There are obviously a lot more than 20 questions, but these 20 questions seem to be very popular in groups and forums and asked time and time again. I know even having 2 pregnancies I still ask the same questions over and over expecting a different answer. Then again maybe I am searching for the answer I want to hear, or maybe I’m just crazy, who knows.
Here is my take on 20 of the most red-hot pregnancy questions.
1. How many ultrasounds should I expect during my pregnancy?
Most healthy normal pregnancies get 2 ultrasounds, 1 in the first trimester usually to confirm pregnancy and due date. The second is usually towards 18-22 weeks, in the second trimester, to make sure the baby is growing okay and to find out the sex.
These days they also have an ultrasound at around 10 weeks for genetic testing, if you decide to receive it. They prick your finger and do an ultrasound to make sure everything is normal, and to look for any obvious abnormalities.
If you are high risk, usually it is up to your doctor how many, to keep an eye on anything that might cause concern.
2. When does my milk come in?
Your boobs actually start the process of milk production close to the middle of pregnancy. Some women actually start to leak small amounts or have dried up milk crust on their nipples, while others don’t. Most women will produce true milk around 2-5 days after birth when it changes from colostrum to milk.
Your milk will continue to have a yellowish tint for a while, and then your milk will turn to a white color.
3. When and will I get stretch marks?
Most women get stretch marks toward the end of the pregnancy. I personally got mine when I was about 7 1/2-8 months pregnant. I thought I escaped it and I didn’t. I have them worse than anyone.
It has NOTHING to do with whether your mother has them, if you gain a lot or not, if you rub on creams, if you drink or eat right; none of that matters. All that matters, is your personal genetics and your skin type, that is it.
I barely gained any weight with my pregnancy, I rubbed on cocoa butter to the point I stained all my clothes, my gram doesn’t have one stretch mark on her body, yet my mother does. It’s all luck of the draw.
It is said that 50-90% of women will get some type of stretch mark during pregnancy.
If you ever feel bad about your stretch marks, hit me up, and I’ll send you a picture of mine and I guarantee you will feel loads better. 🙂
4. Will my water break?
In the movies every single pregnant woman’s water breaks, it’s crazy, but I guess it adds drama. Of course, at some point, your water will break, or they will break it for you at the hospital. But, the chances of your water breaking outside the hospital is less than 15%.
5. What is the healthy and normal amount of weight to gain during pregnancy? And how much per trimester is normal?
Of course, always talk to your doctor for exact numbers but on average, a woman who was a normal weight before pregnancy should gain around 25-35 pounds. If you started as underweight, then gaining around 28 to upwards 40 pounds is normal. And if you started as overweight before pregnancy then the range of weight gain should be around 15 to 25 pounds.
There is a chart for how much weight to gain per trimester, but if you constantly worry about it you might make yourself crazy. I, personally, was barely making it through my pregnancy with my sanity let alone worrying about my weight gain per week. If you are worried though, or just plain curious, here is what you are “supposed” to gain if you start at a normal weight.
- First trimester: 1-4.5 pounds total.
- Second trimester: 1-2 pounds per week.
- Third trimester: 1-2 pounds per week.
*A trick I did was when I went in to be weighed at the doctor is I would stand backward on the scale and tell them not to tell me. They usually have no problem doing this.
6. Is it safe to have sex throughout my entire pregnancy?
Yes, yes, and more yes!! You are safe to have sex through your entire pregnancy unless your doctor tells you otherwise. No, the baby does not get poked. No, the cum will not get to the baby. The only time you have to worry about any kind of bacteria coming in contact with the baby is when your water breaks, that’s when the baby is no longer protected by the amniotic sac.
If you are ever concerned just ask your doctor, but unless they say otherwise you are fine to have sex. Having sex and having your partner cum into you can actually help your cervix soften and lower, but it won’t cause you to go into labor until your body is ready. So there is nothing to worry about.
Jam out with your clam out and get it on alllll nighttt longggg.
7. Are there certain foods to avoid while pregnant?
This is where so many people have things twisted.
Cheese: First off, if you live in America you don’t need to avoid any cheeses, unless, somehow, you go to some special cheese shop that serves weird french unpasteurized cheese. 99% of cheeses in America are pasteurized, and the only cheese you need to avoid is unpasteurized. Cheese you get at a restaurant, even blue cheese, is pasteurized.
Sushi: Here is another that has loads of wrong information out there. You can eat as much sushi as you want. AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! There are tons of sushi that include cooked fish, crab, whatever, as a part of them. The only warning for avoiding sushi is your risk of foodborne illness, which is a risk you take any time you eat RAW sushi, no matter what. I never got food poisoning in my life from sushi when I was not pregnant, but I make sure to only go to reputable sushi joints.
One of the main reasons to avoid fish is the mercury, you should eat a maximum of 3 servings of fish a week when pregnant. I decided to be even more careful, and cut my fish to 1x a week if that.
Hummus: I would say completely cut this because of the fact that there have been so many recalls for listeria infected hummus. Getting listeria when pregnant can have serious side effects on the baby, and it’s just not worth it in my opinion. I can go 7 1/2 months without hummus because I wasn’t taking any chances. People don’t realize that you can get listeria from fruits, vegetables, and can foods as well.
8. Is it safe to exercise while pregnant?
Yes, in the first and second trimester if you can manage to get out of bed and get through a workout without throwing up consider yourself lucky. Exercise is actually recommended for women who have normal pregnancies and are considered healthy. You should always ask your doctor, of course, just to be sure if you are allowed, and once you hit the third trimester you will know how far you can push yourself.
9. Can I drink caffeine while pregnant?
There are lots of studies that show a possible link between caffeine and miscarriage. So why chance it? They say that 200 milligrams, which is the amount of caffeine in a small coffee is okay per day. Caffeine is a drug, and it does cross over to baby, but at the end of the day, it’s all up to you.
10. Why do some women barely show at all, while others get huge tummies?
Baby bumps vary from person to person and take in a lot of factors. Some include height, if you are tall your bump will appear smaller because the baby seems to stretch long ways instead of going out. For example, myself, I am 5’10, with a long torso and people could not believe how tiny I was, they would ask me where’s the baby? Or, are you sure you have the right due date?
Your abdominal muscles have a lot to do with it, the more tight and strong they are the smaller the bump. Also, with 2nd and 3rd pregnancies the muscles just don’t have the strength they originally had, so your bump is usually bigger.
11. Is it dangerous to sleep on your back while pregnant?
If you can even handle sleeping on your back while pregnant, then yes, yes it is. I could feel the circulation stop, and I would be horrible uncomfortable when sleeping on my back. As baby gets bigger, and your womb heavier, there are important blood vessels that run through the back that can get compressed from sleeping on your back.
Sleeping on your side is recommended, and that’s why investing in one of those amazing pregnancy pillows will be your lifesaver. (My fiance got jealous of my pregnancy pillow because I cuddled the absolute shit out of it!)
One like this works wonders! A definite pregnancy must have!
Click here to check out the best pregnancy cuddle pillow.
12. Why does pregnancy make you so gassy and cause digestive issues?
You would think it’s because the giant baby taking up all the space in there, but mostly it comes down to hormones. Hormones do some crazy shit. Later on, the baby pressing down does cause constipation issues (more than you already had), but initially, the hormones are what causes everything to go haywire.
Pregnancy releases a large amount of the hormone progesterone, which causes tissues in the body to relax, and of course, that means also the GI tract. Therefore, slowing down bowel movements, in turn causing more gas, heartburn, and constipation.
13. When does morning sickness start and go away? And is it only in the morning?
It all depends. If you had hyperemesis gravidarum as I did then it starts about 4 weeks and lasts until delivery. If you don’t have HG, then usually it starts around 6 weeks and ends on average around the beginning of the 2nd trimester, peaking around 9 weeks. (I legit had to look this up because I had no idea what normal morning sickness was like what-so-ever.)
Is it only in the morning? Definitely not. It all depends on the woman, but some women just have evening sickness or middle of the day sickness, but usually, it hits most women in the morning for the most part. When you wake up in the morning your stomach is empty, and during the night you are relaxed. With the hormone progesterone already relaxing the digestive system, you get a double whammy in the morning.
14. Why do my nipples and areola’s get so huge and dark?
Hormones from pregnancy cause your skin to create more pigment. That is why your nipples get darker and areola’s get larger, and also causes you to have more bumps around your nipples. Hormones cause some gross things to happen, believe me I know.
15. Why do I have such weird cravings during pregnancy?
Pickles and ice cream? Peanut butter and olives? It’s said it may be linked to the hormonal changes, or it could be because of the heightened senses during pregnancy, or it may be because your body knows what you are lacking on overdrive for the baby. Honestly, though, no one truly knows.
16. Is pregnancy brain a real thing?
Omg, yes, it is definitely a real….wait what were talking about again? Yeah, it’s kind of like that. They don’t know why it happens; theories include hormones, stress, or the worry of the pregnancy taking up in our mind. All I know is the farther along in the pregnancy, the worse it gets. So invest in a good planner, a paper one, because you will even forget to look at the one in your phone.
17. Is it true I’m gonna poop on the doctor in delivery??
Most likely, yes. Okay, so with my first child I didn’t, I was induced and I remember feeling the urge to poo. The nurse kept telling me that it was normal and I didn’t need to. I was like no, I need to go to the bathroom, so I went, and yeah I ended up going #2. I came out and she was like told ya, and I’m like nope, I totally went.
When it came time to push I started by doing kegals and doing everything I could to not use my poop muscles. The nurses kept telling me I needed to bear down, but I didn’t understand this, the baby isn’t coming out of my butt right? I didn’t end up pooping because of the one I had taken earlier.
Second child, I was ready to go, I knew what I was doing this time. It was time to push (I was so constipated I hadn’t pooped in days before I went into labor), so yeah all that poop came right out, but so did baby in like 5 pushes.
It happens a lot, to the point that they know how to cover it up, to the point where I didn’t even realize looking back at my birth photos until like the 3rd time I looked and then I finally realized what they were doing, covering my steamy turd…
Don’t be embarrassed, it may happen. If anyone gives you any crap about it (no pun intended) tell them to push a 5-10 pound watermelon out of their vagina (or penis hole) without pooping and get back to you, you won’t hold your breath (unless they poop).
18. Will my vagina be destroyed after I give birth and never look the same?
No. This is such an insane myth I don’t even get it. Our vagina is meant to stretch, a lot. Of course, I tore to hell, but that’s because I had a big baby and a stupid tiny kootchie, plus an epidural. It’s a known fact that having an epidural gives you a higher chance of tearing because you aren’t able to feel the contractions and go with your body (but I’d rather have the tear, mmmkay).
My advice, try not to look at your vagina for a few weeks after birth. It will look horrendous and you will most likely freak out, I know I did. Every week after you give birth, you heal, a lot. It’s crazy the difference from 3 weeks to 6 weeks to 9 weeks in healing down there.
Vaginal walls may be more lax after a pregnancy, particularly after a vaginal birth, but many partners won’t be able to notice.
Dr. Brightman
And you won’t notice it either, so relax, there is no such thing as getting loose. Yeah, YOU can tell you had a baby, but I personally think my vagina looks just as good as it always did, and you can take that to the bank.
19. When can I start having sex after birth?
A lot of women brag about having sex right after giving birth. You are told to not have sex for 6 weeks not because it’s torn up, or because you might still be in pain, there is actually a legitimate reason.
The cervix is still dilated for up to 6 weeks after vaginal birth OR c-section. Anything you stick in there, including unseen bacteria, goes directly into your body and can cause a serious infection. There are also little tears along the vaginal wall that take time to heal.
Make sure to always talk to your doctor, because they may give you the go-ahead early, but there is a good reason for the 6-week rule.
I personally took almost 4 months with my second baby to have sex again, I tore pretty bad, all the way to the muscle. And if you have a good man he will be okay with that.
20. What are my chances of miscarriage?
Once you hear a heartbeat your chances go down weekly, and usually, it’s extremely rare after 12 weeks. That’s why most people don’t usually announce until the 12-week mark.
- 9.4% at six weeks
- 4.6% at seven weeks
- 1.5% at eight weeks
- 0.5% at nine weeks
- 0.7% at ten weeks
Conclusion:
So there you have it, some of the questions I see in forums over and over and many that even I asked when I was pregnant. I hope you enjoyed this list, and if you aren’t pregnant but are trying, I hope I didn’t scare you away. Pregnancy is awful, but the end result is nothing short of the most amazing experience you can and will ever know.
Do you have a question you would like to see on the list? Or is there anything you disagree with that I have posted here?
