Kate Hackett
I can’t even fathom what it takes to grow a human inside of your body. And then once the little thing pops outta there, you have to CARE for it? For YEARS?
Reddit user u/-tjeaton- recently asked women to share some realities of pregnancy not depicted in film and TV and women responded. I scrolled through these in gentle disbelief. I mean: wow.
1. Huge grin
“In movies, they always show mothers with a huge grin on their face when they first see their baby. In real life, new mothers aren’t always head over heels to meet their baby. Not everyone feels like it’s the happiest they’ve ever been in their life..” —u/MissInfer
2. Messes you up
“They never show how much pregnancy messes with your body. You can lose your hair and get gestational diabetes..” —u/anon-nsfw-504
3. Depression & Anxiety
“They never show how you can get depression and anxiety before the baby is even born..” —u/Ahnamal
4. Food intolerance
“They never discuss how you can develop food intolerances. After my second pregnancy, I became lactose intolerant. After my third, I became wheat intolerant..” —u/idgaf-about-a-name
5. Hard to feed
“They never show how hard breastfeeding can be for some women. It’s not always as easy as sticking the baby on the boob after delivery. It is a real skill and can be hard to learn and doesn’t always work for everyone, despite best intentions..” —u/DrVerryBerry
6. Dismissive docs
“They never show how dismissive doctors can impact you. A few weeks after my first birth, I started hemorrhaging. The doctor told me that I must’ve forgotten what a period was. After doing an actual examination, he said, ‘Oh, I guess you weren’t lying,’ and I ended up needing emergency surgery..” —u/Ok_Individual9340
7. Bump takes forever to go away
“In movies, they always show that the bump goes away right after birth. It doesn’t. It can take days, weeks, or even months for the bump to disappear, and the majority of women have loose skin and stretch marks after..” —u/loalenatrice
8. Acne!?
“In movies, they show morning sickness, cravings, back pain, and waddling. They never show the pregnant character with the worst acne of her life or the one who can barely walk because her pelvis is literally splitting into thirds..” —u/Cdmelty1
9. Ewwww.
“They never show how you can experience receding gums and rotting teeth from pregnancy..” —u/budgetbears
10. Permanent changes
“They never talk about the permanent changes we experience. When I was pregnant, I had to go up a shoe size and start wearing glasses..” —u/didumakethetea
11. Clinical birth
“They never show how clinical giving birth is. My first birth was in a hospital where they treated me like I was a horribly sick person. I was not allowed out of my bed, I wasn’t allowed food or drink, and I wasn’t allowed any birthing tools, like a bouncing ball..” —u/DumpsterFire0119
12. Back pain
“They never really depict the horrible back pain. My sister had one hip stuck about 3 inches higher than the other and a herniated disk during pregnancy..” —u/TurbulentArea69
13. Fatigue
“They never show the fatigue you get. Pregnant women in movies have nonpregnant levels of energy. It’s pretty common to be completely exhausted all nine months. Growing a human is tiring..” —u/kinkyspidersex
14. Everything’s worse
“They never show what it’s like dealing with something as simple as a common cold. I got a cold when I was about eight months along, and my cough caused me to crack two ribs. Nothing like having your baby kicking your cracked ribs while you’re violently coughing..” —u/BitterPillPusher2
15. Weight gain
“They always show pregnant women gaining weight in their perfectly round bellies. In real life, you gain weight in most other places, too..” —u/allworkandnoYahtzee
16. Physical pain of miscarrying
“They never show how physically painful early-term miscarriages are. They only show the emotional pain. When it happened to me, it felt like I was having the worst cramps of my life for a month straight..”
17. Adult diapers
“They never show the unglamorous things we experience after birth. I had to wear adult diapers for several weeks. Even now, if I sneeze hard or laugh too much, I might pee my pants..” —u/cuckedprincess
18. Painful bathroom visits
“They never show what it’s like to go to the bathroom after giving birth. Pooping for the first time after having the baby was probably the most painful thing I’ve experienced..” —u/PlumbusFungus
19. No happy ending
“They rarely show postpartum depression. Movies will document everything, but they’ll skip over that part for a happy ending. It gives this false sense of reality that motherhood can only take a toll on your body and not on your mind..” —u/Pretty_Princess90210
20. You don’t know instantly
“In movies, pregnant people only need one contraction to know they’re going into labor. That’s not how it always works. My water broke with my second child, and it still took me like two hours to be convinced that it was actually my water..” —u/Ok_Individual9340
