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Pregnancy is weird. After all, you’re growing a little life form inside your body!
But perhaps even weirder are the strange physical symptoms pregnant women experience.
Following are 5 of the strangest pregnancy symptoms I’ve felt, with tips on how I’m surviving them:
- Shooting leg pain and numbness
- Raging heartburn
- Pelvic pangs
- Total exhaustion
- Total insomnia
Weird Pregnancy Symptoms
I knew that pregnancy side effects include varicose veins and vivid dreams.
But somehow, I never thought weird pregnancy symptoms would happen to me!
Turns out, I’m not immune.
Here are some of the strange feelings my body feels when pregnant…
#1 – SHOOTING LEG PAINS THAT MAKE MY RIGHT LEG GO NUMB
This one deserves all caps, because it hurts that much.
If I stand or walk for any length of time, my right leg begins to burn and then go completely numb.
Throw in a few sharp stabs here and there, and you have a painfully weird symptom!
We never figured out if this is a function of varicose veins (the right leg has some) or sciatica. The weight of the uterus can compress the sciatic nerve causing similar symptoms.
Either way, I have never found a way to prevent my shooting leg pains other than frequent breaks with my feet up!
#2 – RAGING HEARTBURN
I had never popped a Tums in my life until I was 4 months pregnant with my first child. I balked at the chalky taste.
Now, I can go through an entire jumbo bottle of generic Tums by the end of my 10th month. I call it my calcium supplement!
To prevent pregnancy heartburn, it helps when I avoid acidic foods like orange juice and marinara sauce.
#3 – PANGS IN MY PELVIS
It kills me to type that, but it’s the best way to describe a tender, shooting pain that spikes up from the groin area toward my belly.
It was like I had just finished pedaling the Tour de France… on a man’s bike!
I was so embarrassed, I almost couldn’t mention it to my OB.
He told me it was round ligament pain, a completely normal symptom you get during the 2nd trimester. Whew!
#4 – TOTAL EXHAUSTION
I call it sleeping sickness, or a complete inability to stay awake morning, noon, or night.
My husband was ready to send me to a psychologist for depression when we suddenly realized I might be pregnant!
There is nothing to do but give in to this weird pregnancy symptom.
Consider it stocking up on something that will be very precious later — uninterrupted sleep!
#5 – TOTAL INSOMNIA
By the 3rd trimester, I can’t sleep at all.
Heartburn, leg pains, vivid dreams, and an inability to get comfortable in the bed all contribute to this condition.
I’ve had some success with propping up the head of the bed (to reduce night heartburn) and using a pregnancy pillow to get comfortable.
The good news is that it’s like your body needs less sleep than ever. Perhaps it is nature’s way to prepare us for the sleepless weeks ahead.
Here’s how to get more sleep when you’re pregnant.
Do you have any weird pregnancy symptoms — or solutions — that you’d like to share?
I’m a wife, mom of 4, and resident of Brentwood, Tennessee. I love finding fun new things for my family to see and do in Brentwood and the Nashville area! In addition to writing about Brentwood, I also spent a year blogging at The Fun Times Guide about my pregnancy with baby #3.
