15 Weird Pregnancy Symptoms No One Warned You About
Some pregnancy symptoms you just expect, right? The morning sickness, the wacky food cravings, the big swollen ankles. But then there are the symptoms that take you by surprise—the ones that cute celebrities with their even cuter baby bumps may not talk about during their red carpet interviews. We’ll talk you through some of the things no one else will warn you about and why they happen in pregnancy. Read on to get the lowdown on weird pregnancy symptoms you may encounter.
There’s a good chance you may experience an uptick in facial hair growth. “You can blame this on an increase in testosterone from your placenta and ovaries,” says Heather Bartos, MD, a gynecologist and menopause specialist in Frisco, Texas. Hair may also grow on your belly and around your nipples, a pattern you typically see in males. While it’s definitely a strange pregnancy symptom, know that all this stops when your hormones recalibrate after delivery.
I didn’t personally experience this one, but one of my best friends swears that she could taste metal the second she conceived—in all three of her pregnancies. Like, she’d text our friend group and say, ‘I taste metal. We’ll find out if I’m pregnant in a few weeks.’ Coincidence? Maybe. But pretty crazy!
If you have a strange metallic taste in your mouth—medically known as dysgeusia—particularly in the first trimester, you’re not alone. “The hormonal changes during pregnancy affect the taste buds in the mouth,” says Sherry Ross, MD, an ob-gyn, women’s sexual health expert and co-founder of Oneself Intimate Skin Care. “As a result, there may be a change in how you taste foods in your diet.” Rest assured, this weird early pregnancy symptom will also resolve once your hormones level out after birth.
Constipation plagues many moms-to-be throughout their pregnancies, starting as early as week 5. “This happens because the hormone progesterone surges in the beginning of pregnancy, which slows down the process of stool moving through your bowel,” Bartos explains. The slowed movement ups the amount of water your colon absorbs from your stool, making your poops harder and more difficult to pass. (Fun, right?) To help get everything moving a little better, drink lots of water and prune juice. But willy-nilly upping your fiber intake isn’t the best move. “Fiber may just bulk up your stool and not help it move,” says Bartos. Check with your doctor for helpful, pregnancy-safe medications instead.
Another surprising effect of rising progesterone levels: Your blood vessels relax, which then increases blood flow to your vaginal area, says Mary Jane Minkin, MD, a clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven. “By the end of the second trimester your fluid volume has increased about 50 percent over baseline,” she says, leading to a swollen vagina, which may leave you feeling tender or sore. To ease the discomfort and puffiness, try applying a cool pack.
All that blood flow coursing through your vaginal area also increases your chance of getting vulvar varicosities—aka varicose veins on the vulva—which may leave you with a weird sensation of fullness, swelling and discomfort. Sometimes there’s a bulge too. Minkin notes that, luckily, compression support garments made just for this purpose can ease discomfort by supporting the lower abdomen and back.
Most women want to kick up their feet in the third trimester after the second-trimester 'honeymoon' period of energy. But for me, it was the opposite! I spent my second trimester getting dizzy and napping all day with horrible fatigue, until I figured out I had pregnancy anemia and started taking iron for it. But then in my third trimester, I had this superhero urge to do E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G—even though I was huge and pretty uncomfortable. And I'm not talking about just nesting, although I did plenty of that, too! I wanted to take super-long walks (or more like waddles) and stay up until midnight baking. I just had a lot of restless energy!
Another strange pregnancy symptom you may not have expected? Strange and vivid dreams. Thanks to increased levels of progesterone, your sleep patterns are more disrupted in pregnancy, which consequently affects your REM sleep cycles, explains Ross. “This is the cycle of sleep, where dreams primarily occur. Since REM sleep is interrupted it makes sense that pregnancy dreams are turned upside down.” While scientists say it’s still a mystery why these dreams occur in pregnancy, Ross suspects they’re largely due to all the emotional, mental, physical and hormonal changes.
Did you know your oral health is particularly important during pregnancy? Per the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), pregnancy increases your risk of developing gingivitis, leading to bleeding and sore gums. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that gingivitis affects between 60 and 75 percent of pregnant women. “With an increase in blood flow to every part of the body, swollen and more sensitive gums occur during pregnancy,” Ross explains. “As a result, while brushing and flossing the teeth, bleeding gums can occur throughout pregnancy, especially in the third trimester.”
Similar to bleeding gums, all the increased blood flow and volume in your pregnant body can lead to nosebleeds. “The nose membranes become swollen and more sensitive, making nose bleeds more common,” Ross says. While annoying, this unusual pregnancy symptom is nothing to worry about and will go away soon after baby’s arrival (if not before).
I didn't even know pregnancy could cause nosebleeds—so annoying! I even had one just as we were leaving for the hospital for my induction!
When it comes to the business of being pregnant, burps and farts are common. The pregnancy hormones progesterone and relaxin encourage the muscle tissue to relax—including the muscles around your GI tract. As a result, “food moves through your system more slowly, causing gas and bloating,” says Bartos. Our advice: Embrace it! Or blame it on the dog. “Staying away from carbonated beverages and trading some of your go-to cruciferous vegetables for less-gassy options can help,” says Bartos.
Don’t freak out—this isn’t a super-common side effect of pregnancy and it doesn’t signal that anything is wrong. Chalk it up to yet another inconvenience of progesterone, which causes your body to produce more saliva during pregnancy. In the case of ptyalism (a rare disorder), the amounts are so extreme that some women end up constantly needing to spit, says Bartos. Ptyalism most often occurs in moms-to-be who’re dealing with extreme morning sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum. This might be the body’s way to soothe itself, given that some researchers think that excess saliva may help your stomach, says Bartos. Also, if you feel nauseous, you may be trying to swallow less, which lets saliva build in your mouth. To help combat the drool, brush your teeth several times a day, regularly swish minty mouthwash and chew on sugar-free gum.
Bust out the pantyliners! Your body is making a lot more estrogen and progesterone than usual, which means more blood flow to your vaginal area and an uptick in cervical and vaginal secretions—creating a liquidy, whitish (and sometimes yellow-greenish) discharge known as leukorrhea. “It can be very annoying,” says Bartos, but it isn’t harmful. Call your doctor, though, if the discharge smells fishy or causes profuse vaginal irritation, since those are possible signs of an infection.
The baby in your belly is currently using your internal organs as a pile of pillows. This puts the squeeze on your bladder, making it more likely for you to spring a leak. Exacerbating matters is the progesterone surge during pregnancy. “As a smooth muscle relaxer, it impacts the muscles surrounding the urethra and can cause three to four trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night,” says Bartos. While pregnancy bladder leakage is temporary, postpartum incontinence can last up to a year. “Your poor bladder has been taking it for 40 weeks!” says Bartos, so it understandably needs time to heal. “Do your kegels and talk to your healthcare provider at your postpartum visit about how to manage it.”
I stopped wearing a jacket in the middle of winter while I was pregnant. I was perpetually warm and couldn’t be bothered!
Your pregnant body is essentially a furnace. Regular, all-day, sticky hotness is a thing, but (surprise!) so are night sweats. “You’re generating so much more heat right now and moving it to the surface,” says Minkin. “Again, we can partially blame the hormones, which actually do raise core body temperature.” In fact, a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study found that 35 percent of women experienced night sweats during pregnancy, similar to what’s felt during menopause. If it’s just plain annoying, try to drink more fluids, take cool showers and wear light, layered clothes. But if your pregnancy sweats are truly uncomfortable—or if you’ve got a fever or rapid heartbeat—call your doctor or midwife.
Most of your weird pregnancy symptoms can be attributed to hormonal changes, including skin tags. These small, soft skin growths are usually found in areas of skin that experience the most friction, such as the neck, armpits and the underside of breasts, Ross says. While skin tags are usually benign, you can have your provider remove them if they cause discomfort. Along with skin tags, you may also experience acne and skin discoloration in certain areas of your body while pregnant.
Babies do more than just kick your belly—they’ll eventually kick you in the vagina too, as they reposition themselves in the uterus, a phenomenon colloquially known as “lightning crotch.” Early Braxton Hicks contractions is also a possibility. As your pregnancy chugs along, your growing uterus puts increasingly more pressure on your pelvic floor—and it can feel like there’s a bowling ball bumping against your vagina. Whatever the cause, “lightning crotch” pretty much happens to all moms-to-be and it isn’t necessarily a reason for concern.
“Everyone has a different pregnancy experience—it’s helpful to know the common and not-so-common symptoms of pregnancy so there are no surprises,” Ross says. However, you always want to make sure you bring up any concerns to your provider. As Ross adds, “There’s no such thing as a ‘silly question’ during pregnancy when discussing unexpected symptoms.”
Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.
Plus, more from The Bump:
Heather Bartos, MD, FACOG, is an ob-gyn as well as the founder and medical director of Be. Women’s Health and Wellness in Frisco, Texas.
Mary Jane Minkin, MD, is an ob-gyn at Yale New Haven Health in New Haven, Connecticut and has been in practice for more than 40 years. She also serves as a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale University School of Medicine.
Sherry Ross, MD, is an ob-gyn and women’s sexual health expert. She’s the author of She-ology: The Definitive Guide to Women’s Intimate Health. Period. and She-ology, The She-quel: Let’s Continue the Conversation. She’s also the co-founder of Oneself Intimate Skin Care and the Women's Health & Wellness School on the Mproov app. She earned her medical degree from New York Medical College and completed her residency at University of Southern California School Of Medicine.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Oral Health Care During Pregnancy and Through the Lifespan, August 2013
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Talking to Pregnant Women about Oral Health, May 2024
Fertility and Sterility, Prospective Evaluation of Hot Flashes during Pregnancy and Postpartum, September 2013
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