Things they don't tell you when you get pregnant...

There have been a few surprises along the way (all of which turns out are common but are just not openly discussed at doctor's appointments). To list, here's been a few of the unusual things that have happened since getting pregnant:

Nosebleeds - It's not the most pleasant thing to think about, but since you have about twice the amount of blood flowing around in your body, nosebleeds are more common during pregnancy. Up until today, my experience with this had been limited to seeing a little bit of blood in a tissue after blowing my nose every now and then. Well today, I experienced a full on nosebleed. I haven't had one in years and I guess my body was saving up for it because it got to be so scary that I wound up calling my ob to see if there was anything I could do to help it stop. I sat for over an hour on the couch with an ice pack on my face and tissues clamped down on my nose. Finally, it let up and I'm being cautious the rest of the day not to get up to fast or run around.

Hair growth - I think it's common knowledge that women's hair growth and texture can change during pregnancy, but I never thought I would notice such a huge change! For me, my hair growth has slowed down tremondously. While this is great for my legs, it means that I've gone 17 weeks without a haircut and you can barely tell that my hair has grown any!

Stomach muscles - This one freaked me out the most at first(and now it just makes me laugh!). Apparently, as your uterus grows, the stomach muscles pull apart from the center to make room. You'll hear people say they've "popped" and I think this has to do with this fact. Your stomach muscles separate down the middle and finally your uterus pops through. This is what my stomach looks like when I'm laying down...

And when I go to sit up... Check out how my muscles are able to keep everything in place along the sides. Along the center, there's nothing to stop it so my uterus (and everything else) just busts right through!

This may have been tmi (especially for all the non pregnant ladies) but I just find it so interesting how just about every aspect of your body changes to accomodate another life growing inside!