As any mom can tell you, the miracle of birth isn’t an easy journey. Morning sickness and labor pains aside, there’s a lot going on to bring those little lives to the world… And some of it is down right disturbing.
For nine months (or longer!) women basically become superheroes for what they endure. Sure, it’s worth it when you see those adorable healthy faces staring back at you for the first time. But that doesn’t make any of these things less bizarre.
1. Three times as many women, about 1 in 3, will give birth through Cesarian than was reported 10 years ago.
2. In the second half of pregnancy, your baby will urinate about a liter per day. And then they drink it.
3. Over the course of the pregnancy, the uterus stretches from the size of a peach to roughly the size of a medium watermelon. That’s about 500 times its normal size.
4. When nearing the end of pregnancy, a woman’s placenta produces more estrogen in one day than a non-pregnant woman will produce in three years.
5. Extra fluid and water retention can cause pregnant women’s feet to grow up to one full shoe size.
6. It is totally possible to be pregnant for an entire year. The longest pregnancy on record was reportedly 375 days long.
7. Chances of a multiple birth increase with tall or overweight mothers.
8. Pregnant women really do experience a heightened sense of smell, which is basically the body’s way of steering them away from food that would be bad for the baby.
9. It’s common for women to experience change in skin tone during pregnancy. It happens about 90% of the time.
10. The baby’s fingerprints are formed within the first three months of pregnancy.
11. Newborns are getting heavier and heavier. Recently, a woman gave birth to an infant weighing 15 lbs and 7 oz.
12. Blood flow increases during pregnancy, so occasional nosebleeds and bloody gums are common.
13. Studies have shown that babies can taste what the mother is eating. Strong flavors like garlic are especially able to pass through the amniotic fluid.
14. Over the past two decades, more baby boys were born in America than girls. However, women still outnumber men in population.
15. The only scientifically proven method for inducing labor is nipple stimulation, known as “the comfort technique.”
16. The old wives’ tale that pregnant women with heartburn are more likely to birth babies with full heads of hair? Totally true.
17. Babies cry in the womb. Not because they’re upset, more as practice for their big day.
18. Pregnant women and new mothers can lactate at the sound of a baby crying, even if it’s not their baby.
(via We Got Kidz.)
All that, and then you have to change their diapers for years without a thank you. I think I need to give my mom a hug.
