your dentist for cleaning strough your pregnancy,
Speaker 1: because another unexpected symptom of pregnancy might be bleeding gums.
Speaker 1: If you have ginger vitis due to pregnancy hormones. Like
Speaker 1: I said, the gift that keeps on giving. Ye what
Speaker 1: about hair in all the wrong places? I asked you
Speaker 1: about this when I was pregnant with Lennox. But I
Speaker 1: also feel like I didn't have as much like hair
Speaker 1: when I was pregnant, so you know, I gained some loose,
Speaker 1: gained some losing. Exactly, you hold onto all the hair
Speaker 1: on your head during your pregnancy, so you don't do
Speaker 1: the normal shedding, and you do that about four months postpartum.
Speaker 1: But you might get hair in unexpected places like the
Speaker 1: fur belly. You can get hair on your chinny chin chin,
Speaker 1: on your breasts, like around your areola um some notice
Speaker 1: less hair, and on their legs like you did. One
Speaker 1: mom told me that her eyebrows started growing blonde pairs
Speaker 1: and she was a brunette. Okay, so let's talk about skin.
Speaker 1: I was also getting a lot of rashes, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I also got like skin tags. Yea, So
Speaker 1: pregnant skin is sensitive skin um across the board, so
Speaker 1: you could get heat rash sounds like something babies get,
Speaker 1: but actually your metabolism is way up, so you're overheating
Speaker 1: and you can get the heat rash, especially in places
Speaker 1: where you've been growing, which is pretty much everywhere, maybe
Speaker 1: under your breast, between your thighs, anywhere where skin is rubbing.
Speaker 1: Now you might have sensitivities. This could be surprising too,
Speaker 1: to all kinds of products that never bothered you before,
Speaker 1: your standard products. So if that happens, you should say
Speaker 1: unscented and as natural as you can wear cotton loose clothing.
Speaker 1: It's more breathable, so you're less likely to get heat rash.
Speaker 1: What about that constant itching, there's so much itching. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of itching during pregnancy. You're itching to
Speaker 1: have that baby, guess. Pregnant bellies are always itchy bellies.
Speaker 1: That's from all the stretching that your skin is doing.
Speaker 1: Your skin gets really dry and itchy, so drink lots
Speaker 1: of water, rub on that lotion. It's probably not going
Speaker 1: to prevent stretch marks, but it does help with dry skin. Remember,
Speaker 1: stretch marks are more a matter of genetics, so you
Speaker 1: can thank your mom or not thank your mom for
Speaker 1: having them. Thanks mom. Some mom's get red itchy hands
Speaker 1: and feet. That's also hormone, so keep your hands out
Speaker 1: and feet out of hot water. That's a very good
Speaker 1: reason for your partner to do all the dishes. I can't,
Speaker 1: my hands are red right. But itching without a rash
Speaker 1: definitely checking with your doctor um or midwife because that
Speaker 1: could be a sign of a complication in the second
Speaker 1: and third trimester. And of course itching in the crotch
Speaker 1: can signal an infection, so check with your doc. So
Speaker 1: where cotton underpants, Maybe eat a lower sugar diet and
Speaker 1: take a probiotic. So we talked about cravings. What about
Speaker 1: craving ice? I didn't always say it had to specifically
Speaker 1: be gas station ice. She sent her husband to the
Speaker 1: gas station every night for ice. But yeah, a craving
Speaker 1: for everything cold is super common, especially in the first
Speaker 1: timester because you foods that are cold, you don't smell
Speaker 1: them as much. If you're seriously craving chewing ice, you
Speaker 1: have to check with your doctor or midwife because it
Speaker 1: could be a sign that your iron stores are low. Um.
Speaker 1: That happens to most moms, you know, in the second
Speaker 1: half of pregnancy. Now, another sign of iron deficiency is
Speaker 1: craving things that are not foods, So maybe gasoline tar, mud, downy,
Speaker 1: fabric softener, cement. Just wanting to sniff them is one thing,
Speaker 1: but if you're really feeling like you want to taste them,
Speaker 1: then absolutely check in with your doctor. And now the
Speaker 1: third trimester the big and you're feeling like a big cohuna.
Speaker 1: When you get much bigger, the constant need to pee
Speaker 1: comes roaring back, and then you have trouble sleeping, and
Speaker 1: the dreams you have when you finally fall asleep are
Speaker 1: just getting more bizarre. And then you're tired all over again.
Speaker 1: And then there's the back ache, and there's the unexpected
Speaker 1: pleasures like I'm not even going to try to pronounce.
Speaker 1: This is all on you, girlfriend, I'm gonna give it
Speaker 1: a go. It's paritic, urticarryl populos and plaques of pregnancy.
Speaker 1: Can you say that three times fast? It's absolutely not dangerous.
Speaker 1: It's seriously uncomfortable, though, it's itchy red bumps that can
Speaker 1: pop up or I guess pop up usually in the
Speaker 1: third timester sometimes in your stretch marks, sometimes on your thighs,
Speaker 1: your arms, your butt. Good idea to show it to
Speaker 1: your doctor, your midwife, and if it's really miserable, a
Speaker 1: topical medication might help, or an antihistamine, but don't self treat.
Speaker 1: Here's what I still do. But I did it all
Speaker 1: the time when I was pregnant. I pee a little
Speaker 1: when I laugh, like especially if I pick up my
Speaker 1: toddler when I really have to pee, well, trickle, trickle,
Speaker 1: or you hear the water running. Yeah, there's just a lot.
Speaker 1: So yeah, bladder control, it's something you don't fully appreciate
Speaker 1: until it's gone. And say that. So it's the weight
Speaker 1: of your uterus and your baby pressing on your bladder
Speaker 1: and that gives your bladder less breathing room. But it's
Speaker 1: also the wear and tear on your perineal muscles. Tone
Speaker 1: them and keep them for life by doing yes your
Speaker 1: key goals, use them or lose them. That's what they say.
Speaker 1: I did not follow that sage advice mom, so yet.
Speaker 1: So now I have a lot of bladder issues. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh. You know it's one thing that really I
Speaker 1: had a lot of issues with carpal tunnel. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: anyone can get carpal tunnel, but pregnant women are especially
Speaker 1: blessed in a particular department. It's because the carpal tunnel
Speaker 1: in your wrists becomes swollen like the rest of your body,
Speaker 1: and you might have numbness, tingling, burning in pain. It
Speaker 1: might just be in your hand, in certain fingers, and
Speaker 1: or in your wrists, or could radiate all the way
Speaker 1: up your arm if you're really lucky. It's definitely worse
Speaker 1: at night, and that's because the extra fluids um in
Speaker 1: your feet and legs are redistributed to the rest of
Speaker 1: your body, and that includes your hands. The best thing
Speaker 1: you didn't do at night is sleep with your hands
Speaker 1: on a separate pillow. Give them their own pillow. Definitely
Speaker 1: don't sleep on your hands, because it's gonna make it worse.
Speaker 1: Some people find that wearing a wrist brace helps. The
Speaker 1: only thing with that is others find that it's more
Speaker 1: uncomfortable than the carpal tunnel itself to wear the brace
Speaker 1: all the time, and you really have to wear it
Speaker 1: consistently for it to work. It doesn't hurt to step
Speaker 1: up hydration because extra water does help flush out extra fluids.
Speaker 1: There's something else that's that's very surprising, or it could
Speaker 1: be very surprising, and that has to do with all
Speaker 1: the swelling in your hands. Is um that you're suddenly
Speaker 1: dropping everything. You're clumsy you're like butter fingers. You just
Speaker 1: can't get a grip, Emma, did you have that? What
Speaker 1: I did? But I actually wanted to address something kind
Speaker 1: of in the carpal tunnel realm. I had horrible RLS.
Speaker 1: I had restless leg syndrome at night, to the point
Speaker 1: where I couldn't sleep. But I had never heard of
Speaker 1: this because I kept googling and googling restless arms syndrome
Speaker 1: where I had it in my arms and it was
Speaker 1: so I wanted to like pull my hair out. It
Speaker 1: was so bad and nothing helped. And I know, like
Speaker 1: magnesium is recommended for that, Yeah, it is, but it
Speaker 1: was horrible, horrible, Well it's it's also recommended for leg
Speaker 1: crams such are another pregnancy plus knowing you, of course
Speaker 1: you couldn't just contain it's your legs, the restless leg syndrome.
Speaker 1: Have play my arms on the to your arms as left.
Speaker 1: Sometimes checking your diet to see if maybe there's some
Speaker 1: correlation to something you've been eating or not eating, so
Speaker 1: you run a diet check, but also mentioned it to
Speaker 1: the doctor or see if they have any suggestions whether
Speaker 1: you should take some magnesium or try a magnesium spray.
Speaker 1: One of the symptoms that surprised most people is lightning crotch. Mom,
Speaker 1: I had it. What is this? I mean it lightning crotch.
Speaker 1: It sounds like it could be fun, but it's so
Speaker 1: not fun. This is sharp, sudden, shooting pain in your vagina.
Speaker 1: Some people describe it as being stabbed in your vagina.
Speaker 1: It strikes really suddenly, like lightning. It can knock you
Speaker 1: off your feet. It can take your breath away. Nobody
Speaker 1: knows exactly what causes it, but it could be that
Speaker 1: extra blood flow, it could be baby pressing on a nerve.
Speaker 1: And yes, lightning can strike twice and more. Fortunately it
Speaker 1: goes away quickly. It's just that sharpshooting pain and then
Speaker 1: it resolves. Just pray it doesn't happen when you're in
Speaker 1: the middle of a zoom presentation. That would be special.
Speaker 1: I think we've discovered that every pregnancy is different. But
Speaker 1: now you do know this. You are not alone. We
Speaker 1: are all on this crazy ride together. You'll get through it.
Speaker 1: Who baby love, my baby love. I need you, Oh
Speaker 1: how I need you. Thanks for listening. Remember I'm always
Speaker 1: here for you. What to expect is always here for you.
Speaker 1: We're all in this together for more on what you
Speaker 1: heard on today's episode. Visit what to Expect dot com
Speaker 1: slash podcasts. You can also check out what to Expect
Speaker 1: when You're Expecting, What to Expect the First Year, and
Speaker 1: the What to Expect app. And we want to hear
Speaker 1: from you. Connect with us on our community message board
Speaker 1: or on our social media. You can find I MEE
Speaker 1: at Heidie Murkoff and Emma at Emma Being wt E
Speaker 1: and of course at What to Expect. Baby Love is
Speaker 1: performed by Riley Peterer. What to Expect is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. From more shows from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. In my arms right,
Speaker 1: don't you stay? Neja Neja Baby Baby