What were your biggest pregnancy surprises and pet peeves?

I hit the 32-pound mark by week 23, so my doctor told me to reel it in. Since then, I’ve cut out the cookies, bread, chocolate—basically all the junk—and honestly, it’s working wonders. My belly is growing just fine, the baby is doing great, and I’ve actually dropped about 3 pounds in three weeks. I’m sticking to this like glue. I really don't need gestational diabetes complicating things.

But what really gets under my skin is when people won't take me seriously. If I say no, I mean no. For example, I’ll go over to a friend's house, tell them I don't want dessert, and they'll still cut a massive slice meant for three people and shove it right in front of me. Then, when I don't touch it, they act all offended. I don't get why people act like that.

It never occurs to me to force someone to eat something if they said they aren't interested.

It feels like a personal insult.

Plus, I'm constantly fighting the urge to binge. It’s a bit easier now that I keep thinking about how much it could hurt the baby; self-control is a lot simpler when there are stakes involved.

I guess I just need to vent because I have nobody else to talk to—nobody seems to take my dietary choices seriously.

BTW, my lower back is killing me today. Like, worse than ever. I had to lie flat on the floor for 15 minutes just to get some relief... I'm definitely not used to pain like this. 😬

The entire American healthcare system drove me insane today. Between the sheer rudeness of some staff and the total incompetence of others, it was a disaster.

Basically, three different departments couldn't get their act together regarding when I should show up for admission—today, tomorrow, or Monday. That little bit of mismanagement cost me seven hours sitting in that damn hospital. They also couldn't decide if I needed to stay for two days or four, not to mention they couldn't even agree on whether I needed to be admitted at all in the first place.

Aside from three specific things, today has been one of the worst days of my life.

Paul Campbell8 said:The entire American healthcare system drove me insane today. Between the sheer rudeness of some staff and the total incompetence of others, it was a disaster.

Basically, three different departments couldn't get their act together regarding when I should show up for admission—today, tomorrow, or Monday. That little bit of mismanagement cost me seven hours sitting in that damn hospital. They also couldn't decide if I needed to stay for two days or four, not to mention they couldn't even agree on whether I needed to be admitted at all in the first place.

Aside from three specific things, today has been one of the worst days of my life.

And honestly, these doctors... good grief, what an absolute joke.
I feel for you.🙂

Here’s what really gets under my skin: I've been seeing a private OB-GYN since the start of my pregnancy. I tried to find an in-network doctor, but apparently, the nearest ones accepting new patients were out in Los Angeles.🙏 Naturally, I lost my mind.🤣
I finally tracked down an in-network doctor around my fourth or fifth month, but only because my private doctor referred me to a colleague of hers. He’d take me as a patient and handle all my referrals, while I’d continue managing the actual pregnancy care with the private doctor because he’s too swamped with patients to deal with everything. Fine—my doctor is great, so I'll stick with her.
But here is the catch: it happens every single time. I go to my private doctor for a checkup, and she tells me I need a referral for a specific test. So, I head to the in-network doctor to get the paperwork. When I get to the lab, they tell me the results are being sent directly to the in-network doctor. I practically beg them *not* to send them there. But no—they can't do things my way; they have to send it to whoever ordered the test. Then I have to go back to the in-network doctor to pick up the results just to bring them back to the private doctor. It’s a constant, endless loop.
If anyone had told me this was how it worked, I would have thought they were pulling my leg.🤣

Second scenario: I'm hit with these intense pains and cramps—my stomach is hard as a rock and won't let up for two days. I can barely get out of bed. I call my private doctor, and she tells me to just head to the ER at the local University hospital (which is very close to my place). I stumble in there, barely able to walk, doubled over in pain, and a nurse looks at me and snaps: "WHERE IS YOUR REFERRAL?! You can't just show up like this! You were supposed to see your primary doctor first to get a referral. What am I supposed to do with you now???"🙏
I'm standing there apologizing, thinking, *Are you serious? My doctor is on the other side of town, give me a break.*
She gives me this incredibly cold look and says, "Fine, we'll examine you now, but don't think you can do this again. Next time, we aren't seeing you without a formal referral!"
By that point, I was already losing it, so I just told her, "Fine, I'll come back when I absolutely have to, but you'll have to watch me die on your doorstep."🤣

Look, I understand why they want the paperwork, but I was only 31 weeks along—why would I need that level of bureaucracy so early? I'm not even scheduled for my next specialist appointment for another three weeks, according to my doctor.

The kicker is that my uncle, my mother, and my brother all work in healthcare, so I know it doesn't always have to be this chaotic and that not everyone is completely irrational. But based on who I've dealt with so far...🙏

This is awful.

They used to get under my skin too, but I usually didn't let it bother me. Now? It feels different. This is about my kid and my own life...

Anyway, they’re telling me I need to be on bed rest for four or five days this Monday. Just because they feel like it—my OBGYN thinks it's necessary. But I'm not exactly asking for her opinion...

I just hope I don't lose my mind again. One of the nurses' relatives was lucky I’m pregnant and thinking about the baby, otherwise, she would have had it rough. I was that close to snapping.

It honestly drives me nuts when people start announcing they’re coming over to visit once I’ve "recovered" from giving birth—as if two weeks is some kind of magic milestone where everything is back to normal. Like, hello? I am absolutely not up for hosting anyone for at least two months, let alone having guests over where I’m expected to play hostess in my own damn house!

I don't know how anyone can even think that's okay, or maybe I'm just losing my mind here.

That’s all well and good, thanks, but no thanks. Check back in two months. Before then, I won't be in any state to play host, and I’ll have way too much on my plate with my kid to deal with visitors. There's plenty of time for guests later. You've got to be blunt about stuff like this.

I've already made it clear that I don't want anyone dropping by during those first few days, or even weeks. If someone decides to ignore that and shows up anyway, they’re going to be pretty disappointed with the hospitality.

Paul Campbell8 said:That’s all well and good, thanks, but no thanks. Check back in two months. Before then, I won't be in any state to play host, and I’ll have way too much on my plate with my kid to deal with visitors. There's plenty of time for guests later. You've got to be blunt about stuff like this.

I've already made it clear that I don't want anyone dropping by during those first few days, or even weeks. If someone decides to ignore that and shows up anyway, they’re going to be pretty disappointed with the hospitality.

That's exactly how I handled it right after they made their little suggestion🙂. And honestly, I don't give a damn about being rude, but it seriously grinds my gears when people just refuse to get it, which basically forces me to act like a total bitch just to set boundaries.

I actually banned the whole family from coming to the hospital; I told them I only wanted my husband there. Just him and the baby. Of course, everyone else eventually showed up whenever they felt like it because they all seem to have some kind of "connection" that lets them bypass the rules. But not one single person bothered to ask my husband if he wanted to come in earlier so they could pull some strings for him, too. Instead, he just sat there like an idiot, waiting sixteen hours just to be allowed back to my side. And honestly, I don't even want to get started on the chaos when we finally got home... 🙄

During my pregnancy, I’ve started finding absolutely everything incredibly grating. My sister—who happens to be about a month ahead of me in her own pregnancy—is driving me up the wall lately. It’s mostly all this constant guessing game about the baby's gender. You know the drill: by week ten, everyone is convinced they’ve cracked the code based on some vague symptom or "feeling," and suddenly it’s decided we’re having a girl. All this unsolicited speculation is just exhausting. Honestly, part of me wishes I didn't even have to tell anyone I was pregnant until the baby is actually here. I know, I know, it sounds a little extreme, but it would save me so much unnecessary chatter.

My partner actually intended to bring his parents to the hospital during my labor—just to sit in the waiting room! 🤦 I absolutely lost it. I told him straight up that if they weren't out of the picture, I’d just drive to a different city to give birth instead. He even had the nerve to suggest my parents should come along too (they live 75 miles away, by the way) if they actually cared about me! Can you imagine? A whole crowd just sitting there waiting for me to deliver. I was acting crazy, I know. I hadn't realized that other women were being accompanied by the whole family at the maternity ward! Luckily, mine are sane enough to find the whole idea hilarious. I don't need an audience standing outside my door—but he took offense to that. Honestly, since reasoning with him wasn't working, a threat was the only way I could get him to scrap the plan. In the end, he just stayed quiet and told his folks we wouldn't be going to the hospital. It was late at night, thankfully; otherwise, I have no idea how that would have gone.
Of course, they still showed up during visiting hours, despite me making it crystal clear that I wanted peace and quiet. A few hours after giving birth, I really wasn't in the mood for guests—especially while I was still bleeding through everything. :-/

Chris Mitchell4, your dear man has clearly watched way too many Hollywood movies 😬
The whole family shows up, the wife screams twice, squeezes three times, and boom—there's the baby.
It’s as if those films were scripted by people with the mental capacity of a goldfish..

I had my own ridiculous moment,
A friend of mine drops by, reaches out toward my stomach, and asks if she can touch. I let her.
She stays silent for a few seconds before asking, with this completely deadpan expression, "Is everything okay? Nothing's moving?!" As if... why on earth would anything be moving right now??
😲
Good grief, I really shouldn't have been so accommodating. How am I supposed to explain to her that there isn't some little hamster running on a wheel inside my abdomen all day long 🙂

Samuel Patel4 said:Chris Mitchell4, your dear man has clearly watched way too many Hollywood movies 😬
The whole family shows up, the wife screams twice, squeezes three times, and boom—there's the baby.
It’s as if those films were scripted by people with the mental capacity of a goldfish..

I had my own ridiculous moment,
A friend of mine drops by, reaches out toward my stomach, and asks if she can touch. I let her.
She stays silent for a few seconds before asking, with this completely deadpan expression, "Is everything okay? Nothing's moving?!" As if... why on earth would anything be moving right now??
😲
Good grief, I really shouldn't have been so accommodating. How am I supposed to explain to her that there isn't some little hamster running on a wheel inside my abdomen all day long 🙂

Seriously—another one of those ridiculous movie tropes: the water breaking. It’s always portrayed like a dam just burst—as if she’s a literal water tank instead of a pregnant woman. Then, of course, there’s the frantic rush to the hospital, the desperate race against the clock, and suddenly she’s giving birth in two pushes flat. It’s just not how it works. 🤦
That’s exactly why my husband kept warning me—he insisted I put something under me before going to sleep, just so any leaking wouldn't soak right through to the mattress if my water broke unexpectedly. I suppose I should probably mention... my water didn't even break until they actually had me in the delivery room at the hospital.
He honestly expected three liters of water to just come pouring out of me the second my water broke—and honestly, I can’t even blame him. Before I actually did my homework on how labor works, I was thinking along the exact same lines.

It honestly makes my blood boil—seeing those totally unrealistic portrayals in movies, and him too. 😁

I haven't seen any posts from mrvica-maky yet. Once they start posting, I'll be ready to handle their content. kaže:
So, I had this ridiculous situation—
A friend of mine comes over, reaches out toward my stomach, and asks if she can touch—I gave her the green light.
She just stays silent for a few seconds—dead quiet—and then asks, with absolutely zero emotion, "Is everything okay? Nothing is moving?" As if... why exactly isn't anything moving?
😲
Good grief, you’re being completely unreasonable—you can say whatever you want, but that doesn't make it true. How am I supposed to explain here that my stomach isn't running some kind of endless marathon on a hamster wheel all day? 🙂

Yes! 🤣 People seem to have this misconception—that a baby is just constantly kicking and moving around inside the womb.

And all those people who just want to touch your stomach?! I don't know about the rest of you—but personally, that always got right under my skin.

I suspect there’s some sort of superstition floating around regarding touching a pregnant belly,
something along the lines of "touch the bump for good luck" to ensure nothing goes wrong with the mother 😬
Honestly, I can't wrap my head around what people actually expect to gain from such a gesture. Is it supposed to be some kind of spiritual epiphany?

I keep running into this while out shopping; I get the impression some folks might actually bow down to me—just because they're so enamored by the sight of a pregnant belly,
yet then there are patients who look at me with pure disdain. Perhaps it's because I still carry myself with the aura of a teenager😬

But truly, human stupidity knows no bounds,
especially when you catch a glimpse of two grown adults whispering and pointing their fingers... Their level of sophistication is about as high as a cheap chemical additive.🤦

Personally, I don't mind at all when people want to rub my belly. Of course, I’m not talking about complete strangers on the street—only those I actually get along with, you know? 😉

But lately, I have found myself getting incredibly irritated by all the constant questioning:
"Why are you holding your stomach like that?" or "Is the baby moving?"
Or even, "Oh, is the little one kicking again?"

As if! I am thirty weeks pregnant, and honestly, it would be a massive problem if the baby *wasn't* kicking me right now. 😵

I suppose I’ve become completely intolerant; the hormones are hitting me hard, and I just feel perpetually on edge.
Meanwhile, my husband seems ready to launch me into orbit because nothing I do seems to help him, and he lacks even a shred of empathy for what I'm going through. 🙂

Man, I just thought of Grandma from a few days ago, good grief.🙏

I was taking my daughter to ballet class—the bus was packed, and we were standing right by the front doors. Thank God I’m huge right now, 36 weeks along, and while nobody offered a seat, the standing part wasn't even the main issue until the bus filled up and it became a total crush.
So, there’s this lady standing right next to us.
Some gentleman gets up and offers her his seat. She just stares at him like she’s lost—doesn't say yes, doesn't say no—and that seat stays empty for two stops.
After those two stops, I see the woman hasn't moved an inch. I told my daughter to take the seat because there seriously wasn't any room left to even stand, and between the massive bump and trying to make sure my kid didn't wipe out in the crowd, I was struggling to keep my balance.
And then, of course...
The second the kid sits down, the woman lunges for the seat. Coincidentally, a seat opens up right behind us, so I move over to let her in and ask, "Ma'am, would you like to sit down?"
And get this—she starts screaming like a maniac: "I WANTED THAT SEAT, BUT SINCE THE CHILD HAS TO SIT BECAUSE SHE'S HAVING A HARDER TIME, FINE! SHAME ON YOU!!!"
I told her, look, ma'am, you had two whole stops to sit down and you didn't, and it's hard for me to manage my child and stay upright, but there's a seat right there behind you.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO STOPS? ARE YOU CRAZY?" she yells, and then the woman actually elbows me right in the stomach!!🙏

I honestly couldn't believe it.🙏

I was in such shock I didn't even know how to react, especially when five people behind her started yelling at her—calling her out for being disgraceful, for the sheer rudeness, for fighting with a pregnant woman on a public bus, etc. People actually started standing up so I could sit.🤣 The woman bolted to the other end of the bus.🤣

What a scene... You could tell she was just standing there, hovering, waiting for someone to sit in "her" spot just so she could cause a scene—that's why she didn't take the seat earlier...

Now that I've lived through this, I feel like I can handle anything.🤣

If you ask me, I would have slapped her right back; honestly, people allow far too much nonsense these days.

The public transit in New York City is 👎. Credit where credit is due, though.
I haven’t personally dealt with an > situation, but the rest have left me with some pretty awkward memories. Back when I used to commute to NYU from the other side of town—using the subway through Midtown—I had plenty of extra time to encounter a few uncomfortable moments.

Honestly, the public transit situation here is just abysmal; it’s practically a nightmare everywhere you turn.
Fortunately, I haven't had the misfortune of relying on it for quite some time now.

Justin Allen81 said:Man, I just thought of Grandma from a few days ago, good grief.🙏

I was taking my daughter to ballet class—the bus was packed, and we were standing right by the front doors. Thank God I’m huge right now, 36 weeks along, and while nobody offered a seat, the standing part wasn't even the main issue until the bus filled up and it became a total crush.
So, there’s this lady standing right next to us.
Some gentleman gets up and offers her his seat. She just stares at him like she’s lost—doesn't say yes, doesn't say no—and that seat stays empty for two stops.
After those two stops, I see the woman hasn't moved an inch. I told my daughter to take the seat because there seriously wasn't any room left to even stand, and between the massive bump and trying to make sure my kid didn't wipe out in the crowd, I was struggling to keep my balance.
And then, of course...
The second the kid sits down, the woman lunges for the seat. Coincidentally, a seat opens up right behind us, so I move over to let her in and ask, "Ma'am, would you like to sit down?"
And get this—she starts screaming like a maniac: "I WANTED THAT SEAT, BUT SINCE THE CHILD HAS TO SIT BECAUSE SHE'S HAVING A HARDER TIME, FINE! SHAME ON YOU!!!"
I told her, look, ma'am, you had two whole stops to sit down and you didn't, and it's hard for me to manage my child and stay upright, but there's a seat right there behind you.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO STOPS? ARE YOU CRAZY?" she yells, and then the woman actually elbows me right in the stomach!!🙏

I honestly couldn't believe it.🙏

I was in such shock I didn't even know how to react, especially when five people behind her started yelling at her—calling her out for being disgraceful, for the sheer rudeness, for fighting with a pregnant woman on a public bus, etc. People actually started standing up so I could sit.🤣 The woman bolted to the other end of the bus.🤣

What a scene... You could tell she was just standing there, hovering, waiting for someone to sit in "her" spot just so she could cause a scene—that's why she didn't take the seat earlier...

Now that I've lived through this, I feel like I can handle anything.🤣

🙏
I would have chewed her out.
Such a rude old woman.

Justin Allen81 😲
I have maintained for quite some time that Grandmas should probably be kept at a distance from the rest of civilized society.
Honestly, being in their immediate vicinity makes my skin crawl.😵

Take my experience at Target earlier today. I was there with a half-full basket—nothing major, just the essentials. I’ve got everything lined up on the conveyor belt, minding my own business, when suddenly this elderly woman comes charging toward me, panting like she just ran a marathon. She looks at me and asks, "Excuse me, dear, I only have this head of lettuce, could I possibly go ahead of you?" I mean, honestly, give me strength.
It was just a single head of lettuce worth maybe 4 dollars,$1.75 but then she pulls out a handful of nickels and pennies,
and I literally sat there for ten minutes while the cashier struggled to count every single cent. And meanwhile, I'm standing there, ready to pay,
and I swear, if I hadn't suppressed a massive surge of pure aggression right then, I would have lost it completely.
What kind of logic is that? It truly escapes my comprehension.🤦