You've probably heard of the classic pregnancy signs: nausea and vomiting, tender and/or swollen breasts, extreme fatigue.
As these symptoms linger, you start to wonder what's up with your body, and then you realize your period is late, so you decide to take a test.
Aside from the obvious pregnancy symptoms you've probably heard about, there are less obvious signs you might experience during your pregnancy, and some of them can be pretty bizarre, especially when you're pregnant with twins.
Subtle early pregnancy symptoms
These are some of the tricky, lesser-known signs you might experience in the early days or weeks before you even know you're pregnant.
- You're congested, even though you're healthy. This is because as your estrogen and progesterone hormone levels are rising quickly, causing nasal swelling that makes you feel congested, even though you feel fine otherwise.
- You're getting bloody noses, even though you normally don't. That darn nasal swelling can cause a bloody nose. This is because the inflammation stretches the blood vessels in your nasal lining, making them more likely to rupture—and, voilà, you've got a bloody nose.
- You're experiencing intense lightheadedness. When you're pregnant with twins, your blood volume expands very quickly to support both of your growing babies. This means you're likely to experience a lot of lightheadedness or sudden drops in blood pressure.
- You're bombarded with excessive saliva or a metal taste in your mouth. The additional spit you're dealing with often accompanies extreme morning sickness, while the metallic taste in your mouth is courtesy of your rapidly rising hormone levels.
- You're peeing much more often. When you're pregnant, your blood flow increases (by 40 to 50 percent when you have a single baby), and when you're pregnant with twins, it increases even more (by 60 to 70 percent). Before you can even feel your babies playing the bongos on your bladder, in the early stages of pregnancy, your kidneys go into overdrive to process the extra fluid. As a result, your bladder gets full more quickly, more often, and you're running to the bathroom more than you're used to.
Strange mid- to late-pregnancy symptoms
After you've gotten that positive pregnancy test, there are the classic symptoms you might experience later in pregnancy, like interesting food cravings, taste or smell aversions, or wild, nonsensical dreams.
But there are also even more unexpected symptoms you may not have known would be coming your way.
While everybody may tell you your hair looks amazing and that you're simply glowing (things every pregnant woman looks forward to), some of these lesser-known symptoms can make you wish they'd have warned you this might happen.
- You're noticing bizarre skin changes. Hello, new freckles, nice to meet you. Oh, you mean to tell me this random smattering of new skin tags across my chest and tummy are here to stay, even after I deliver my babies? Alright, then.
- You're dealing with drastic hair changes. We're not just talking about the glossy, thicker hair you're probably rocking. Some people end up with totally different hair—forever. I know someone who used to have poker-straight hair. Then, she got pregnant, her hair went totally curly one day, and it never looked back. It's stayed that way for 20 years. This is all thanks again to pregnancy hormones.
- You've got an incredibly itchy belly button. We all know our skin is going to stretch to accommodate those growing babies. But what people don't necessarily warn you about is how itchy your skin is going to get as your belly grows. The belly button can be one of the most itchy areas. The key to minimizing the itch (and the associated stretch marks) is moisturizing, moisturizing, moisturizing.
- You're fighting foot pain (and growth). We've all probably heard that pregnant women get swollen feet as they near the end of their pregnancy. This is thanks to a bunch of factors: the hormone relaxin loosening your foot ligaments, your arches get flattened by your increased body weight as your babies grow and pack on the pounds, and the extra fluid your body is producing (maternal blood volume increases by 60 to 70 percent when you have twins) can pool in your ankles and feet. Some people, like me, even end up with different-sized feet (permanently!) after you've given birth. I wish somebody would have warned me about this possibility because I'd have said goodbye to all the pretty shoes I'd never get to wear again.
- You're in need of belly support for even basic tasks. When you're pregnant with twins, your uterus enlarges faster and stretches significantly further than it does with a singleton pregnancy in order to accommodate an extra baby, bigger or extra placenta (depending on if you have one or two), and double the amniotic fluid. This means your bump shows sooner (with my twins, I was already showing at 10 weeks and my bump jumped out more than expected by 11 weeks along; by this point, we still thought it was just one baby) and your belly grows faster. The extra weight of it can affect your ability to walk comfortably or even get up to use the bathroom, which means you'll probably find yourself needing to physically lift or maneuver your belly out of the way to do standard things much sooner than you would in a single-baby pregnancy. I was surprised I needed the support of a belly band before I even hit the second trimester.
Keep an eye out for the signs
Every person and every pregnancy is different. You may have some, all, or none of these symptoms during your pregnancy.
Whatever you do experience, tell other expectant parents, so they aren't surprised if they experience some of the same signs during their pregnancy.
If there's a chance you're carrying twins, keep an eye out for some of these out-of-the-ordinary signs that could point to there being multiples babies on board.
And if you're ever unsure of some of the strange symptoms you're experiencing, don't just assume they're another one of the weird things that comes with being pregnant; be sure to talk them over with your doctor at your next appointment.
What was your most bizarre or unexpected pregnancy symptom? Did you have it when you were pregnant with twins or a single baby? Let us know in the Comments section below or connect with us on Instagram to share your thoughts!
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